My friend Greg at the Talent Show:
Okay, this whole “Happy Holidays” jihad is confusing me. As far as I can remember, people have been saying “HH” for many, many years now. Every time I’ve heard it, regardless of who’s speaking it, I’ve always interpreted it as an act of kindness that’s meant to imply “I know we may have different beliefs, but I hope your celebration is a happy one.” Of course, with New Years in the mix, it’s more than a pleasant inter-faith greeting. “Happy Holidays” is a nice, sincere expression of the whole season.
For a few humbugs out there, however, “Happy Holidays” has been stripped of its goodness and turned into a hideous attack on Christmas. Did you think you were being kind and inclusionary in your seasons greeting? Well, you were wrong! Little did you know that you were actually saying “Up yours, baby Jesus”. Okay, I’m exaggerating here, but not by much.
Yes. Bill O’Reilly is actually playing a variation on Scrooge this Christmas — the cranky old man determined to ruin everyone’s holiday. The twist is, in the O’Reilly Christmas Carol, Scrooge loves Christmas and spends all day harranguing Bob Cratchit for not loving Christmas as much as he, Ebenezer O’Reilly, does.
UPDATE: incidentally, why does O’Reilly’s boss hate Christmas?