Thursday, December 21, 2006

Happy Christmas And Happy Everything Else Too

I just love this: A judge orders a Christmas tree removed from a Toronto courthouse lest the "Christian" symbol gives offence, and who rides to the tree's rescue? Muslims, Jews and Hindus, that's who.

Tarek Fatah, founding president of the Muslim Canadian Congress: "If people are offended, I'm glad they're offended. I think it indicates a serious mental disorder when people want to bring down other people's happiness."

Selma Bochnek, a Jewish member of Sons of Jacob Synagogue: "I think it's important to be respectful of everyone's religion. It's nice to acknowledge those who may not celebrate the same thing as us but I'm not offended."

Hindu Conference of Canada spokesman Ron Banerjee: "I think it's important that political correctness not be taken too far so that we're being crazy about it."

And that's how sensible people happily notice a celebration that's vaguely related to the supposed virgin birth of a Jewish kid 2006 years or ago, give or take. Me, I'm happy to celebrate the virgin birth of a giant lizard if there's drink involved.

Notwithstanding an important reminder from our usually restrained Commandante Will, that "All religion has, at its core, (and this is a portable ideology) the capacity for a slave mentality that negates human freedom and all that flows from that freedom," I'm still sympathetic to Timothy Garton Ash, to this extent:

We live and work every day with people who hold, in the temples of their hearts, beliefs that we consider certifiably bonkers. If they seem to us good partners, friends, colleagues, we respect them as such - irrespective of their private and perhaps deepest convictions. If they are close to us, we may not merely respect but love them. We love them, while all the time remaining firmly convinced that in some corner of their minds they cling to a load of nonsense.

Some of my dearest friends consider me someone who holds certain beliefs that are certifiably bonkers, so do please enjoy yourselves welcoming in the Oak King, and for everybody lighting menorah candles, A lustiger a freylicher, Nito noch azoyner, and Sat Sri Akal to everybody about to celebrate Guru Gobind Singh's birthday, and Salaam to everyone remembering Abraham and Ishmael and getting ready for the Eid-ul-Adha parties.

More than anyone, right about now, these people express my sentiments just fine.

More rum, and more singalongs, I say. Even the Al-Qaida gangster Ayman al-Zawahri is getting in on it:


3 Comments:

Blogger Stephen K said...

Happy Xmas War is Over :)

9:30 PM  
Blogger SnoopyTheGoon said...

Methinks that after we deal with religious extremists of all kinds, the next action item in the order of urgency will be wiping out the political correctness maniacs. I'm getting quite thick of this. Removing Christmas trees, suspending 4-5 yr old boys from kindergarten for sexual harrassment, throwing out Mark Twain from schools. The fuck is going on?

7:22 AM  
Blogger SnoopyTheGoon said...

Er... I meant to say "sick" and not "thick", of course...

Too riled up by all this, I guess ;-)

10:56 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home