It’s that time of year again. The time of year when the airwaves bombard us with commercialized carols and red and green ad displays. It’s also that time again for the “War on Christmas” emails to begin circulating.
I have not received any such email, but I hear the gist of one of them is this:
President Obama is going to call the National Christmas Tree the “National Holiday Tree,” and that the Obamas are going to have a “White House Holiday Tree” instead of a White House Christmas tree.
Let me say that is complete and utterly false.
First, per the National Parks Service, the nation will still have the traditional National Christmas Tree. So consider part 1 of the above email debunked.
Second, per the Washington Post, Michelle Obama has specified the type of “Official White House Christmas tree” she wants. Thus part 2 of the purported e-mail is also proven false.
Finally, my favorite fact-check site, Politifact, has also debunked this false claim, labeling it a “Pants on Fire” lie, complete with sources that refute the email’s claims (including a reference to a similar e-mail about President Bush doing the same thing, which is equally ridiculous).
For those of us in the Christian faith, we understand what the true meaning of Christmas is. The blessing of the birth of Jesus Christ will never be forgotten, no matter how many jingles, ads, or hyperbolic chain e-mails we receive.
Thank you! As a Christian, I really feel it is important to get it through to other Christians how badly they need to stop believing and sending bogus chain letters. I like most Christmas commercials on TV except for the price tags of the stuff they have the families bying each other as if money grew on trees. Oh yeah, a lap top is SO definitely within the average budget for giving as a Christmas gift! NOT! Otherwise, as long as Christmas isn’t actually being profaned and mocked, I like the TV reminding me that Christmas is on the way. But back to chain letters, unfortunately Christians and republicans have the absolute worst record for this sort of activity on the net and most seem completely unwilling to acknowledge it is a bad habit and why, and show no interest in changing. I think at least some of these chains may have even been started by anti-Christians as a joke at the expense of the Christians who are blindly forwarding this crap on without question. It makes me want to scream and throw things. By believing in and passing on this junk, Christians are displaying their willlingness to believe in something that comes from spammers, hoaxters, etc. For all anyone knows, the “Forward this to 15 people and your crush will call you at midnight!” chain may have been created by the very same people who started some bogus “Your religion is being killed! Save it by passing on this chain!” forward. I dislike all chain letters, even the joke variety. Received so many copies of the same Christmas joke chains over the years and they just aren’t funny any more.