Usually by this time of year there have been several stories in the Murdoch and other right-wing media outlets that a war is being waged on Christmas by assorted greenies or lefties or atheists or Muslims or somebody else of which they are suspicious. One of the most ludicrous happened just before Christmas in 2016, when the Murdoch rag, The Australian, said that the Victorian Education Minister had banned Christmas Carols in government schools. It was, of course, a lie1.
Surprisingly it seems that the annual war against Christmas has been averted this year. Unfortunately, it was not because the defenders of religious rectitude out-manoeuvred the heretics. What is even more upsetting than this, is the fact that the notoriously rabidly left-wing insurgency of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC)2 is supposedly doing the stealing. Their cultural war has even sunk to the level of changing the lyrics of Christmas carols to rail against using coal to generate electricity. This was at an annual Christmas Carols event in Darebin, in inner northeastern Melbourne. Darebin Arts promoted this event by stating on their website “Come along and sing out loud for strong action on the climate emergency and restoration of a safe climate”2,3. It almost goes without saying that the climate change denying right-wing nut jobs of the Liberal Party associated media entities chucked a frenzied wobbly over this.
The idiotic Sky News ‘host’ Chris Kenny has stated on his show, which is from the shallow end of the Sky News gene pool, that this was an attempt to ‘steal Christmas’ by the ‘green left’ ARRCC. He said they are railing against coal mining, railing in favour of renewable energy, railing against anyone in the political world who has a different view on these issues. He continued that it is all about taking these cherished carols and turning them into political campaigns. He then played a video of a Sydney choir singing one of these carols. Then he asked if these carollers think about poor people and how all this climate activity is costing them. The irony of an RWNJ expressing concern for the poor is probably lost on him. If Kenny’s material was written as satire, it would be regarded as too outlandish to be at all comedic. The disgraceful thing about Kenny’s diatribe is that he said Christmas is about family and children, and it’s when we tell children that they are surrounded by love and care and compassion. It is a shame that he does not care about his children’s future. He berated these carollers for scaring our kids and prostituting and vandalising Christmas because they are opposed to a coal mine or cheap energy (yes, he actually said that). Then hilariously, he ended with ‘we don’t want politics mixing with religion’3. It makes you wonder where he has been all his life, as religion has been in the middle of politics for centuries. He is a complete idiot, and clearly takes his audience for idiots too.
Tom Elliot, of radio station 3AW, and the unfortunate son of former Liberal party president, John Elliot, stated that “we have a new religion in this country; it is the religion of climate change” then gave details of the Darebin event. He followed this with: “I find this bizarre; to take old-fashioned Christian religious (sic) carols and re-fit the lyrics to talk about the evils of coal and the wonder of solar power … is just bizarre”. He opined that “the world is going mad”4. He was seemingly unaware that it was a religious group who did this. To call climate change a religion shows how desperately lacking in intelligence is Elliot. He seems completely unaware of how science operates and completely ignorant of the science of climate change
When someone talks about climate change, these RWNJs immediately label them as being ‘green’ and if those people want action on climate change, then they are immediately labelled as ‘left’. It is a shame that these halfwit RWNJs do not understand the dire threat we are facing with climate change, both simply from the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere5, and the likely considerable impact of positive feedback cycles, which may exacerbate the problem dramatically6.
These people will soon realise that the reckoning is coming. It will be good to see these deniers made to realise what they have done and that it is a crime against humanity. They should be appropriately punished for that crime7.
Sources
- http://www.blotreport.com/australian-politics/war-on-christmas/
- https://www.arrcc.org.au/carols
- https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_5980079364001
- https://www.3aw.com.au/darebin-city-council-to-stage-carols-against-coal-performance-this-christmas/
- http://www.blotreport.com/environment/a-1-5c-warmer-world/
- http://www.blotreport.com/environment/the-danger-of-feedback/
- http://www.blotreport.com/australian-politics/the-reckoning-is-coming/
A zealot commented on SMH today that “A big bank these days is more than happy to celebrate the festivities of minor religions and cultures such as Diwali and Ramadan. But when it comes to Christmas nothing of course. It’s as if the word has been vetoed in the place.” I’m not sure what planet these people are on but it’s obvious they are driven by ignorance and blind to reality.
Jon,
And they are getting more and more strident as their influence fades. It will get nasty toward the end.
Good thing is he/she got short shrift from others, including people who regularly visit or work in banks. You’d have to live in a very strict or remote monastery not to be aware of Christmas celebrations, and none of those exist in this country. It was just another piece of hyperbolic and thoughtless invention.
Jon,
Many of the people employed by Murdoch are very strange people. Some of the stuff they write is bizarre in the extreme. Some of the opinion pieces in The Australian are the ravings of lunatics, as are the rants on shows in the after dark slots on Sky News. I don’t subscribe to the Australian, so only get to see the occasional piece on free access. I also don’t watch Sky News, but people sometimes post clips on Twitter for a laugh.
According to some Murdoch’s privileged and entitled elder son Lachlan is even worse than his rapidly decaying old man.
Jon,
I heard online that when Rupert kicks the bucket, Newscorp plans to get rid of The Australian because it is losing so much money; rumoured to be up to $30 million per annum.
Chris Kenny’s articles in the Weekend Australian are always a source of wonder; mind you some of the other writers of opinion pieces in the Weekend Australian are no better. Re the hard left wingers who change Christmas carols to attack the coal industry, they are simply preaching to the converted and I suspect that they simply irritate the average person. This is not a good way of converting people to your viewpoint. In any case, the use of coal for electricity generation in Australia is clearly on the way out.