In the realm of the ridiculous is the Long Island school district that decided not to change the name of its winter concert. The winter concert has historically been called the Christmas Concert. But the population of this area has changed drastically in the last decade, and more than a third of the children are of Indian or Chinese descent. One can only imagine there is a sizable Jewish population, and indeed the Christmas Concert has often contained a Hanukkah song or two, which makes you wonder at the misleading nature of the name already. And somehow it seems even more offensive to include songs from another holiday or another religion and yet still insist on calling it a Christmas celebration. It kind of reminds me of a friend's mother-in-law finally sending her a Hanukkah card a couple Decembers ago, but then writing Merry Christmas inside. Good try, but still a swing and a miss.
Recently several parents in the district suggested to the Board of Education that the name be changed to a more inclusive Winter Concert, or even Holiday Concert. There was such a burst of outrage at the very suggestion that the Board of Education decided to leave the name as is. But even after the decision had been made, more than 200 outraged parents showed up at the school board meeting earlier this month to protest the idea of having anything but a Christmas Concert.
According to the New York Times article, "One woman said she could not understand how anyone could object to Christmas, 'which is about tolerance, love for your fellow man. Who would be against that?'" This, apparently, with no irony what so ever.
Even creepier, a lawyer made the pseudo-intelligent-sounding but totally insane comment that changing the concert's name from Christmas to Winter or Holiday is "a form of religious discrimination at best, religious bigotry at worst."
I'm not sure that the parents of any Jewish, Hindi, Muslim, agnostic, or atheist children would agree. And I'm not sure how his argument falls into that whole concept of separation of church and state.
What I do know is that these people who wrote all the nasty letters to the local newspaper denouncing those who wanted to change the name (one letter-writer condemned the school officials for their efforts to "execute Baby Jesus in the arena of political correctness") were bad enough. But even worse were those who saw fit to stand up in a roomful of people and continue to so forcefully demonstrate their narrow-mindedness when they had already won. Being a sore loser is sometimes understandable, however annoying it might be; but there is no excuse whatsoever for being a sore winner.
Recently several parents in the district suggested to the Board of Education that the name be changed to a more inclusive Winter Concert, or even Holiday Concert. There was such a burst of outrage at the very suggestion that the Board of Education decided to leave the name as is. But even after the decision had been made, more than 200 outraged parents showed up at the school board meeting earlier this month to protest the idea of having anything but a Christmas Concert.
According to the New York Times article, "One woman said she could not understand how anyone could object to Christmas, 'which is about tolerance, love for your fellow man. Who would be against that?'" This, apparently, with no irony what so ever.
Even creepier, a lawyer made the pseudo-intelligent-sounding but totally insane comment that changing the concert's name from Christmas to Winter or Holiday is "a form of religious discrimination at best, religious bigotry at worst."
I'm not sure that the parents of any Jewish, Hindi, Muslim, agnostic, or atheist children would agree. And I'm not sure how his argument falls into that whole concept of separation of church and state.
What I do know is that these people who wrote all the nasty letters to the local newspaper denouncing those who wanted to change the name (one letter-writer condemned the school officials for their efforts to "execute Baby Jesus in the arena of political correctness") were bad enough. But even worse were those who saw fit to stand up in a roomful of people and continue to so forcefully demonstrate their narrow-mindedness when they had already won. Being a sore loser is sometimes understandable, however annoying it might be; but there is no excuse whatsoever for being a sore winner.
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