Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, December 2, 2005
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■ In my opinion
Back off the Christmas controversy
Recently, research for one of my
classes sent me to a place I had never
been before: The realm of right-wing
“news,” otherwise known as the world
of Bill O’Reilly.
My assignment for the class was to
compare “The O’Reilly Factor” to “Real
Time with Bill Maher” and consider
why the two shows are appealing to
young viewers. Having never seen
“The O’Reilly Factor,” I went in search
of video clips, and boy did I find them.
For more than an hour, I found myself
glued to my computer screen learning
about a war that Americans are wag
ing, a war that I honesty didn’t know
existed — the “War on Christmas.”
After a little bit of poking around, I
found that for several back segments
the show’s topic has been this war on
Christmas, anti-Christian bias and the
diminishment of Christmas. In be
tween his incessant rambling and
screaming at guests, O’Reilly managed
to raise a few interesting points.
Within these broadcasts, a lot of ex
amples were given about how Christ
mas is being attacked both in govern
ment institutions and private
companies. Private companies, more
specifically private stores, let the deci
sion of Christmas inclusion or exclu
sion be company policy. A privately
owned store has every right to put up
signs and decorations that say “Merry
Christmas;” these stores are working to
attract consumers, and that is precisely
what they are doing by getting into the
holiday spirit. If someone has a prob
lem with Christmas decorations being
displayed at a store, that person can
simply shop elsewhere.
Now when you throw government
institutions into the situation, it gets a
little messier. Some argue that a
Christmas tree outside of a public
building is a clear sign of the mixing
of church and state. Others argue that
Christmas is a federal holiday and a
national tradition, and there is no rea
son to bar it from government proper
ty. Both sides have many valid points
and arguments and, when I listen to
what they have to say, I often find
JESSICA DERLETH
FREEDOM RINGS WHERE OPINIONS CLASH
myself nodding along with both sides.
As heated as people are about Christ
mas trees, otherwise known as holi
day trees, in the public square, it is
nothing compared to the debate about
the holidays in public schools.
Should schools allow holiday deco
rations? Should schools hold holiday
pageants? I think that if a school in
cludes decorations and songs from var
ious winter holidays there is no reason
why the holiday season should be ig
nored. In fact, the holiday season is the
perfect time to teach children about
other cultures, to introduce them to
other religions and other holidays. It re
ally is an incredible learning opportuni
ty to have so many cultures celebrating,
in their own way, at the same time of
year. Why not teach children about
Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other holi
days? Why not take the time to teach
them about other cultures?
All of this fighting over Christmas
boils down to the fact that it is a
Christian holiday, and not everyone in
this country is Christian. But I say
that Christmas is more than a Christ
ian holiday. While on the surface
Christmas, literally meaning “Mass of
Christ,” is purely Christian, it has
many more elements. Looking at it
closely, Christmas is a unique blend
of pagan traditions, Christianity and
good old American consumerism.
Long before the birth of Jesus, peo
ple were celebrating the winter season.
Across Europe, people would celebrate
the winter solstice and the end of the
worst of winter weather. They would
worship their own god and take advan
tage of the fact that the wine and beer
made during the year was finally
fermented and ready for drinking.
In the early years of Christianity, the
birth of Jesus was not celebrated; East
er was the main holiday. It was in the
fourth century that church officials de
cided that the birth of Jesus should be
celebrated. The day of his birth is not
mentioned in the bible, though the
presence of shepherds tending to their
flocks suggests spring time. Many be
lieve that celebrating on Dec. 25 is an
effort to adopt the traditions of a pagan
festival. This chosen date was effective
ly integrating Christian beliefs with the
established celebration on Dec. 25 of
Mithra, the god of the unconquerable
sun. Aside from the date, many Christ
mas traditions come from different
societies and different religions.
Christmas has become more than
a Christian holiday; it is also a time to
revel in the spirit of the season, spend
time with the ones we love, and ap
preciate what we have. For many
non-Christians, such as myself, the
holiday may not be about the birth of
Jesus, but it still means something.
And, of course, the holidays are
about consumerism.
This may not be a principle of the
holidays that people harbor in their
hearts, but it is definitely here; stores
have had Christmas trees up since the
Halloween spider webs came down. In
the corporate world the holidays are
about selling, and that is OK with me.
We live in a capitalist country, and you
have to expect companies to bank on
the largest holiday and the biggest
spending period.
Christmas is a great many things to
many people and it is here to stay; so
everyone, please stop fighting over
Christmas. The country is not out to
crush non-Christians. And the coun
try is not out to repress Christianity.
Let everyone celebrate in his or her
own way and let government institu
tions join in the spirit with represen
tations from all cultures. Lets all just
have a Merry Christmas and a happy
holiday season!
jderleth@ dailyemerald, com
INBOX
Alternative to forest bill
allows old-growth logging
Oregon Rep. Greg Walden has intro
duced a bill into the House of Repre
sentatives, the Forest Emergency and
Recovery Act, that would allow ag
gressive old-growth logging on our
public lands within 60 days of a natu
ral disturbance (i.e.: fire, drought,
floods, windstorms or insects),
bypassing any public involvement.
Let’s set the record straight:
Fires do not “destroy” forests, fires
rejuvenate forests. Certain tree
species, such as the Knobcone pine,
actually require fire to burst its seed
cones. Forest fires provide wildlife
habitat in the form of dead standing
trees, or snags, while downed trees
eventually decompose to create fresh
fertile soil. The Forest Service’s own
scientists claim the best thing to do
after a fire is to allow the forest to
recover on its own.
New Mexico Rep. Tom Udall has
introduced an alternative to
Walden’s bill, which many environ
mentalists are calling a “common
sense approach” to forest manage
ment. The bill calls for a number of
projects that would experiment with
different approaches to managing
the post-fire landscape. Compared to
Walden’s monstrosity, Udall’s pro
posal seems almost reasonable (as
would anything), but no matter how
you look at it, Udall’s bill still JUSTI
FIES THE LOGGING OF OLD
GROWTH ON PUBLIC LANDS! With
95 percent of our native forests al
ready cut, why should environmen
talists — whose responsibility it is to
speak for our voiceless forests — be
the ones doing the compromising?
Please urge Senators Wyden and
Smith to fight Rep. Walden’s Forest
Emergency and Recovery Act, as well
as any other proposal that advocates
for post-fire “salvage” logging on our
public lands.
Josh Schlossberg
Eugene
Mayor and City Councilor
deserve recognition
Mayor Kitty Piercy and City
Councilor David Kelly need to be com
mended and supported for maintain
ing their integrity and values with
their recent motion to remove the
West Eugene Parkway (WEP) from
the list of transportation projects.
Elected officials in our community
have an ethical responsibility to other
life forms and to future generations.
This must come first. Personal attacks
toward city and county officials will
not be tolerated and are a waste of
precious time and energy.
What’s crucial and essential is to
get on with preserving our wetlands
and seek alternatives in transporta
tion. Our environment needs sustain
able alternatives to dependency
on oil, in addition to implementing
the dozens of other transportation
projects in our region.
Let’s move forward with improving
our existing transportation needs
and seek sustainable solutions for our
children’s sake.
Planet Glassberg
Eugene
EPD should stop crime,
not restrict skateboarders
Regarding “Travel via skateboard
could elicit EPD ticket” (ODE, Nov.
11): I’m glad that the EPD has solved
every murder and rape in Eugene,
found every car and bike stolen from
campus, and arrested every meth
dealer. Otherwise it’d seem pretty silly
to be spending time ticketing poor col
lege kids for their choice of vehicle
commuting to school.
Ryan Forsythe
University student
■ Editorial
Military
funding aids
research,
not weapons
The University Senate did the right thing
when it voted this week to hold public hear
ings regarding U.S. Department of Defense
funding on campus. As a University, we are
an institution of learning, exploration and in
vestigation, so involving the community in a
more in-depth conversation about one of the
most hot-button topics of the current
academic year is logical.
These public hearings have the power to il
luminate a subject that is largely misunder
stood by the general student population and
to involve the research faculty in the debate.
We firmly stand with those who wish to pre
vent the University from engaging in any un
ethical research, but we believe many of the
allegations that have defined this controversy
are misdirected.
We have found little evidence that sinister
connections exist between the source of the
research funding and its application.
DoD funding on this campus, while wide
spread, represents a drop in the bucket of our
total research funding.
Currently, 19 DoD grants are being used in
many departments, including psychology,
economics and physics. These grants com
pose only about 1.8 percent of the Universi
ty’s total research budget of nearly $84 mil
lion for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. With some
fluctuations, DoD grants have accounted for
about 5 percent of University research fund
ing over the past 40 years (“Campus military
research under fire” ODE Nov. 30, 2005).
This is an almost insignificant amount when
compared to the vast pools of funds donated by
other organizations with sunnier public images,
like the National Science Foundation.
All this fear is based on the conception — we
would argue a misconception — that military
money is funding research that directly benefits
the military, or that military funding makes the
University complicit with military actions.
A small but vocal minority on campus has
used this conception to argue that the University
should not accept funds from the department.
The removal of military funding does not
guarantee that University research won’t be
used for military applications. While it is possi
ble that DoD-funded University research may
be used in deadly applications, it is possible
that any and all research done at the University
might be used for unethical purposes. A Univer
sity researcher’s well-intentioned experiment
could someday be used as the basis for a
weapon of mass destruction, just as Marie
Curie’s experiments in radioactivity would be
used half a century later as part of the basis for
the atomic bomb.
Should we cancel all research? Nix
every scientific experiment? Fire the
Physics Department?
Such solutions are brash and unreasonable,
as is fretting about DoD funding. If faculty and
community members wish to protest the mili
tary actions of this county, they should direct
their attention toward those in the federal gov
ernment who make the choices about what we
do with our military, not the researchers who
help us better understand our world.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Parker Howell
Editor in Chief
Steven Neuman
Online Editor
Shadra Bees ley
Managing Editor
Ailee Slater
Commentary Editor