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Attention Fox: This is what an actual war on a holiday looks like

December 18, 2009 1:52 pm ET by Matt Gertz

On Monday evening, as a small group of residents of Fairfield, CT, were attempting to light a menorah at the town's gazebo, three masked men appeared, carrying Nazi flags. They screamed obscenities, trying to disrupt the celebration of the third night of Hanukkah and intimidate the participants, before fleeing upon the arrival of the police. Their identities are unknown; they remain at large.

You probably haven't heard this story. Unlike certain other tales of holiday celebrations, it hasn't received coverage from the national cable networks.

As Christmas approaches each year, Fox News' correspondents and hosts go looking for evidence that the holiday is under attack. Their subsequent reports typically claim that political correctness, godless liberals, or some combination of the two are responsible for the removal of a crèche from public property or the banning of Christmas-themed gifts from school gift shops or the tendency of retailers to say "Happy Holidays." The stories let Fox News demonstrate outrage, whip up their viewers, and pack their on-air hours with tales of the War on Christmas.

Memo to Fox: This is what an actual war on a holiday looks like:

Nazis

That was Monday evening. According to the searches of the Nexis and TVEyes.com databases I've done (and believe me, searching the various permutations of "Hanukkah" is no small chore), Fox News hasn't mentioned the story. I don't mean to suggest that Fox News are hypocrites, or that they are insufficiently focused on Hanukkah, merely to say: this is a story.

So Fox News, how about it? Why not send a correspondent to Fairfield, create some graphics, host Fairfield First Selectman Flatto or Rabbi Landa on O'Reilly?

Why not expose hate, instead of targetting supposed political correctness?

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    • Author by Don Hussein Fabuloso (December 18, 2009 1:58 pm ET)
      6 1
      Did they get any footage of Griff Jenkins cheerleading the Nazis? I was wondering what they did on the days when there were no tea parties happening.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by IRONY 101 (December 18, 2009 1:58 pm ET)
      5 1
      Well...maybe that Jewish celebration offended the sensibilities of those good Christian boys with the flags. Heil Jesus...!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by mustardman (December 18, 2009 2:11 pm ET)
      4  
      Their day jobs are to go to Teabagger rallies.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by nerzog (December 18, 2009 2:12 pm ET)
      3 1
      Well, Scary Palin is in Hawaii, so her Troglodyte fans have a lot of time on their hands...
      Report Abuse
      • Author by John Paradox (December 18, 2009 3:37 pm ET)
        6  
        Wow.. Palin's in another country?

        /snark
        Report Abuse
        • Author by MickD (December 19, 2009 6:56 am ET)
          1  
          Alert Cokie Roberts...she thought Obama vacationing there was too exotic even though he's from there. What's the Barracuda's excuse?
          Report Abuse
    • Author by worrierking (December 18, 2009 2:23 pm ET)
      3  
      Many people make the mistake that Connecticut and especially Fairfield County, is left wing or old fashioned Republican heaven.

      There are some seriously deranged people in the area. I've come across several armed survivalist compounds and many truly scary people there.

      I just learned the other day that a one of the kids I watched grow up in Fairfield County, is now a racist Neo-Nazi.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by canaanxing9025 (December 18, 2009 4:58 pm ET)
        2  
        worrierking:

        I've lived in Connecticut for a balance of my life, and I love it. However,Connecticut has an undeserved rep for being inclusive. One of my Profs. in college was Jewish. As a young academic he applied for a position at a Fairfield County High School. I won't mention the town, it has since refomed. He was basically told he would not be happy in that community.(wink, wink). Well their loss - my gain - he was a tremendous Prof.

        Further, I have a neighbor, a young, beautiful black girl. She, and a bunch of friends with, a parent, went to a Christmas Tree Shop. As they were leaving, they were approached, and the car was surrounded by white males shouting racial slurs. The parent got the girls into the car and drove off. But this young girl was traumatized by the event.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by worrierking (December 18, 2009 7:08 pm ET)
          2  
          I lived there for 18 years and in a year or two plan to move back to be near my kids and grandkids. I love it too.

          When my kids were growing up, they always had their friends of every race and creed hanging out at our house. A lot of the kids told us that their parents wouldn't allow them to bring black friends home.

          In 1980 we rented a house and the landlady lived next door.

          She called one day and wanted to know if we were aware that a black boy was in our yard. We said "yes" and hung up.

          We didn't renew our lease. We loved the house and were going to buy if from the woman, but we decided we couldn't live next to her.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by mk3872 (December 18, 2009 2:57 pm ET)
      3 1
      The Fox News outrage is phony. They are playing on the fears and anxieties of insecure paranoid Christians.

      Any negative treatment of Jews, Muslims, are any non-Christian denomination is not part of that meme.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Ecotopian (December 18, 2009 3:15 pm ET)
        3  
        I suspect you could add sane Christians to the group that is "not part of the meme." Too often I see comments on left-leaning websites that lump all Christians together. We should always remember that there are millions who live decent, constructive lives and see things quite differently from the "war on Christmas" fundies.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by John Paradox (December 18, 2009 3:41 pm ET)
          2  
          This is why I tend to use specific terms, e.g. Neocons rather than Conservative or Republican, and I use Xian instead of 'christian' or Christian when referring to the extreme Theists. I know many Christians, most of whom have at least one regular volunteer 'job' at a charity, but I also know many Xians, who tend to spend more time complaining about 'discrimination' (didn't Jesus say something like 'you will be hated and persecuted for following me'?.. not that the Xians do follow his teachings)
          Report Abuse
          • Author by mk3872 (December 19, 2009 12:58 pm ET)
               
            The religousity of the viewer doesn't really matter, IMO.

            The entire "Was on Christmas" is nothing more than a big money maker for Fox News & Bill O'Reilly by playing on FEARS and PARANOIA of all Christians. All people, of any religous background, are susceptible to those things.

            Remember, News Corp and Bill O'Reilly are working from a position that is entirely driven by enlarged egos, power and money.

            Bill O'Reilly has many books on the market to promote. And Fox News has always put ratings and advertising $$ over actual truth in journalism.

            The "War on Christmas" is just as phony as "Obama's gonna take your guns away" or "Tax & Spend Liberal".

            It is just another banner that FNC holds up like catnip to attract conservatives.
            Report Abuse
      • Author by ProgressiveInNewYork (December 19, 2009 8:42 am ET)
           
        "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." -Sam J. Ervin, Jr.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by nerzog (December 18, 2009 3:16 pm ET)
      2 1
      Could it be that, in the mind of the typical FOXbot, these good Christian boys are just exercising their Constitutional Right to Physically Intimidate People of the Wrong Religion or Color?

      Report Abuse
    • Author by everettbme (December 18, 2009 4:03 pm ET)
         
      What do you mean Fox isn't there? Isn't that Hannity, Beck and O'Reilly standing there holding those flags?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by rwmacdonald2091 (December 18, 2009 4:40 pm ET)
      2  
      Now, now lets not be jumping to conclusions. Maybe Fox can only fight only the one war on Christmas. After all looked what happened in the middle east when the right wingers started a second war.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by cugagcmu805031 (December 18, 2009 4:46 pm ET)
      2  
      I don't expect to hear a thing about this incident on Fuchs Noose because it would show the negative effects of their "war" on Christmas, and that's the last thing they'd want to reveal. Even though their entertainers like to throw the term Nazi(s) around when referring to liberals, when the real rw Nazis show up, they play ostrich.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Old_Benjamin (December 18, 2009 4:56 pm ET)
      1  
      I think righton will be along any time now to explain the irony of this incident. =>
      Report Abuse
    • Author by worksalot2 (December 18, 2009 9:36 pm ET)
         
      Rather chicken$h1t of them to wear masks, don'tcha think?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by wrizor3551 (December 19, 2009 12:07 am ET)
         
      Unfortunately, we must allow people their constitutional right of freedom of speech. They may be foul and hateful but it is none the less their right to be that way. It is also unfortunate that our news media chooses to focus on these people because it gives them a presence in a public forum that they don't deserve. Hate should not be tolerated in any form and the neo Nazis & KKK are all about hate. Media sources should ignore them; deny them the time they seek on the air waves. They wouldn't appear on a street corner in a Jewish neighborhood if they knew the media would not be present to film their stupidity. But Fox thrives on sensationalism, while they claim to be unbiased; they are in fact a propaganda network. Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Geobbels is probably smiling in his grave to know that his form of hate commentary is alive and well in America.

      There is no attack on Christmas. There is only an affirmation of the First Amendment. Unfortunately, that affirmation results in a denial of placement of religious symbols that were once allowed on government property. That hurts Christians more than any other group because they have had privileged status, as the sate and federal governments have looked the other way for centuries. The claim that this is a "Christian" nation is true because the majority of the population is Christian but the national government and the state governments always have subscribed to enforce the First Amendment and its separation of Church and State. Fox News uses its platform to provide the religious right with a platform to express its views as a means of building ground swell support for the Republican party. We keep hearing about states rights and minimizing the Federal government, we fought a Civil War to prevent that from happening and the issue again appears to have gained popularity. Oddly enough during the Civil War is was the Democratic south that supported States Rights, now the tables have turned and it is the Republican Party.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by marsha riggan (December 19, 2009 7:59 am ET)
         
      Soooo important........ Thank-you for pointing this out and please refer it to Southern Poverty Law Center as they track and document such terrible occurances.
      What a gift Media Matters is...
      peace,
      marsha riggan
      Report Abuse