We will be launching our twelfth (!) competition after Thanksgiving, but already entries are coming in and news stories are starting to crop up—often, as has been the case for several years, claiming that there's No Such Thing As A War Against Christmas.
Yes, Virginia, there is a War Against Christmas—in fact, Virginia proved it with an early victory this year:
Richmond, Va. — Richmond will have a "Christmas" parade after all.[Christmas' will be part of Richmond parade's name, by Will Jones, Richmond Times-Dispatch, October 6, 2010. Link added]The nonprofit group that organizes the annual holiday march down Broad Street announced yesterday that it had re-adopted "Christmas" as part of the event's name.
Last week, organizers said they had decided to drop "Christmas" in favor of "holiday" in an effort to promote diversity.
However, the decision prompted an angry outcry from the community and some political action groups that showed no sign of lessening, said Robert Kelly, chairman of the parade and president of Richmond Parade Inc.
Of course, it's very far from all victories all the way. The number of catalogs and magazines that use "Holiday" as a matter of course, obviously figuring it's the line of least resistance, is very grave. I collect the post-paid reply cards and send them back denouncing this blatant Christophobia in angry red ink. (Helpfully, Liberty Counsel just announced its annual monitoring of retailers—see here).
Last year, I congratulated Victoria's Secret on calling its Christmas catalog a
Christmas catalog and urged readers to write thanking the firm. This may have been a little premature—Victoria's Secret seems to hedge its bets with several differently-named catalogs and I've only seen a "Holiday" one this year—but I feel like reposting the cover anyway.
Send 2010 entries to christmas@vdare.com!
