Every year, and I mean every year, the right wing nut jobs on radio and television and in the Murdoch yellow press claim there is a ‘war on christmas’, almost like there was a threat that December 25th was going to be cancelled or anyone caught in a Santa suit would be imprisoned.
For instance, the ‘Australian’ newspaper stated that ‘Education minister issued a diktat to state government schools that has the effect of banning Christmas carols’. This was a lie and if you google: “Education minister” ban carols, you will see that most of the highest entries in the result are Murdoch rags, a sure sign that this ‘news‘ is a lie. As a consequence of the conservatives being gullible enough to go apeshit over this lie, the Victorian Education Minister release the following:
You may have heard ridiculous claims from Coalition MPs that we have banned Christmas carols in schools. That is just untrue. To be absolutely clear, traditional Christmas carols have been and will continue to be sung at our government schools (including my girls’ school). These lies are creating unnecessary angst within the community and those spreading this misinformation should be ashamed. Don’t let the grinches get you down. I hope you all enjoy singing your favourite carols with family and friends this Christmas…I know I will!”
There is also a widespread, but false assertion that public servants are discouraged from wishing people ‘merry christmas’. This is also a lie. They are allowed to greet people anyway they wish, as long as it is respectful.
Peter ‘Potato’ Dutton, speaking on 2GB stated that saying ‘happy holidays’ “is political correctness gone mad”. As Seb Starcevic states, this is part of the narrative perpetuated by conservatives that they are an embattled underclass who are having their freedoms snatched from them.
This bullshit crops up every year, presumably because the conservatives seem to believe that they can suck more of the gullibles into voting for them. Of course, it could be a progressive plot to make conservatives look ridiculous. If this is the case, it certainly works.
See
http://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/article/2016/12/16/call-arms-brave-soldiers-fight-war-christmas
