Merry Christmas or Happy HannuRamaKwazica
In the Land of the Loonies, aka Massachusetts, Merry Christmas has been banned from the malls. Yessir, folks, Santa will not be wishing you a Merry Christmas this year; if you are lucky you might just get a "Happy Holidays."
Contrast this, if you will, with the notion of receiving 40 lashes for letting your students name a teddy bear "Mohammed." That is the vile crime committed by a British woman working in a school in Khartoum, Sudan (why she was crazy enough to work there is another story). Now, after a great deal of diplomatic wrangling, this has been commuted to 15 days in prison. Prison. Yep, because she has defiled the name of the Prophet.
Since this is turning out to be a day of comparing and contrasting, contrast that to the People's Republic of Cambridge. In Cambridge you might do time if you included the name of Jesus or Santa (not that they really have ANYTHING to do with each other) in any communication you might have with another person ... or dog for that matter. "Jesus loves you, poochie..." and the next thing you know, Birkenstock-wearing thought police have shackled you to a Repulican candidate for office and thrown you into a dark cell under the Harvard School of Arts and Sciences. "Waterboard this running-dog-conservative-religious villain!" Recant your allegiance to the Fat One with his possessed flying sled!! Free the reindeer, but not the one with the radioactive nose!
But it is okay to wish Happy Kwanza or Hanukkah, as well as "Happy Pagan Winter Solstice", "Happy Ramadan" (although this one varies with the lunar calendar and might happen in July), "Happy Festival of Slaughtered Pine Trees", or even "Happy Retailing Orgy." Those are acceptable in Cambridge. A couple of years ago at my son's school (located in the People's Republic) an administrative assistant complained about a wreath that had been placed in the entry foyer of the school. She felt that it was hostile to her religious beliefs and made her working conditions intolerable. A wreath ... made out of pine boughs, a simple red ribbon and some pine cones. Call the People's 911!!!! Sirens blaring, the local versions of the Pasdaran, came screeching to a halt in front of the school, in their (Toyota hybrid) pickup screaming slogans glorifying Ayatollah Duval, and stormed the building removing all quasi-religious tokens. This event still bothers me more than a little. Or even a lot.
The thing of it is that if we had put a wiccan symbol in the center of the wreath, it would undoubtedly have been able to remain, spreading beautiful pine scent throughout the building. Which makes me wonder what the Sudanese penalty would have been for displaying a token of some belief other that the one true belief.... Death? Remember that in Saudi Arabia (our friends, remember?) it is illegal to have any demonstration whatsoever of any religious belief other than Islam.
So similar levels of tolerance exist in Riyadh and Cambridge, at least with regards to Santa.
Contrast this, if you will, with the notion of receiving 40 lashes for letting your students name a teddy bear "Mohammed." That is the vile crime committed by a British woman working in a school in Khartoum, Sudan (why she was crazy enough to work there is another story). Now, after a great deal of diplomatic wrangling, this has been commuted to 15 days in prison. Prison. Yep, because she has defiled the name of the Prophet.
Since this is turning out to be a day of comparing and contrasting, contrast that to the People's Republic of Cambridge. In Cambridge you might do time if you included the name of Jesus or Santa (not that they really have ANYTHING to do with each other) in any communication you might have with another person ... or dog for that matter. "Jesus loves you, poochie..." and the next thing you know, Birkenstock-wearing thought police have shackled you to a Repulican candidate for office and thrown you into a dark cell under the Harvard School of Arts and Sciences. "Waterboard this running-dog-conservative-religious villain!" Recant your allegiance to the Fat One with his possessed flying sled!! Free the reindeer, but not the one with the radioactive nose!
But it is okay to wish Happy Kwanza or Hanukkah, as well as "Happy Pagan Winter Solstice", "Happy Ramadan" (although this one varies with the lunar calendar and might happen in July), "Happy Festival of Slaughtered Pine Trees", or even "Happy Retailing Orgy." Those are acceptable in Cambridge. A couple of years ago at my son's school (located in the People's Republic) an administrative assistant complained about a wreath that had been placed in the entry foyer of the school. She felt that it was hostile to her religious beliefs and made her working conditions intolerable. A wreath ... made out of pine boughs, a simple red ribbon and some pine cones. Call the People's 911!!!! Sirens blaring, the local versions of the Pasdaran, came screeching to a halt in front of the school, in their (Toyota hybrid) pickup screaming slogans glorifying Ayatollah Duval, and stormed the building removing all quasi-religious tokens. This event still bothers me more than a little. Or even a lot.
The thing of it is that if we had put a wiccan symbol in the center of the wreath, it would undoubtedly have been able to remain, spreading beautiful pine scent throughout the building. Which makes me wonder what the Sudanese penalty would have been for displaying a token of some belief other that the one true belief.... Death? Remember that in Saudi Arabia (our friends, remember?) it is illegal to have any demonstration whatsoever of any religious belief other than Islam.
So similar levels of tolerance exist in Riyadh and Cambridge, at least with regards to Santa.
Labels: Santa Cambridge Islam
posted by Zaphod at Friday, November 30, 2007
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