It is a depressing comment on current psychology that political correctness has gained so much traction against the celebration of Christmas. It is a depressing comment on the media that they have permitted it to occur.
In other eras such nonsense would have been dismissed or even overlooked, but now unfortunately that attitude has taken centre stage. It is almost like a frenzy as so much hoopla has been created.
In this Christmas season it has been all but forgotten that a Christian bishop named Nicholas, the forebear of St. Nick-Santa Claus, 15 centuries ago carried a Christian theme in all of his travels over parts of Asia, eventually migrating to our western world, at first to Europe.
A great distance now divides the shadowy figure of Nicholas and his early Christian church from the homes and department stores of North America and most of Europe. As a consequence, St. Nicholas now occupies such an overwhelmingly prominent position during this season.
All of this has provided an alternative theme for many who want to change the Christian, mid-winter festival into something that violates common sense, an affront to old traditions. Ignored is the fact that Christmas essentially is a Christian festival, not merely an occasion for exchanging gifts or merrymaking. By its very nature Christmas seems to have become offensive to some non-Christians. How did some seemingly reasonable people permit the successful hijacking of Christmas? The politically correct nonsense that has occurred may be an alternative that those who love to protest have adopted as a "cause."
Examples abound of the politically correct who want to neutralize the real Christmas. For instance, to take only a couple of examples, some school boards insist that a winter break in the school year should be only a Happy Holiday. Carols can only be sung if all references to Christmas and religion were removed.
Much of this week should be devoted to celebrating the old-style Christmas, and bypassing the insistence on political correctness.
The latter has many of us being blackmailed into accepting all kinds of restrictions on what historically have been an integral part of our Canadian Heritage.
Clearly, more mutual tolerance should take place at all times, and of course particularly at this time of year.