Shamelessly Christmassy

Good morning everyone. It's Christmas Eve morning as I write this.  I've done the last few bits of shopping already and pleased to say, there was a lovely sense of calm out there which is just how it should be.  I hope that today you all have a pleasant Christmas Eve and that there is certainly time for your family somewhere in there.

Today I'm going to be shamelessly Christmassy.  It starts with me wishing everyone (and I mean everyone) a very Happy Christmas. I didn't always like Christmas but I have grown to love it.  We've got beyond the competition of who can outdo who in the gift stakes and have got to the point beyond that where we enjoy family time and get a sense of charity about us.  I've come to like Christmas and its story because it has a message of hope.  No matter how bad it might seem, there's still hope and while we're breathing there will always be hope.

As I started the day I went back to some of my childhood memories.  One of my favourites was walking through a cold city centre, all wrapped up seeing the lights.  What rounded that off was a Salvation Army band standing outside M&S, playing songs.  There's something about beautifully played brass that reaches into your bones and really helps you feel it.  It used to really evoke something in me that has stayed to this day.  I found a video to share with you.  The music is lovely but there's something else as well.  Look at at the end and the lads adding a bit to pot. On any other day you might have made a different judgement.  But right there at the end is proof of hope.

This is what they're scared of

At the bottom of this post is a video.  A wonderful video, that I've put up a couple of  times on this  blog usually because I think it's a thing of beauty for all manner of reasons which I'll explain shortly.  However this year it takes on a new resonance because it helps spell out something that I've been struggling to articulate for some time now.

There are a number of posts around a few blogs, that help set the scene.  First there's Julia's entry over at Orphans of Liberty which is basically about the twisting the perceptions of Christmas with it's "Mother Christmas" and then there's this one by James at Nourishing Obscurity.

It's so easy to look at these, throw your hands up in the air and say something like, "It's political correctness gone mad" or "the bloody loony left are at it again".  You'd be right but at the same time you do them a disservice because you would be underestimating them.

As I mentioned earlier, crackers as it might seem what's happening is an ongoing relentless effort to break you by breaking your culture.  We can talk about politics all we like, but right here you're seeing an effort to break your culture.  The aim is to separate you from one another.

Take Julia's story.  Mother Christmas?  What on earth is that about?  It makes no sense in the sphere of what we've come to associate with Christmas over hundreds of years.  Of course it doesn't.  It's not meant to make sense to you.  It's meant to leave you confuse, befuddled and bewildered, because when you're all of things, the people pushing this can take advantage and advance what they want.

Then there's James' story.  As a seasoned watcher of Duck Dynasty I know just how popular a show this is.  Phil Robertson has his views on all kinds of things and you see many of them on the show.  He largely doesn't agree with the direction America and the world is going in on all sorts of levels.  Now it seems he has made a comment about his view on homosexuality, in a magazine but not on the show.  In fact I've never heard him utter such things on all the episodes I've ever seen.  In writing this however, I too am beginning to make the mistake I'm cautioning against.

Now before I go any further, if you're thinking about about using the comment section below to accuse me of homophobia - don't! Bore off and go somewhere else.  I'm not interested in your game of ad hominem.  This post isn't about an anti gay agenda and I am none of those labels you will try to project on me and no amount of your politically motivated name calling will make it so.  I'm making a point about the manipulation of messages and groups to further other political ends which means I've seen through your little game and if you can't work that out then you're not smart enough to get into a debate on this.

You see, to me, this isn't about Phil Robertson's views on gay people.  Phil Robertson seems by and large a traditional man.  His family all pretty much seem happy and stable and able to take care of themselves. they are self reliant and  they provide for themselves and they share what they see as their blessing with others.  They go to church, they give people jobs and they've clearly extended the warmth of human kindness by adopting a child, incidentally one from a mixed race background.

Alongside the comedy somewhere in the region of 11-14 million US viewers who tune in each week to watch the show, making it one of the most successful shows on US TV, never mind its global following. You see, Phil and his family are a thriving example of living successfully in a western culture still bound to the traditional totems that have helped it thrive for so long. Within that lies the nub of this issue for cultural Marxists. It's not about his views on gays. despite all the noise, that just happens to be a convenient weapon with which to beat him (something I'll explain more on in another post).

So for that reason, Phil Robertson must be silenced.  He must be denounced and he must become a non-person and be convicted of thought crimes.  It's being reported over at Townhall, that A&E Insiders are suggesting that even an apology won't do.  In effect he has to go.

Now why would he need to go.  Why is there an thought that even an apology wont suffice.  Its simple really and its the grubby little secret that underpins the whole agitprop movement. It's why Saul Alinsky wrote that you should appear bigger than you are.

To break a nation, you have to detach it from its culture.  That's what this is about.  Strike at the shepherd to scatter the sheep.  His comments, no matter what you might think of them are just weapon of choice.  If he is successfully denounced and made to disappear, so does the signal his family sends.  Then all those who identify with that culture are on the receiving end of a message that they are alone.

They have to do that because they know the power of the culture and that those trying to smash it are really few in number.  They must appear bigger than they are.  they have to create the illusion of power and dominance and make you back away from asking awkward questions. The only way they can do that is to make you feel alone and think that there is nobody else who thinks like you think.  If you're alone you feel helpless, fearful and the perception that there is no hope becomes all pervasive.

And so we come back to the video I mentioned at the top, because it shows what they  are afraid of.  Watch the video in two ways.  Enjoy the fine voices, but watch the crowd.  There are all kinds in there.  All social classes and all levels of education I'm certain.  But watch what happens to them as the signal once again begins to get out.  Look at the tears The joy, the wonder and the tradition relights something in them all.  Hope comes back.

That's what they're scared of.  Once it breaks out in numbers, they can't contain it.  Bliss.