War on Christmas, et al.

After my initial rants, I’ve held off, in the hopes that our so called president-elect would begin to act more like an adult and more like a president. That hope has clearly been in vain. Trump is surrounding himself with sycophants, ideologues, bigots, and wealthy people. Knowledge, expertise, and qualifications are not merely unnecessary, they are downright disqualifying for the incoming administration. In the meantime, Trump is continuing to take his position as “Liar in Chief” of America.  He was always by far the least honest of the candidates, even during the primaries. His sole focus has been on what gets him attention and on what gets his supporters excited. Truth is irrelevant.

The latest is Trump railing about a “War on Christmas”, based on some far right wing bullshit that started a decade ago. There is no war on Christmas. You can’t go into a store of any size without seeing decorations and signs about Christmas. You can’t turn on the television without seeing Christmas programs or Christmas oriented ads. The fact is you will continue to see these things because the Christmas season is the biggest retail shopping season of the year. It is also one of the peak travel seasons as people visit relatives for the holidays.

Where did the nonsense about a war on Christmas begin? As the country has become more diverse and as we have taken more seriously the separation of church and state, governments have moved away from religious displays on public property. Beyond that, some folks have taken to saying “Happy Holidays”, in recognition that this nation includes Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis, and atheists among others.

I am Jewish and liberal, so my default greeting is happy holidays. If I am greeted with merry Christmas, I will respond with the same. If I know I am dealing with a Christian, I may also say merry Christmas. The fact that some people say happy holidays and some choose to celebrate holidays other than Christmas in no way diminishes the ability of Christians to celebrate their holiday as they choose.

Every year of his presidency, Obama has had a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations in the White House. He has wished people a merry Christmas. Obama and his family are Christians, regardless of the lies the right wing hate machine vomits out upon the body politic. The vast majority of our politicians, left, center, and right are Christian and will celebrate Christmas, albeit with their own family traditions.

We need to cut the nonsense. We need a president who will not set one group of people against another. Right now, Trump is setting his supporters against everyone who does not echo their beliefs. That is a recipe for disaster, fascism, tyranny, and chaos. G-d help us.

Unbridled Optimism

I see a lot of memes and quotes about how ‘everything happens for a reason’ or that ‘everything will work out for your benefit in the long run’.

I understand that it is necessary to try to keep people’s hopes up in the face of tragedy. I get a little ill when I read these things though. I see genocides, I see torture and brutality, I see rapes, I see murders, I see natural disasters. In time, many of the survivors will recover, at least somewhat.

Where is the long run benefit of a holocaust? How will a rape work out for your benefit in the long run? I read about senseless acts of violence and brutality which if they don’t kill the victims, will often scar them for life. How can those things ever be anything other than a tragedy?

I see things saying that the good people will be protected by G-d, or some other force, and that those doing evil will be punished. Yet I see those among the most innocent, including children and even babies, murdered and brutalized. I see people guilty of those things go without ever being punished. There seems to be no divine justice or divine protection on this earth. Are the brutalizers punished in the ‘next life’? I can’t say for sure that there even is a ‘next life’.

Yes, there are many things perceived as bad which may serve to teach people a lesson, or show people a better way forward in their lives. In some cases even tragedy may move people to do good or help others. The blanket “Little Mary Sunshine” stuff is utter crap in my opinion.

On a par with that is the old ‘what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger’ line. No, what doesn’t kill you may well cripple you. Lesser harms may well strengthen, and there will always be those individuals who rise above the most tragic circumstances. The ones who do, have my respect and admiration, but those people are and always will be the exceptions.