Say It Aint So, Garrison

Say it ain't so. Has Garrison Keillor gone antisemitic?

As the voice of the American Midwestern Lutheran Heartland one always had to wonder if Garrison's wise, calm, just-plain-folks charm might come along with a disdain for "the urban elites", "the cosmopolitans", and the pushy value-lacking, money-hungry New York Jews.

In a column in the Baltimore Sun, Keillor derides all the shlocky non-Christian Christmas songs that fill the malls: the ones that take Jesus out of the picture. Keillor, presumably a believing Christian under that folksy but ironic persona, objects to the secularization of Christmas, and its adoption by "non-believers" as an American rather than Christian holiday.

Fair enough. I have mixed feelings about Adam Sander's Hanukkah Song.

But Keillor crosses the line when he blames the Jews for ruining Christmas.

This [non Christian Christmas songs] is spiritual piracy and cultural elitism, and we Christians have stood for it long enough. 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.

Presumably he is talking about Irving Berlin's White Christmas - or something similar.

Hey Garrison, I got news for you: both Jingle Bells and Jingle Bell Rock where written by 100% pure goyim. And the cute fat red suited commercialized Santa Claus? Blame Coca Cola.

(And furthermore, if you want to listen to explicitly religious music, go to church, or do it at home. The malls need less "Silent Night", not more. Frosty The Snowman may be shlock - but at least its non-denominational shlock.)

To be fair, Keiller is not just out to blame the Jews for too little Jesus in the current holiday spirit. He blames the Unitarians too.

Apparently, xenophobia, intolerance, and an injured sense of entitlement - that sense that OUR way of life is being threatened, and by THEM, is a alive and well in the American Heartland, or at least Garrison Keiller thinks so.

Too bad. I really loved Prairie Home Companion.