Secrets of the City

I’m not much of a Keillor fan these days* but does the word ’sarcasm’ mean nothing to True North?

*(while I enjoy Prairie home companion – I consider him an arrogant ass)

I would think that “Silent Night” belongs to everyone, not just the small-tent Lutheran church basement crowd Keillor seem to refer to as “us.”

Keillor is indeed ranting, but is this anti-Semitism? I’m not a member of the Tribe, so I would be interested in the opinion of our local Jewish contributers. What’s your opinion?

I have an easy time believing that the Driedel Song was the work of a Christian. That song totally has “Lutheran” written all over it.

I think the bigger issue is that no one has bothered to write a Kwanzaa Carol (and the Black National Anthem doesn’t count).

Just for you, Bix.

http://tinyurl.com/yap7vtb

Not a fan of Keillor, but a more careful reading reveals the sort of Christmas music he was talking about was the pointedly religious music, mostly written before the twentieth century, e.g. Silent Night, Adeste Fideles, Joy to the World, The First Noel, etc. that reference the birth of the Messiah, not the jingling of sleigh bells, the warmth of the home fires, or the desire for snow. There’s a difference between the religious aspects of Christmas and the purely seasonal, commercial, or personal ones. That’s what he was saying. The Christmas songs referenced above were written by commercial tune smiths, not the religiously inspired.

I think the column was stupid but I don’t think Garrison Keillor hates Jews.

He’s like South Park: been batting 1 for 3 for years. Which is better than some things, even most.

The official Christmas Carol of MNSpeak: Tom Waits’ Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis is usually linked by someone here.

Those Christmas songs listed by Sheppard are pretty popular, but they’re basically secular in theme. Santa Claus and the Christmas tree. Isn’t that Keillor’s point? I know he’s riffed on Irving Berlin before. Don’t think he likes him too much.

Here’s a couple of beautiful, touching songs I linked last year that were passed over by everyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2SR_P-_98s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41rmb_dhqmM&feature=related

Christmas Day is coming. God rest ye’ merry gentlemen.

How about a little goodwill toward men, too?

“Your comment is awaiting moderation.”

Moderation? What’s this now? The Rat is the soul of moderation.

I think Keillor was trying to do two things. First he was seriously trying to make a coopting holidays that aren’t yours to begin with but then I think he was trying to use Onion-esque hyperboles to make his point. And it didn’t really work that well.

Santa Baby does have the ability to push a guy with a hard-wired predisposition for crankiness right over the edge.

Keillor should shop online more and stay out of the malls.

Alright. So which one is the Liberal threat: The War on Christmas or Get Off My (Christmas) Lawn?

It can’t be both.

I understood the significance of Keillor’s “rant.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know the difference between Silent Night and The Christmas Song. Or Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.

FWIW, Sleigh Ride is thought to have been written with Thanksgiving, not Christmas, in mind:

[via Wikipedia] In fact, the mention of pumpkin pie in the last verse might suggest an association with Thanksgiving rather than Christmas.

Now, for an encore, I’d love to hear those claiming there IS a “war on Christmas” defend the religious propriety of the Christmas tree.

Ho-ho-ho.

There is a spam filter on comments now. Sometimes this forces comments into a moderation cue, which unfortunately means I have to go in and approve the comment before it publishes, or in worse cases pull them out of spam. Oooo, evil MNSpeak.

As a Christian, I’ve gotta say it’s tough for a Christian cry “foul” when a religious song like “Silent Night” is co-opted by another tradition or assigned another meaning. Our history is filled with Christian missionaries to non-Christian peoples in Europe, Asia and Africa doing the exact same thing: taking elements of the native culture that have traditionally been assigned one meaning, and re-creating them to incorporate a Christian meaning.

Let’s not forget that Christmas as a holiday wasn’t even celebrated in Christianity until something like the 6th century, when people decided to “baptize” the already-existing solstice festival. When you believe you’ve got a life-transforming message that will really help people out if they respond to it (and they clearly did), then you will do what you can to get it out. In that Spirit, Keillor should be welcoming the Unitarians and Jewish composers to the Billboard Chart of ideas.

“Now, for an encore, I’d love to hear those claiming there IS a “war on Christmas” defend the religious propriety of the Christmas tree.”

Nood’s being a Troll….

Chip on your shoulder getting heavy?

Noodle, Clearly, one of the Three Wise Guys stopped in Lebanon and got one of their famous holiday cedar trees for the Baby Jesus. They stll have one their national flag.

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown…(g)

I heard they are going to bring back the draft to combat this war on X-mas.

Speaking seriously for a moment, I’m one of those who support a military draft. Women included.

Too bad they can’t do it without letting in the gays.

I’m with Bob. Best way to stop a war is to make all the young educated people go, “Hey, wait a minute, you mean I have to go too? I can’t just hire someone else to fight for me?? That sucks, man.”

btw, the song “I’ll be Home for Christmas” maybe deserves an exemption from the vitriol. It was recorded during WWII, and became an anthem for all the soldiers and their families who wouldn’t be together that Christmas.

The article was another Keillor attack on Unitarians, which they ( I ) love; it is the best publicity they get.
Of course, it was mocking fundamentalist fear of losing Christmas.
Still, I’d like to invite Garrison to visit his local Unitarian church: his jokes about them would improve.

I couldn’t believe that this could be true so looked up his column in some other papers. It appears that the one you link to includes some language that others do not …
“And all those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolph and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write “Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we’ll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah”? No, we didn’t. Christmas is a Christian holiday – if you’re not in the club, then buzz off. Celebrate Yule instead or dance around in druid robes for the solstice. Go light a big log, go wassailing and falalaing until you fall down, eat figgy pudding until you puke, but don’t mess with the Messiah”

so which is the real column?

@Rat: No, not heavy at all. As a Christian, I like to stick with the facts (as far as we know). You’d be hard-pressed to find a Christmas tree mentioned by any of the Apostles.

@justpbob: Best that can be determined is that the Three Wise Men arrived from the east, not the north. One may have traveled from as far as modern-day Korea?

Best way to stop a war is to make all the young educated people go

Nope. The best way to stop war is to make all the politicians, and their 18+ year-old children, go into combat who vote for such things.

The church CJ and I attended for years, but have been too lazy to go to lately, changed the words to most hymns and prayers to be gender neutral toward God, be inclusive of all, and be more PC. The “Our Father” is written as “Our Mother/Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” It is spoken any way you want, but I always said both. This is a very normal thing for Progressive Christians.

Oh, and Unitarians are considered Christians by most.

And I hate Keillor, he’s a pompous ass who gives Minnesotan’s a bad name as naive hicks on his terrible and boring radio show.

stacey, I’m guessing the other publications edited his column and removed some of the more offense language. Probably a smart move.

I’ve not known Keillor to write anything especially “offensive” to anyone except someone who takes things far too literally. Here is how that column read @ Salon.com on 12/15/09.

“I’ll be Home for Christmas” is really a very sad song. It was particulary sad in the waning days of WW II, when the death toll in the Pacific was so high, even though the outcome of the war was no longer in doubt.

Not so much the “waning days,” justpbob. When the song was first released in 1943, there was still a lot of war left to fight in WWII: D-Day, island-hopping in the Pacific, Burma, Sicily, etc. The outcome of the war may not have been in doubt … but the end of it was still not yet some light at the end of the tunnel. (Best guess in 1943 as to when Japan would surrender? 1948.)

Yes, it’s a song that does would not warm the cockles of your heart if you had children (or a husband) in combat.

The turning point of the war in Europe occured at the July 1943 Battle of Kursk, a massive tank and invantry showdown many Americans know anything about (because it was Russians vs. Germans).

Few Americans, rather.

@justpbob: It may have been a turning point (and I’m not trying to diminish the importance of the battle) but most American troops in Europe didn’t see action until 1944. So, from the perspective of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” much was still in doubt on the American homefront in 1943 when the song was first heard.

(IMHO Stalingrad was the turning point because it stopped the Axis advance into Russia, saving Moscow and eventually liberating a besieged Leningrad. In a similar fashion, D-Day could be considered the turning point on the Western Front but the Battle of the Bulge was where the German army (literally) ran out of gas.)

I don’t think Keillor was being anti-semitic. Just un-funny and un-edited. He’s certainly got the inside track in terms of becoming the Andy Rooney of the boomer generation.

I stopped taking this idiot seriously a long time ago, and I suggest you all do, too.

You aren’t supposed to take him seriously he is an entertainer.

That is the frame of reference within which I was commenting. The fact that he even gets newspaper space reflects poorly on the guilty publications.

Much the same could be said for Faux News, too, kwatt.

I think that everyone needs to get over themselves. That, of course, includes Keillor.

If you want to celebrate Christmas, by all means do so. If not, we can all go out for Chinese and a movie on the 24th. Either way, we’re all welcome to our own thang. If you feel compelled to do one thing that honors Jesus, I hope it would be to “Judge not, lest ye be judged” first.

http://erikhare.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/winter-solstice/

Someone got through the Spam Filter!

No no no no NO. We must begin the process of shunning and demonizing Garrison Keillor tout suite. Not in two minutes; right NOW.Begin the process by mass-mailing boycott threats to every newspaper that carries him. Subnmerge NPR with complaint calls – bring up the Holocaust, a lot, and attempt to tie Keillor directly to its planning and execution. Simultaneously accuse him of Marxism-Leninism just to play safe. Nark him to the Office of Homeland Security. Leave a flaming bag of dog-poop on his porch and ring the bell. Hell, if all else fails, pretend to be Unitarian and go full metal pottymouth!This is America, dammit; where every citizen has a God-given right to lampoon and demean Christianity, and only Christianity. Don’t let them take away our rights!

Speaking of which, you know that War On Christmas the GOP and Faux harp on?Well, the RNC sent out their Christmas email and, lo and behold, not ONCE in the email is the word “Christmas” used. But they do wish you Happy Holidays!LOLMAOMFG