A Stupid Gentile
This morning as I was driving to work, I had one of our local public radio stations on. The program airing was a local production, a discussion of the "December Dilemma" -- how different faiths handle all the December holidays, but in particular, how Jews deal with the inevitable association of Hanukkah with Christmas.
Unfortunately, the radio station decided to open up the phone lines which allowed some idiot to get air time. I don't know his name, but we'll refer to him by the initials ASG (A Stupid Gentile). ASG's argument was (not an exact quote, but as close to his words as I can recall) that Christmas and Hanukkah are not even comparable holidays because one commemorates the birth of a divine saviour, while the other celebrates a candle that burned a little longer than people thought it would. Yes, Hanukkah is, in the scheme of things, a minor Jewish holiday, but wow, talk about a pedestal and a mud puddle.
Can I even begin to describe to you how much ignorance bothers me? Amazingly, neither the show's host, nor the guests took the caller to task for being not even wrong.
I'm no historian, but even I'm a little bit familiar with the Maccabean Revolt.
Let's not be so full of ourselves, ok?
Unfortunately, the radio station decided to open up the phone lines which allowed some idiot to get air time. I don't know his name, but we'll refer to him by the initials ASG (A Stupid Gentile). ASG's argument was (not an exact quote, but as close to his words as I can recall) that Christmas and Hanukkah are not even comparable holidays because one commemorates the birth of a divine saviour, while the other celebrates a candle that burned a little longer than people thought it would. Yes, Hanukkah is, in the scheme of things, a minor Jewish holiday, but wow, talk about a pedestal and a mud puddle.
Can I even begin to describe to you how much ignorance bothers me? Amazingly, neither the show's host, nor the guests took the caller to task for being not even wrong.
I'm no historian, but even I'm a little bit familiar with the Maccabean Revolt.
Let's not be so full of ourselves, ok?
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