Being in the news industry, you take notice of a lot that others might not. You’re always keeping tabs on breaking news and what is being printed online, on paper or broadcast on tv and radio.
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Often you can’t help but – to use a tired term we all know from school – compare and contrast the ways that news is reported in the media and what some companies choose to focus on and what others do not.
Let me be clear, I’m not talking about some conspiracy of covering up news. You can ask your mate with the marijuana symbol profile picture about those theories.
The thing I’m actually going to focus on this time is the so-called ‘War on Christmas’. You’re sure to have heard or read the term recently or over the years.
Even Donald Trump weighed in, in a tweet from December 25, 2017.
But what is he talking about? Do you really know anyone that has been forced to stop saying Merry Christmas? Of course not, and if they do, it certainly isn’t because they’re afraid some ‘pc brigade’ will chastise them for using the incorrect nomenclature.
Some media outlets would have you believe that ‘we’re taking the Christ out of Christmas’ or ‘Santa is becoming gender neutral!’ but if you stop and take a minute and think. You’ll realise it’s all a lump of coal.
Read beyond the headline and you’ll see that it’s usually the results of a survey with a tiny sample size or the opinion of somebody given a platform to spread mistruths to the masses.
But also, who cares if Mrs. Clause took center stage for a while? She’s spent enough time in the shadow of a man who doesn’t seem to do much other than fly around and eat cookies, and drink milk (or VB when he came to my place as a kid).
What IS important is that people spend their holidays however they like, whether you’re observing Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas or Festivus while also respecting the views and wishes of others.
It is often the people that complain, that ‘everyone is offended nowadays’ that are the first to overreact when their long-held beliefs or way of life are perceived to be ‘under threat’. But it’s almost never the case.
