The mini-fooforah rising out of Bill O’Reilly recently telling a caller who identified himself as Jewish that if he was really offended by ... um ... a variety of aspects of the ways Christmas dominates American culture, he “gotta” go to Israel. You know, I’m not explaining this well, in part because I don’t quite get what he was saying. Media Matters has what it claims is the whole transcript, which might help. Here’s the bit with the pull quote, taken out of context, of course:
All right. Well, what I'm tellin' you, [caller], is I think you're takin' it too seriously. You have a predominantly Christian nation. You have a federal holiday based on the philosopher Jesus. And you don't wanna hear about it? Come on, [caller] -- if you are really offended, you gotta go to Israel then. I mean because we live in a country founded on Judeo -- and that's your guys' -- Christian, that's my guys' philosophy. But overwhelmingly, America is Christian. And the holiday is a federal holiday honoring the philosopher Jesus. So, you don't wanna hear about it? Impossible.
And that is an affront to the majority. You know, the majority can be insulted, too. And that's what this anti-Christmas thing is all about.
Now, I’m trying to unpack this a little, to see if I can figure out what Mr. O’Reilly believes. Why? Well, there have been two related accusations: one that Mr. O’Reilly is an anti-semite, and another that Mr. O’Reilly, although not an anti-semite, said something anti-semitic. And I’m curious whether those accusations hold water. So, how can we interpret this statement?
Well, and he makes the point that most people in the country are Christian, at least nominally, at least, that is, to the point of celebrating Christmas in some way. And, of course, if it offends a person to hear about Christmas or be surrounded by it, then leaving is pretty much the only option. I’ll point out that there are Christians living in Israel, so there is some likelihood of hearing about Christmas there, too. I suspect your best bet for avoiding Christmas altogether would be South Asia, but I can’t say for certain. I’ve heard that throughout East Asia Christmas gets a fair amount of primarily secular attention. Ignorance about that, though, isn’t anti-semitism. And I don’t actually think that Bill O’Reilly believes that going to Jerusalem or, say, Bethlehem in the third week in December is a good way to avoid hearing about Christmas. But I think he’s just using shorthand for saying that, practically speaking, the caller will not escape Christmas as long as he lives with Christians.
Look, even if what he’s saying is that people should all live with people Just Like Them, that isn’t necessarily anti-semitic as such. Separatism isn’t the same as anti-semitism; I think it’s worse. But in this bit, he seems to me to be advocating separatism, rather than saying anything specific about Jews. It’s easy to imagine a nearly identical rant aimed at a Sikh, Hindu or Baha’i.
OK, look, I’m Jewish (surprise!). My own experience is that I get very quickly tired of hearing about Christmas. On the other hand, in my gripy way, I would far rather have somebody say to me ‘Merry Christmas’ in the mistaken belief that I am Christian (as most people in town are) than have somebody say to me ‘Happy Holidays’ in the mistaken belief that whether I am Christian or not I have a holiday yet to celebrate in December. That’s my reaction, but I’m aware that people, even Jews, are different one to another (and that’s what makes the world interesting and fun).
Anyway, how people greet me is a deal, but it isn’t a big deal. Other aspects of being a religious minority are a bigger deal. It would be far more convenient to me if, for instance, college semesters were set up so that the break was at Passover instead of New Years’. I understand, though, that would be tremendously inconvenient for most people. So it makes far more sense to set things up for most people, who happen to have their holiday at an odd time, and not in the Fall or the Spring like I do. See? It’s just a matter of logistics. Similarly, there’s an economy of scale that makes buying Christmas decorations cheaper and more convenient than buying Purim decorations. This isn’t anybody’s fault, particularly, it’s a natural result of the demographics. I still have a complaint, but it isn’t directed at anybody, just at the way logistics come out. It is essentially unfair, in the sense that Christians can celebrate their holidays more cheaply and conveniently than I can celebrate mine, but it’s unfair in the way that it’s unfair that some people are tall and others short. I mean, look at it this way: even if gay marriages become commonly accepted, the two grooms cake top will always be more expensive than the bride and groom, and that won’t be discriminatory, it’ll just suck. You see the difference?
Bill O’Reilly has no obligation to sympathize with any of that, of course. He can simply say that he and his cohort will do what they do, and we have to put up with it. And, frankly I am all in favor of everybody enjoying their religious holidays. I really am happy that we make it possible for most people to go to church on Christmas without having to clear it with their employers first. And it certainly isn’t for me to decide whether Christians should go to church on Christmas or stay home with their families, or go to malls. But it seems to me that he’s pretty much just saying we (Christians) can do whatever we want, and you (Jews or Moslems or Hindus or what you will) can’t claim offense. And if you do take offense, we (Christians) will consider that an affront, without particularly inquiring into whether anything really was offensive. So it’s more a kind of supremicism than anti-semitism, I think.
It would be nice (and in keeping with the Constitution and the intent of some of the Founding Fathers) if the majority kept in mind that the minority are citizens, too. We have all the rights and responsibilities of the majority in the same scale. The public spaces are mine as much as anybody’s (that is, in tiny measure), and who is he to tell me that I should have a crèche in my Town Hall? Who is he to tell me that I should have a Santa on the roof of my school? Who is he? He’s the great Christian majority, that’s who he thinks he is. And what they say, goes. And that’s far worse than anti-semitism, and even worse than separatism. That’s an attack on pluralism. That’s a blind and arrogant tyranny, happy to hand to others the conditions under which they will be tolerated. And I find it disgusting. But it isn’t anti-semitic.
I should, before closing this already overlong note, add that I do not think that Bill O’Reilly speaks for all Christians, nor even for a majority of them. Christians, too, are different one to another. Many Christians are pluralists, and many Christian sects have pluralism as deep in their teachings as Judaism. If I have fallen in to Mr. O’Reilly’s trap of talking as if Christians stand on one side of a line drawn by him, please be aware that I do not perceive the universe to be that way at all. Similarly, just because I don’t find Mr. O’Reilly’s remarks anti-semitic doesn’t invalidate any other Jew’s interpretation of them as such. Remarks are offensive not by dint of some inherent quality, but by actually offending somebody. As people were actually offended, the remarks were offensive, and my analysis is not meant to deny that or to excuse it.
Thank you,
-Vardibidian.
You actually do have a holiday left to celebrate in December — i call it “Because no one is going to call me” day. A couple of years ago, on “Because no one is going to call me” day, i cleaned my entire apartment. Last year, i installed a ticketing system on my home computer, which took about 8 hours, and which i couldn’t justify the time to do otherwise. This year, maybe i’ll learn to use cfengine. Who knows?
I agree that “Because no one is going to call me” day does not have the spiritual appeal of an actual religious holiday, but, as a free-time-deprived person (like 96% of the people i know) who never has a chance to pursue the projects i’d like to, i find myself looking forward to it with a fair bit of enthusiasm.
Not that this has really anything to do with the subject of your post, of course…
Well, and in my particular case, I do have my Best Reader’s second-most-important religious holiday. I will be with her family, celebrating it with her, thus decreasing my amount of free time (as Pesach decreases hers). But your point is well-taken. I have, in the past, gotten a tremendous amount of work done in the office, sometimes on the 25th itself, letting myself in with a key and working in an overcoat and gloves, as the heat was off. I got time and a half, though.
Thanks,
-V.
nice entry… that was the feeling i got from it – “my way or the highway” is not a specific form of discrimination, it’s egocentricity.
now it might be interesting to wonder if the caller had been speaking from another religious experience, what would have been the answer. would an atheist have dared? would a muslim have been barbecued, o’reilly maybe adding that prejudicial “back” to the “go to israel”? would a hindu have been heard and sagely accommodated? would a buddhist have called (and if so, would anyone have been there to hear the phone ring)?
We have a federal holiday to honor the philosopher Jesus? Give me a break. We have a federal holiday because Christmas is a religious holiday to a lot of people. Pretending that it’s the equivalent of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the same sort of rhetorical bullshit that tries to justify a nativity scene as being non-religious.
When we have federal holidays on every third Monday, each named after a different (occasionally non-Christian) philosopher, and none coinciding with any major religious celebration, then I’ll believe it.
There are two strains of self-serving piteous howling from majorities in this country, one claiming that Christians are under attack and one claiming that Republicans are under attack, both pretending to brutalized minority status. O’Reilly promotes both vigorously, while claiming neutral observer status for himself.
Damn. I wasn’t going to respond to this thread. I held off all morning.
i’m down with o’reilly calling jesus a philosopher: one more radical humanist thinker the guy doesn’t understand.
Interesting post. When I wish someone “Happy Holidays”, one of the holidays I have in mind is (the Gregorian calendar) New Year’s Eve, which I feel is a holiday everyone can celebrate, even if they have already had their religious New Year during a different part of the year. I mean, a year passes for all of us, no matter what we believe. Maybe I should start just wishing people a good New Year specifically?
Yes, the federal holiday point is a bit much, particularly as the implication is that (a) Jesus was not Divine, and (2) that we have lots of federal holidays for philosophers, and we should, and (iii) the federal holiday is somehow distinct from the perceived aggression of Christian proselytizers. I took this as just incoherent rambling, though, which (from the little I’ve perused the man’s transcripts) he indulges in a lot.
I also should probably have pointed out, as Michael does, this takes place in a context of a substantial rhetorical outcry that Christmas/values/red states/family/marriage are under attack. There has always been an odd undercurrent (as seen from outside, anyway) to the spate of television specials that speak to the fear that this year really will be the year without a Santa Claus, but this is different. On the other hand, I’m obliged to point out that when the Hebrew Hammer saved Hanukkah, his mother wasn’t impressed. “Now, if you’d saved Pesach …”
Oh, and Amy, you don’t need to alter your greetings on my account, as I’m a crank. But yes, I’d rather be wished a Happy New Year, and frankly I’d rather not be wished that until the week before, anyway; nobody wishes me a happy Holiday on Nov. 8th, or on June 20th. But as I say, I’m a crank.
Thanks,
-V.
the comment’s probably not just rambling, dubya’s quote about jesus being his favorite philosopher is widely liked and repeated – an easy stab at the intelligentsia.
It’s manifestly our responsibility to remind O’Reilly factums that no where in the Constitution does it say that America is a Christian Nation.
Happy June 20.
nor does it say that americans are subject to any particular set of divine laws or interpretations of same, a fine point but worth separating.
As a side note, remember that federal holidays aren’t American national holidays; they’re just holidays for Federal government employees. (Which doesn’t contradict O’Reilly; I’m just saying that one can put too much weight on the significance of federal holidays.)
Thanks for the comment about “Happy Holidays,” V. I’ve been meaning to write about that phrase for years now, but I haven’t found a way to do it that didn’t sound Grinch-like to me. (I keep meaning to write about in June, when people are less likely to think it’s aimed specifically at them and be upset, but in midsummer it never seems important enough to bring up.) I think you put it well.
And Amy: yeah, I’d say “Happy New Year” is a better approach than “Happy Holidays.” Even if you mean “New Year” by “holidays,” I think most people don’t. I think the phrase is usually used by well-meaning people who assume that all major religions have a big end-of-year holiday basically at the same time as Christmas. I suspect most Americans think that Hanukkah and Ramadan are basically just other religions’ versions of Christmas, and that they all therefore take place in the last week of December.
Of course, it’s also true that the second half of December is, in quasi-secular America, a time known as “The Holidays,” and that most American workers get more time off than usual this time of year, so “Happy Holidays” is arguably a completely secular phrase, referring to time off work. But I don’t think most people use it that way; I think most people who say it are trying to be multicultural without knowing enough about the other cultures in question to understand why it’s a problem.
…Hmm, I guess I went ahead and wrote about it anyway. Somehow it’s easier to talk about here than in my own journal.
since “happy holidays” predates kwanzaa and probably also any awareness of ramadan as important to any american residents, and probably even before chanukah became the time that jews celebrate the birth of the messiah, it’s probably just innocently easier than saying “merry christmas and happy new year” and it’s a useful element of its own, tying together end-of-year and beginning-of-year celebrations into a package of renewal, and making the little baby new year into a cherub in the process – “and then the three kings came and showered the new year with gifts”