Letters to the Editor
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Method Behind the Madness
You have to understand how this kind of rhetoric functions within the conservative Christian community.
First, and most important, Christianity, especially the conservative kind, always has to have an enemy. You see this in the New Testament and in the writings of many early Christians. For Conservative Christains, having an enemy is part of the process of self-definition and self-identity.
For conservatives, whether Christian or not, one of the most important things is to keep people all het up about something or other. A few years ago I had an interesting conversation with a friend. I said to him that I didn't understand why these conservatives were always so angry all the time -- always denouncing this or that, always complaining, always pissed off.
He replied "you don't get it, do you."
I said "get what?"
He replied "the whole POINT of all this stuff is to keep people in a continual state of outrage and umbrage. This is what these writers DO. This is a case where the medium is indeed the message. The purpose of the message is not to communicate any particular information. And frankly, the message is mostly bull**** anyway. The purpose is to make sure that people are pissed off all the time. When people are pissed off they go to the polls, they contribute money, they spread the word. That doesn't happen with cautious, reasonable arguments."
So with the Christmas thing, I think what we have is an intersection of interests between religious and political conservatives: it gives the religious a new enemy, and the politicos a new outrage.