War On Christmas, Or Something

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

Okay, this is a letter to the editor that appears in today's (13/12/07) Leader-Post. I'm copying it verbatim, as it's short. I hope that doesn't violate forum rules. It reads thusly:


"Censoring Christmas

Gillian Gibbons, a British schoolteacher, was sentenced to fifteen days in prison and deported from Sudan after allowing her pupils to name a teddy bear "Muhammed".

She could have received forty lashes for the alleged blasphemy. As well, thousands of Muslims wanted her executed by firing squad. News reports indicate that thousands of protesters armed with clubs and swords burned pictures of her and demanded her execution.

However, here in Canada, Christmas - a religious holiday celebrated by many Canadians - has been transformed, through cultural, ethnic, educational, religious, corporate and governmental censorship and influences with impunity."

The letter is signed Darrell Davis.

My question is what in the world is this person going on about? Is he saying the Sudanese way is better, that we should kill "blasphemers"? Because that's kind of what I'm getting from it.

What's everyone else think about this letter?

 

[DoubtingStephen]

Maybe the writer is jealous that islamists can get away with threatening death to people that they perceive as not honoring their brand of fairy tales, but as a citizen of a civilized nation the poor writer has to tolerate people saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, and is not even permitted to threaten them with death in response, it's just not fair.

Of course I'm guessing, the intent of the letter is as unclear as the author's thinking.

 

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

The more I think about it, I think the author might be a fringe eccentric who runs for parliament every few years representing the Christian Heritage Party. If that's the case he may well be jealous of the Sudanese.

 

[rjh01]

I am a bit surprised the letter was published. But the issue of the teddy was discussed here Teddy Muhammad

 

[Travis]

Looks like she accidentally deleted a paragraph or two that might have clarified her thought process.

That or this letter simply represents her thought process which is scary prospect indeed.

 

[bozothedeathmachine]

I'm in Malaysia right now, which is officially an Islamic country. One can hear calls to prayer every day, almost everything is halal, all public building have prayer rooms, and all hotels have a sign pointing the way to Mecca.

At the same time, everything is Christmas. The shopping centers have the most elaborate X-mas displays I've ever seen...several of them in one center. X-mas carols are piped everywhere. I'm typing this from a bar in Kuala Lumpur. Beside me are 2 Christmas trees, replete with wrapped gifts underneath. It's really really odd.

War on Christmas my rule 8.

Boon forbme, though. I can do X-mas shopping here at pittance of what it would cost me in Zürich.

 

[E.J.Armstrong]

Okay, this is a letter to the editor that appears in today's (13/12/07) Leader-Post. I'm copying it verbatim, as it's short. I hope that doesn't violate forum rules. It reads thusly:


"Censoring Christmas

Gillian Gibbons, a British schoolteacher, was sentenced to fifteen days in prison and deported from Sudan after allowing her pupils to name a teddy bear "Muhammed".

She could have received forty lashes for the alleged blasphemy. As well, thousands of Muslims wanted her executed by firing squad. News reports indicate that thousands of protesters armed with clubs and swords burned pictures of her and demanded her execution.

However, here in Canada, Christmas - a religious holiday celebrated by many Canadians - has been transformed, through cultural, ethnic, educational, religious, corporate and governmental censorship and influences with impunity."

The letter is signed Darrell Davis.

My question is what in the world is this person going on about? Is he saying the Sudanese way is better, that we should kill "blasphemers"? Because that's kind of what I'm getting from it.

What's everyone else think about this letter?

It is clearly a sarcastic comment.

 

[hgc]

Looks like she accidentally deleted a paragraph or two that might have clarified her thought process.

That or this letter simply represents her thought process which is scary prospect indeed.

If you ever send a letter to the paper, keep it to 2 short paragraphs, tops. Because if they choose to print it, they'll edit it down for you without regard to comprehensibility. I have no idea if that's what happened here. When I first read it, I assumed with was authored by a person with no attention span, and thus the 2nd part had no connection whatsoever with what came before.

 

[DoubtingStephen]

If you ever send a letter to the paper, keep it to 2 short paragraphs, tops. Because if they choose to print it, they'll edit it down for you without regard to comprehensibility. I have no idea if that's what happened here.

This idea seems to fit the available facts pretty well, I'm inclined to agree.

 

[Travis]

If you ever send a letter to the paper, keep it to 2 short paragraphs, tops. Because if they choose to print it, they'll edit it down for you without regard to comprehensibility. I have no idea if that's what happened here. When I first read it, I assumed with was authored by a person with no attention span, and thus the 2nd part had no connection whatsoever with what came before.

Actually the only Letter to the Editor I ever sent in to the newspaper was pretty lengthy and they printed it in full. I was basically advocating the legalization of Gay Marriage and the end of irrational, often religious based, homophobia.

 

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

This idea seems to fit the available facts pretty well, I'm inclined to agree.

Actually, this letter is very short compared to most printed by this paper. Often there are only one or two letters printed because they are so long.


Again, the letter writer's name sounds familiar to me. I'm certain that he writes frequently, about religious issues. I seem to recall one regarding creationism. I think he's represented the Christian Heritage Party in the past, which is a party that supports Old Testament laws for Canada. This makes me think that he wishes Canada was more like Sudan, where they take their religion seriously.

 

[Travis]

Shoot why in the world did I think it was a "she?"