[3486] in Depressing_Thoughts
Re: It's started again...
jik@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (jik@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Thu Dec 10 12:29:38 1992
I still haven't quite figured out what to say in response to this
letter, which appeared in today's Globe. I want to write a response,
but I'm not sure I'll have time.
--
Upside-down brand of reverse multiculturalism
James Carroll never ceases to irritate me with his anti-Catholic
apostasy, his fawning support of Sinead O'Connor's adolescent acting
out and his obsequious quest for political correctness. On Nov. 24,
however, his column hit a new low with the assertion that the public
celebration of Christmas and the New Year is one of the "most serious
problems that face us as a people." These holidays are purportedly a
cultural affront to non-Christians because they "are expressly built
around the birth of Jesus Christ" and are therefore, "by definition,
exclusive."
This upside-down brand of reverse multiculturalism is something out
of Lewis Carroll. According to James Carroll's remise, as a white
Christian American male, I should feel excluded during Hanukkah and on
Martin Luther King Day, but he would be wrong on both counts.
Surprising as it may seem to one-dimensional liberals like Carroll,
some of us out there in readerland are quite complex: Christians who
cherish their roots in prophetic Judaism, white males who support
civil rights and many others who are not automaticallky offended by
someone else's festive decorations.
Carroll should get off of his head and stand on his feet: The
problem is not exclusion by a conspiracy of the marketplace but the
need for inclusion. Instead of spouting divisive rhetoric that calls
Christmas the "December violation of democratic pluralism," Carroll
would do better to encourage mutual understanding across all faiths
and pursuations. There's plenty of room under our pluralistic tent
for everyone's traditions, even the one brought to this land by the
Pilgrims and other European immigrants.
DANIEL J. O'CONNOR
North Attleborough
--
I am tempted to write a response saying that, for a "white Christian
American male," Mr. O'Connor has an awful lot of Chutzpah, telling me
that I should not be offended when I walk into a mall (ANY mall) and
am bombarded by carols declaring that this is the season of the birth
of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Mr. O'Connor should not "feel excluded during Hanukkah and on Martin
Luther King Day," because last time I checked, Jews don't take over
the country for the two months prior to and including Hanukkah, and
Blacks don't take over the country for the two months prior to and
including MLK Day.
