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Showing posts from December, 2011

There's No Such Thing as a Holiday Tree

A week ago, the governor of Rhode Island declared the 17-foot spruce in the State House rotunda to be a "holiday tree," not a Christmas tree. Governor Chafee is not Jewish, Jehovah's Witness, or any other religion that doesn't celebrate Christmas. He's Episcopalian. But for some reason, he seems to think that it is more inclusive to call it a holiday tree than to call it what it clearly is: a Christmas tree. Governor Chafee, I know you want to include us, but next time, include someone else. The result of this declaration was as predictable as it was depressing: antisemitic backlash. Of course, nobody has the bad taste to explicitly blame it on the Jews, but that's clearly what they're thinking. Radio personality Michael Smerconish (who I respect greatly though I don't always agree with him) didn't leave much doubt when he said, "I won't mess with your religion, and don't you mess with mine ." The clear implication was that a re