The latest in a continuing stories of parts that I didn’t have room for in previously published columns. I wrote this as part of my “War on Christmas” column for Philly Post this week, but couldn’t work into the final product:
One part that never seems to come up in all of these “War on Christmas” arguments. What’s a prominent American religious minority that doesn’t celebrate Christmas, and has historically been made to feel self-conscious about it? Jews! However Fox News, philo-Semites that they are, can’t so easily make Jews into the bad guys of their War on Christmas narrative. So instead, they go for much easier villains, like atheists.
(Though, considering Rupert Murdoch’s recently tweeted comments about the “Jewish-owned media,” perhaps there’s some truth to Franklin Foer’s maxim that “philo-Semites are anti-Semites who like Jews.”)
The Philo-Semitism of the political right is something that I, as a Jewish person, find both creepy and insulting, and I want no part of it. It’s supposed to make me feel good that my group has earned approved-minority status, while just every other minority- starting with gays, Muslims and immigrants- remains persona non grata? No thank you. So glad to hear you finally approve of us. It only took about 3,000 years. I’ll stick with the Coalition of the Ascendent.
Stephen Silver, Writer 