Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: Columnist sums up his semester with a holiday wishlist
By Justin Marble
The Daily Free Press (Boston U.)
12/12/2006

(U-WIRE) BOSTON — Over the course of my column, I've covered a lot of topics. Things like video games, the homeless, celebrities, advertising and dodgeball. But I think a lot of what I was trying to say in each of these columns about our culture as a whole can be summed up in one easy topic.

I'm talking about Christmas. Or Hanukkah. Or Kwanzaa. Or "the winter solstice." Basically, the entire holiday season. Every year, the same stuff happens. Boston University Alumnus Bill O'Reilly gets on his show and begins some rant about how Christmas is being destroyed because people are saying the more politically correct "Season's Greetings," instead of "Merry Christmas."

I'm not a big fan of political correctness normally. But honestly, why do people care so much? Stores feel that they should cater to non-Christians, and so they go with the secular "Season's Greetings" in their window displays. But people are wrong on both sides. If I was Jewish, and a store said "Merry Christmas," instead of "Happy Hanukkah" or "Season's Greetings," I really wouldn't even think twice about it, or care at all. It's not a big deal, and I think a lot of people feel this way. Consider the following typical winter conversation:

"Merry Christmas."

"Oh, I'm Jewish/Muslim/Hindu/Confucian/ Buddhist/Agnostic/Atheist/Wiccan/ Satanic/Zoroastrian."

"My mistake, Happy Holidays."

"You too."

See? No harm, no foul. This isn't something that has to be debated, or blogged about or talked to death every year. The people who get personally offended by a store that says "Merry Christmas" are wrong. But people like O'Reilly, who get offended by a store that says "Happy Holidays" are also wrong.

I guess this reflects my overall political or societal views for the most part. People should be free to do as they please. There are limits to this, and people should be free to respond to others' words or actions. But there is something inherent in human nature where people don't like being told what to do. This country was based on freedom.

I know some of you by now have probably tried to pin me down into a political party. Throughout my articles this year, I may have seemed to be a liberal at some times and a conservative at others.

Above all, what I've been trying to say is that it shouldn't work like that. People shouldn't blindly subscribe to a political party. There are a billion different issues out there, and I think it's our responsibility as citizens to become informed and formulate our own opinion about each one.

But getting back to the holidays. The more I think about it, the more I see aspects of each of my columns in it. I suppose it's fitting that as my column comes to an end, demonstrations of everything I've been talking about are all around us.

What better time than the holidays to examine our culture? It is, after all, the time when greed and commercialism are at an all-time high.

We're hypocrites. Everybody says it's the season of giving and blah, blah, blah. Be nice to each other, get in the Christmas spirit. Then the day after Thanksgiving, every year without fail, somebody's trampled as people fight for a Playstation 3 or Tickle Me Elmo. We turn being nice into a competition.

Look at the big man himself. I'll ignore the fact that his first name is an anagram for Satan (I'm no religious zealot by any means, I just find it interesting.) But ole' Kris Kringle is more of a commercial symbol — simply another brand name, a marketing scheme. Turn on your TV and watch some holiday commercials. He's selling computers, diamonds, pretty much anything you could think of. Plus he's fat, another symbol of gluttony.

Every year we put out Christmas cookies for Santa and maybe a couple carrots for the reindeer. What about people who go hungry on Christmas? Why not give the cookies and carrots to them? I'm not trying to be some high-and-mighty preacher here either, because I do it too. I just find it hypocritical that the season of giving involves "giving" to an imaginary person.

I don't hate Christmas, and I don't hate America. I just think there are a lot of things we could work on with regard to both. So, I think I'll end my column's run with a couple of topics that I haven't had the chance to fully explore this year, some funny, some not and some that perhaps I've touched on a little bit.

Without further ado, I present my holiday wish list:

I wish sports stars would get a grip and realize that at the end of the day, they're getting paid millions of dollars to play a game. Seriously, shut up and stop complaining. Everybody's tired of it.

I wish the media would realize that a good majority of the population now trusts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert more than "real" journalists. That's a hint that it might be time to change something.

I wish everyone would be taught what satire, sarcasm and humor are at an early age. I think a lot of our world's problems would be solved if we could stop and laugh at ourselves once in awhile. I grew up with Calvin and Hobbes, and I'm a better person for it.

I wish Jared Fogle would fall off the face of the Earth. Let's just say I have a personal vendetta against him that would be too complex to state here.

I wish people (mostly women) would stop hanging off of Oprah's every word. She made a lot of money and actually demonstrated how to be a normal human by giving a lot of it away. I respect her for that, but really, she's not an expert on anything, and I don't understand why her word holds more weight than other people's. Honestly, when James Frey lied on her show it was like an offense against a holy power.

I wish girls would stop spending so much money on makeup. I really can't tell the difference and neither can most guys I know. If it doesn't make you look better, what's the point?

I wish driving tests would designate what lane on the highway you're allowed to drive in. Competent drivers get the first lane. Everybody else gets pushed off to the side.

I wish people comprehended separation of church and state.

I wish Hollywood would stop churning out crappy movies, and more importantly, I wish people would stop going to them. Big Momma's House did not, by any means, need a sequel. And although Deck the Halls should have never seen the light of day, I did enjoy seeing Danny DeVito drunk.

If just one of these wishes came true, I'd have a wonderful Christmas. Because at least then, I would know that the problems we're facing are getting better. I just hope that whether you agreed with me or hated me, my columns made you think about our society. So this holiday season, all I ask is that you stop and take a look around, take everything with a grain of salt and have a great vacation. Thanks for reading.

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