Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

Winterval watch: Here we go!

I had been a bit concerned, given that it's getting towards the end of October. But here we are at last. Hooray! The first "Christmas is being called something else for fear of offending terrorists or something" quote is IN - and it's been found by the BBC, of all people.

The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill, said Christians should wear [crosses] at work and not be intimidated into putting them away.
He also criticised councils which tried to "rebrand Christmas" for fear of offending other religions.
Such decisions were made out of "sheer ignorance," he said.

As most people know, the sheer ignorance on display is from the Bishop of Lichfield, who has fallen for the tabloid-tripe-cum-urban-mythology surrounding 'Winterval' - a marketing campaign surrounding the winter months by Birmingham City Council several years ago, nothing to do with rebranding Christmas, but which has been repeated and embellished like a ruddy great Christmas tree ever since. "They're banning Christmas because it will upset people of other faiths and there's nothing we can do about it!" the screamsheets like to squawk. It's not just Christmas that starts earlier every year: the bullshit about Christmas being banned turns up before Bonfire Night almost every year nowadays, as well.

As I wrote last year back in September, these stories don't have to be true. A quick bit of fact-checking would expose them for the silliness they are - but obviously would negate the story, and so doesn't take place. And the result is that people like the Bishop of Lichfield - who really ought to know better - get hooked (or should that be crooked?) in.

Also at around this time of year people can be tempted to do the classic "Ooh look! He/she isn't wearing a poppy on television or walking in public! How dare they! The heartless bastard WANTS OUR BOYS TO DIE!" article. Or even, as the Daily Star did last year, the "You can't buy a poppy from these evil brown-skinnned newsagents because they all support terrorism, obviously" story. So those are others to look out for in the coming days.