Do you remember the old stopmotion puppet television show, The Little Drummer Boy? For decades it was an annual staple on television, but no more. Yet, other Rankin and Bass produced shows, such as Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, continue to pop up each year.
For a few years now, I've wondered what happened to The Little Drummer Boy. Most likely, I reckon, television network programmers feel it's too overtly religious, and may raise the ire of sensitive viewers.
While the story of The Little Drummer Boy centres around the birth of Christ, I think its message - "what's in your heart is more important than what's in your wallet" - is more appropriate for children than that of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, which is, "shun those different from yourself until they become useful to you." I guess others would disagree, though.
Uptight "progressives" (which is code for people whose mission in life is to prove they're more enlightened and compassionate than everyone else) have done a good job of taking Christ out of Christmas. Nativity scenes, for example, have long been banned from public spaces to protect the sensitivities of non-Christians... who actually never seem to complain about such things. Never satisfied, these Philistines are now determined to take the Christmas out of Christmas, and they're making strides.
I've only had one retail clerk (a young Asian woman with a thick accent) wish me "Merry Christmas" this year. It's incredible that retailers who rely on Christmas to put them in the black are unwilling to let the word pass their employees' lips.
If they're afraid of offending people, then tell employees not to say it to people wearing things like turbans or Hijabs. Sure, the white guy in your store might be Jewish, but still, the worst reaction you'd likely get from him is a friendly "Happy Hanukkah" in response.
Why do people insist on playing these silly word games? Everyone knows that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ. Pretending it's just some generic holiday isn't fooling anyone, and it's disrespectful to Christians.
Christmas is an important Christian observance (second only to Easter, which was long ago hijacked by a God-less, egg-laying rabbit), and deserves to be acknowledged as such.
I'm actually not a religious person, and believe everyone has the right to celebrate, or not celebrate, Christmas in their own way. However, no group of bullying "progressives" should have the right to strip away its true meaning.
Well, that rant took all the space I was going to use for a year-end wrap up, so here's the abbreviated version: A despot named Gaddafi died, a terrorist named Bin Laden died and a scumbag named Olson died. Yay! People on the other side of the world protested for freedom, while people here protested for more of other people's money. The Canucks choked and so did the Vancouver police department. The B.C. Liberals pounded a few more nails in their coffin. The federal NDP lost their leader and I lost 24 pounds. Merry Christmas.
