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December 02, 2004

Operation: Barking

As in: up the wrong Christmas tree.

Michelle Malkin, with whom I agree as often as I disagree, is rather ticked about some holiday decisions being made in my fair city.

The persecution never ends. Denver has launched war against a church group that wanted to march in the city's Christmas parade "Parade of Lights." (I hate, hate, hate that p.c. euphemism.)

Neglecting, for the moment, the inaccurate use of the words "persecution" and "war," Michelle's invective is being directed in the wrong direction.

I am hereby launching the Lump of Coal campaign. Later today, I will box up a lump of charcoal, mark the package "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" and send it to the Denver Mayor in protest of his idiotic policy.

The decision to make the parade non-religious was made by the Downtown Denver Partnership:

Downtown Denver Partnership, Inc. (DDP) is a non-profit business organization that creatively plans, manages and develops Downtown Denver as the unique, diverse, vibrant and economically healthy urban core of the Rocky Mountain region...

The Partnership is the collective voice of Downtown businesses and property owners, and we enhance Downtown’s environment to inspire the success of Downtown business.

Sorry, folks, but this isn't government oppressing anyone. It isn't persecution. It isn't a precursor to the poor, poor Christians being hauled off to death camps by the trainload.

It is, however, a private organization making a private decision. So, write Mayor Hickenlooper all you like, but I don't think it will do much good.

Update: To cover one more point, yes, Hickenlooper did decide that the "Merry Christmas" sign on the city building will be replaced by "Happy Holidays." My question is - so what?

Is it not the holidays? Are there not multiple holidays around the same period? Why is it that Christians, at least from the right-wing, think that the government being inclusive (or not being actively exclusive) amounts to oppression of Christians?

This view of equality being "give us everything we want and screw the non-Christians" reminds me far too much of someone with whom I once was involved. Her idea of compromise was "do what I say." It's an immature position grounded in an infantile lack of understanding that the world is full of many people with many views.

Personally, I'd rather see the city spend its money on important things rather than taxing its populace to put on pretty light displays on the facades of public buildings. However, short of that, "Happy Holidays" is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying signs to ensure equal representation of all faiths during the season.

Update: The Merry Christmas sign will stay.

A mention that the Merry Christmas sign at the City and County building might be replaced with a Happy Holidays sign prompted enough angry reaction that the mayor says the Merry Christmas sign will stay.

The mayor said that he had been under the impression that the Merry Christmas sign was becoming worn and would need to be replaced next year, and he felt a message that was more inclusive might be preferable.

Yes, Mayor Hickenlooper, but the right-leaning half of the Christians in this great country of ours aren't exactly known for being inclusive. There might be an "Open Door Baptist Church," but that just means "Come On In and Convert, Sinner," not "Won't You Sit Down and Let's Have an Inter-Faith Dialogue?"

Hopefully Michelle will pick up this update and correct her post; and (as I e-mailed her on the topic) perhaps she'll inform her readers that sending Mayor Hickenlooper a lump of coal because of what the Downtown Denver Partnership has decided makes, well, absolutely no sense. As of right now, her post is still racking up Trackbacks of righteous (and ignorantly misdirected) anger.

Update: Per the comments, I've looked into the Downtown Denver Partnership and they do receive 60% or so of their funding from a BID local assessment. This, in my opinion, does not alter the statement that writing Mayor Hickenlooper about the actions of the Partnership is not a logical course of action. The BID is renewed every 10 years based on a vote of commercial property owners and leasees in the area, not so much dictated from City Hall.

Speaking for myself, now that I know they are a quasi-public enterprise, I have no problem saying that either every religion that wants to participate should be allowed to (at their own or a private sponsor's expense) or that all religions should be excluded (which is what most of us, except right-wing Christians, would consider equal treatment).