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Gobsmacking Stupidity at U of M

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I don’t really want to talk about the “War on Christmas.”  It is boring and obvious and has been done to death.  It’s like liberal bias in the MSM.  Yeah, and the sun rose today.  Got anything everyone doesn’t already know?

And, believe it or not, this is not a post about the War on Christmas.  This is a post about how post-moderns are apparently unable to think.  Look at the memo officials at the University of Minnesota distributed to their staff.  Consider the title:  “Religious Diversity and Holidays.”  One would expect a memo with that title would be about, well, diversity.  Instead, the purpose of the memo is to quash even the faintest whiff of tolerance for Jews and Christians celebrating holidays and enforce a rigid secularism that brooks no dissent.

Concerning the word “diversity,” I will leave you with Indigo Montoya:  “You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Comments
ME
I don’t see any reason why a person of a Jewish persuasion would be able to see a war on Christmas. Jews in gentile countries should be quite use to people not seeing the meaning or value of Hannukah.
Just because people don’t see the meaning or value of Hanukkah does not mean that there is a war on Hanukkah. Just as people not seeing the meaning or value of Christmas isn’t the same as a war on Christmas. At best, we are just talking about an indifference. Speaking as the anscestor of a historically persecuted people, often at the hands of Christians, I will take indifference any day.
I think many Christians would be happy if non Christians just left the day to them but the use of Christmas, everywhere is going nowhere in “Christmas” presents, “Christmas” lights , “Christmas” tree.
You should check into the origin of the Christmas tree and, by extension, Christmas lights.
Trying to say that you can have CHRIST mas but you cannot mention Christ is onerous. Its not even a merely religious thing. If down the line you had martin luther day but you should not mention martin luther it would be the same issue.
Are you sure that you want to mention Martin Luther to a person of Jewish heritage? Do you realize that he was a raving anti-Semite and was influential on leading to a society and a mentality that resulted in the holocaust? All I am saying is that you shouldn’t equate a societal indifference to traditional Christmas trappings as a war on Christmas or on Christians.JSmith
December 21, 2017
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JS, your insinuation of empty emotive reaction glides over a long list of abuses and usurpations against Christians, with Christmas as a flashpoint. Frankly, we have very good reason and cause to see the attempt to turn "Christmas" into a dirty unmentionable word and even other similar things (cf OP) is a telltale about the sick, toxic state of much of our civilisation. And institutions that act in this way fully deserve to be highlighted for what they are doing or enabling. KFkairosfocus
December 21, 2017
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@JSmith I don't see any reason why a person of a Jewish persuasion would be able to see a war on Christmas. Jews in gentile countries should be quite use to people not seeing the meaning or value of Hannukah. I am fine with "happy Holidays" (although you are incorrect Christmas has not been merely a day for centuries) I think many Christians would be happy if non Christians just left the day to them but the use of Christmas, everywhere is going nowhere in "Christmas" presents, "Christmas" lights , "Christmas" tree. Trying to say that you can have CHRIST mas but you cannot mention Christ is onerous. Its not even a merely religious thing. If down the line you had martin luther day but you should not mention martin luther it would be the same issue.mikeenders
December 21, 2017
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Sorry KF, but I can’t get all worked up over the shift from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays. I wish my Christian friends Merry Christmas, and my Jewish friends Happy Hanukkah. And if I am not sure, I say Happy Holidays. Just seems polite to me.JSmith
December 21, 2017
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JS, do you not catch the 1984 allusion? KF PS: Why is the celebratory season a season in our civilisation, once generally known as Christendom [and tracing to the Christian synthesis of Jerusalem, Athens and Rome led in the first instance by Paul of Tarsus], why is it called Christmas, why is Santa Claus a rendition of St Nicholas of Smyrna?kairosfocus
December 21, 2017
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OK so we need to get people in MN to visit the University and plaster it with Christmas and Hanukah decorations. It is obvious they are inviting such an event...ET
December 21, 2017
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KF
Mr Smith, 2 + 2 = ___ ?
I'm not sure I understand what you are implying here. I don't see any coordinated effort to suppress a person's ability to celebrate and enjoy Christmas. Just as I see no coordinated attack on Hanukkah, Diwali or Ramadan. Companies and institutions will develop policies that they think will maximize business. I think that many of these are misguided, and if you oppose them, let your feet do the talking. Walk to the store that has a nativity scene in the window. But, frankly, "Happy Holidays" is simply a more accurate term. Christmas is one day. Hanukkah is eight. New years is one. Thanksgiving is one. But the time from mid November to New Years is best described as the "Holiday Season". But let me repeat. I think that this memo is stupid and insulting.JSmith
December 21, 2017
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Jsmith, Some people (not me) will tell you all the lights are part of the War Against Christmas, but that's a complicated subject. Probably worth an OP of it's own, but it's not ID related. Andrewasauber
December 21, 2017
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Mr Smith, 2 + 2 = ___ ?kairosfocus
December 21, 2017
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It seems to me that memo comes perilously close running afoul of the First Amendment.Seversky
December 20, 2017
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While I'm no expert, but I don't think this is a war on religion... after all Donald Trunk wants to bring the Christian values to their right place.. or something like that... What it could be and probably is, is the war on human rights... " ...because everyone seems to have rights these day but no one wants to take responsibility..." It has to end some day...J-Mac
December 20, 2017
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Bows and wrapped gifts? Bells? Red and green ribbons? On further reflection I think this might be a joke. Has to be.Truth Will Set You Free
December 20, 2017
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I was just driving around the neighbourhood, enjoying the Christmas lights and displays. I must say, as a person of the Jewish persuasion, I perceive this “war on Christmas” as a non event. But I agree, this memo is stupid.JSmith
December 20, 2017
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‘Concerning the word “diversity,” I will leave you with Inigo Montoya: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”’
+1000 "Diversity" at so many so-called universities means conformity to cultural Marxism.mike1962
December 20, 2017
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'Concerning the word “diversity,” I will leave you with Inigo Montoya: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”' To me, there is something quite magical about that little paragraph, so understated as to seem quite elliptical, and perfectly prefaced in the same tersely off-hand, patrician style by your prefatory words, News.Axel
December 20, 2017
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Barry, it’s not just a war on religion. It is a war on thinking. Religious people are scary because they might have actual thoughts, not the pap that has merely been fed to them. But that means they have thoughts, right? Universities are currently training, at public expense, Orwell’s Outer Party: The toxic snowflakes are groomed to become bureaucrats in a total state that they will work to bring about. They will not think, only react and enforce. They cannot otherwise survive. See: Free Speech Activist Lindsay Shepherd Does Not Teach At The Same WLU That I Attended 1967-1971.News
December 20, 2017
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Yeah, things are really that bad.Truth Will Set You Free
December 20, 2017
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Individuals may display expressions of their religious faith in their own personal space if it does not have a meaningful public function... LMAOMung
December 20, 2017
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