Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays 3392

Had I read Icono Clast's joke?

It's an established fact. Both Jews and Chinese have functioned as what's known as "middleman minorities": people whose work takes place somewhere between producers and consumers, whether in retail trade or money-lending -- the Jews in Europe, Africa and America, and the Chinese in America and the Middle East (and incidentally, the Lebanese in Africa and South America).

Here, check this out; it's quite an interesting read:

This essay is one of several that appears in a book I'm currently reading, Black Rednecks And White Liberals by Thomas Sowell.

Your family and your wife's family may not have any members who are involved in retail commerce, but then I didn't say that *every single* Jewish or Chinese family did, did I? Or even *most* Jewish and Chinese families. No, I did not. What I said was that those ethnicities are more heavily involved in retail commerce than are people in general. My original words are quoted above, and they stand.

No, I don't. Since when does becoming prosperous by selling other people things they want to buy amount to exploitation?

Richard Feynman was a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. He also discovered the cause of the Challenger disaster.

I wouldn't say that your education is "sorely lacking" because you've never heard of Feynman, but I will say that you'd be enriched by learning more about him. I recommend this book, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (Adventures Of A Curious Character) as an introduction to the man:

Amazon.com has it used, in paperback, from $4.32. (Maybe you can christian them down a bit.)

You're wrong on both counts. I live in the San Jose, California, area, and have for most of my life. As for my age, let's just say that I'm old enough to know right from wrong and young enough not to care.

The fact that insbreastutionalized antisemitism existed in the U.S. within your living memory means neither that it exists to a significant degree now, or even that it existed to the extent that you believe it did within your living memory.

Since you come across as one of those people who goes out of his way to take offense, it doesn't require much of a leap to suspect that you over- estimate the extent of antisemitism in the same way that similarly thin- skinned people tend to see racism or loveism lurking underneath every rock and hiding behind every tree.

Given that the Religious Right believes in upholding what's known as the Judeo-Christian Tradition -- you might check out Dennis Prager's series of columns on this:

-- I find it hard to believe that there's significant antisemitism among that crowd. Actually, I believe there's a lot more of it on the Left, as the venomous hatred of Israel and the belief that the invasion of Iraq was waged at Israel's behest and for Israel's benefit that are common among American and European liberals demonstrate. If you're going to dedicate your life to fighting antisemitism, I humbly suggest that you begin by looking for it in the proper place.

As for the war on Christmas, that's no invention; it's a fact. Why else can office and school Christmas parties not be called Christmas parties? Why else would people say "Happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas?" Why else are public Christmas trees being referred to as "holiday trees?" Or be banned on public property, as in Eugene, Oregon? Why else would schools disallow references to Christianity but allow, even encourage, references to Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Ramadan?

Now, before you succumb to Usenet gamesmanship and demand citations for all this, you should know that it's been in the media for ages...and that it's getting worse. It's a component of the hostility from the Left to all things even vaguely Christian. Examples are contained herein:

The situation is real enough that somebody even wrote a book about it, breastled The War On Christmas:

If no one had gotten a rise out of you, you wouldn't have felt the need to participate in this thread in the first place. Q.E.D.

Geoff

-- "Kentucky Freud Chicken ('It's motherf***in' good!')" -- Anatoly Matlis