Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Garrison Keillor Doesn’t Like Jews Writing Christmas Songs
Tablet Magazine ^ | December 17, 2009 | Marissa Brostoff

Posted on 12/19/2009 8:18:12 PM PST by Misterioso

Garrison Keillor, self-appointed cultural representative of regular old Americans, ruffled some feathers yesterday with a mildly xenophobic rant about Christmas. After lambasting a Unitarian church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for “spiritual piracy and cultural elitism”—tweaking the lyrics of “Silent Night” for a singalong, in layman’s terms—he turned his ire in a different direction:

And all those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolph and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write ‘Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we’ll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah’? No, we didn’t. Christmas is a Christian holiday—if you’re not in the club, then buzz off.

The Baltimore Sun got some angry letters about this, and understandably so. Hating on Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” is, in a way, the same thing as the American Family Association’s boycott of the Gap for its “failure” to use the word Christmas in ads: both actions reject a dilution of Christmas by outsiders, just in slightly different ways. It certainly does not accord with the generous holiday spirit. And anyway: “Dreck?” Really? Who’s co-opting whom?

Here's the link to the original article in the Baltimore Sun.

http://tinyurl.com/yarhb2e


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: christmas; keillor; songs
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-62 next last
Christmas spirit from Mr. Woebegone.

Woe´-be`gone` a. 1. Beset or overwhelmed with woe; immersed in grief or sorrow; woeful. So woe-begone was he with pains of love.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by C. & G. Merriam Co.

1 posted on 12/19/2009 8:18:15 PM PST by Misterioso
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Misterioso
Did one of our guys write ‘Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we’ll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah’?

Garrison needs a Barney Frank hug.

2 posted on 12/19/2009 8:24:18 PM PST by This_far (Mandatory insurance! I thought it was about health care?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso

Garrulous Keister should just go away.


3 posted on 12/19/2009 8:24:31 PM PST by Clint Williams (America -- a great idea, didn't last)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso

Irving B wrote White C? Did not know that. Kind of funny when you think about it...

Oh, heck the spirit of Christmas is supposed to be love, isn’t it?

If they write NICE songs....after all, wouldn’t you hate to see what Eminem might come up with.


4 posted on 12/19/2009 8:28:31 PM PST by Beowulf9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso

Always good when a big Democrat crams his foot in his mouth.


5 posted on 12/19/2009 8:28:55 PM PST by Artemis Webb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso

Oh woe.


6 posted on 12/19/2009 8:29:06 PM PST by PaleoBob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso

Wonder how Garrison feels about Woody Guthrie (Gentile) writing Hannukah songs?


7 posted on 12/19/2009 8:29:46 PM PST by jra
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso

who gave him a wedgie?


8 posted on 12/19/2009 8:30:50 PM PST by tioga
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clint Williams
Garrison Keillor was funny about twenty five years ago, before he went to New York and turned into a bigotted east coast asshole.Once you cross that line you don't get to come back. He'll be an asshole for life.
9 posted on 12/19/2009 8:31:54 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso

Just a few minutes ago, I saw something really strange. A group was singing, “we wish you a merry Christmas’ then told everyone “Merry Christmas” at the end.

They didn’t mention Kwanzaa or any Muslim holidays either.

It was Dish Network.


10 posted on 12/19/2009 8:33:55 PM PST by yarddog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso
I think he's way out of line, but I gotta admit I note a strange sense of irony when I hear Christmas songs (and I mean religious ones) sung by Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, etc.
11 posted on 12/19/2009 8:37:47 PM PST by Alberta's Child (God is great, beer is good . . . and people are crazy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Artemis Webb

As a radio fan, when in the right frame of mind, I find him and his program funny and nostalgic, and mostly harmless. But he also speaks his mind, and isn’t very PC at times (like this) - and makes public the side of liberalism that is often denied or kept private - showing that libs can be just as prejudiced, even racist, as anyone.


12 posted on 12/19/2009 8:40:10 PM PST by bigbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso

Well, I wouldn’t have put the onus on any one particular ethnicity, but our culture does have a bad habit of putting the X in Xmas, burying all trace of its Christian underpinnings. We seem to prefer sappy sentimentality and materialism to the message and good news of Christ. And that’s sad.

While we’re on the topic, have you ever considered the nasty meaning of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”? How the path to avoid ridicule for one’s differences is to suck up and be sucked-up to? Not the message I wanted my kids to take to heart.


13 posted on 12/19/2009 8:41:09 PM PST by RightOnTheLeftCoast (Obama: running for re-election in '12 or running for Mahdi now? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

Money.If it sells anyone will do it.Let’s all humm.:)


14 posted on 12/19/2009 8:46:15 PM PST by fatima (Free Hugs Today :))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso

Well, it is all about the birth of a Jewish guy anyway. Isn’t it?


15 posted on 12/19/2009 8:52:47 PM PST by Random Access
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: This_far

Minnesota (pron. ~min.ee.SO.ta) The land of Jesse “the body” Ventura, Al “Stuart Smiley” Franken, and Garrison “hypocrite” Keillor. They are all the bastard children of Walter “big loser” Mondale.


16 posted on 12/19/2009 8:53:43 PM PST by Thommas (The snout of the camel is in the tent..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso
I loathe Keillor, but anyone with half a brain can read that and see that ultra-lefty multi-culti Keillor is satirizing the O'Reilly folks who want people to say "Merry Christmas."

You don't have to agree with him to get what he's doing.

Sorry, this one's not only a non-story, it's a lie. I hate when our side does that, especially in the case of a jerk like Keillor.

17 posted on 12/19/2009 8:58:43 PM PST by Darkwolf377 (Godspeed, T, on your fourth tour of duty in Iraq.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RightOnTheLeftCoast

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is perfect Government-School propaganda. CONFORMITY is the highest value. TEAR DOWN anyone who is “different.” And the way to get ahead is to be picked for some honor by an AUTHORITY FIGURE.


18 posted on 12/19/2009 9:04:41 PM PST by Arthur McGowan (In Edward Kennedy's America, federal funding of brothels is a right, not a privilege.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: RightOnTheLeftCoast
putting the X in Xmas, burying all trace of its Christian underpinnings.

Actually, it's just the opposite. That thing that looks like an "X" is the Greek letter "Chi," the first letter in "Christ." The "Chi Rho" is an ancient Christian symbol, still found in many churches, and is the "CHR" in "CHRISTOS."

Now, if we can just get more churches to put the "Mass" back into "Christ Mass". . . .

19 posted on 12/19/2009 9:05:33 PM PST by Charles Henrickson (Lutheran pastor, LCMS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso
...Hating on Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”...I'm sitting here in 20 inches of fresh snow - if I never hear that song again it'll be too soon.....
20 posted on 12/19/2009 9:07:22 PM PST by Intolerant in NJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-62 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson