The nation’s eyes are on Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, it is not for a good reason.
https://twitter.com/RosieGray/status/812020013498515461
Centerville Elementary School in Lancaster cancelled their annual production of “A Christmas Carol” due to time constraints. A rumor began to circulate, however, that the play was scrapped because some people had complained about the play’s final line “God Bless Us Everyone”.
Additionally, the Jewish parents of one kid asked for their son to be excused during the performance back in September months before the play was cancelled.
These two occurrences become conflated in the minds of some local residents, including kids at the school who bullied the Jewish child.
Then it got even worse.
Fox News used the story as part of their “War on Christmas” crusade and alt-right website Breitbart picked it up as well.
When the parents read comments on Breitbart demanding that their names be published, they decided to leave.
“There’s no way we’re going to take a chance after the pizza incident,” they told Heather Stauffer of LancasterOnline, who first broke the story.
Pizza-gate, as it has been dubbed, refers to a false internet conspiracy theory involving Hillary Clinton, John Podesta and all sorts of shady dealings at a Washington D.C. pizzeria.
On December 5th, a man was arrested for firing a rifle in the restaurant as part of his “quest” to uncover this fictitious plot.
Yet that was still not the end of the story. Apparently there were some serious problems with LancasterOnline’s piece.
Here's our take on the situation in #Lancaster. Full Statement from @ADLPhiladelphia's @nbaronbaer –> https://t.co/BxlEfxER7h pic.twitter.com/jBPqwIMTNo
— ADL (@ADL) December 23, 2016
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18 Responses
Thanks for sharing here cancellation national news of Centerville Elementary School’s annual production of “A Christmas Carol” due to time restrictions. Since I am an academic expert and providing writing related services on nursing, finance, human resource, marketing, statistics and economic assignment – http://www.assignmenthelpfolks.com/economics/ at Assignment Help Folks where I am right now working. I love reading such kind of blogs and would like to share this news with my students who are taking assignment writing services from me and also interested in politics. Thanks.
Nice post and thanks for sharing here
Pay no attention to what is going on behind the curtain says Fox News. Believe what we tell you WAR ON CHRISTMAS WAR ON COAL OBAMA IS A MUSLIM BENGAZI BENGAZI BENGAZI…. Meanwhile your once great and powerful democracy is in tatters. Your once great country is being manipulated by Puten you friggin idiots.
There’s no war on Christmas in a majority Christian nation. Most of you are trolls.
Seneca, FYI, I lost. Tell hahaha and the other Democrats in denial.
POLITICSpa, Mr. Field. POLITICS.
President-elect HRC: “How many dumb Democrat trolls will show up for my inauguration that they booked hotel rooms for 6 months ago?”
The dumb ones will show up for the spectacle. The smart ones will get a good return on their bookings by scalping Republicans who need a place to stay.
Come on now, Mr. Field, your biases are showing, and needlessly at that. I checked out the referenced story by Heather Stauffer on LancasterOnline. She provided the facts about the story appearing on Fox News and Breitbart, the two websites that depicted the incident as an attack on the celebration of Christmas. Good on her for correcting the (IMHO) unprofessional narrative of Fox and Breitbart. And good on you for calling attention to her reporting.
So far so good.
However, when discussing the issue and Stauffer’s reporting, for whatever reason you seemed unable to resist labelling Breitbart as “alt-right”. The term and its use remain very controversial. Wouldn’t it have been better to refrain from name-calling? Calling out Fox and Breitbart for their misrepresentation is sufficient, and the professional thing to do. Beyond that, readers on this website can (and should) draw their own conclusions.
As part of Pennsylvania’s biggest crime family, I can say that we don’t believe in Christmas because it is about giving, while we are all about taking. The Godfather and Uncle Charley still believe in the tooth fairy because they got paid when they lost their teeth in the cash for kids debacle.
Gotta take the hahaha insults with a grain of salt. How many dumb Democrat trolls will show up for my inauguration that they booked hotel rooms for 6 months ago?
Dana, I’m afraid you are incorrect and the judge that said the Bible verse should stay up actually knows the law better than you. It’s general ignorance like yours that perpetuates the War on Christmas.
War on Christmas:
Hanging a six foot poster in a public school with a Bible verse on it is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, not a war on Christmas. In case you’re wondering, it’s the quoting of scripture that makes the difference.
Proud Christian: Isn’t that grade taking too long to learn the play the same class your children have been in for 3 years? Too stupid to be advanced and too stupid to learn a play after 2 years practice. Time to move on. Take your fake war on Xmas with you.
Proud Christian: You sound really stupid. But then you believe a fairy tale about a savior born to a virgin.
You are too dumb to realize, but MOST children move up in grade class each year, so trained one year and gone the next. Thus, a new class must be trained.
Perhaps you are confused because your kids have been in the same grade for so many years.
Proud Christian, have you ever put on an elementary school play? I have and “time constraints” sounds to me like code for “the kids aren’t remotely ready for this and it will crash and burn and be a horrible experience for everyone involved so let’s just cancel it.”
I have a Jewish surname because my father’s grandfather’s family immigrated from Lithuania in the 1880s, chased out by Russian pogroms. All of my mother’s family lines go back to the Mayflower and earlier, Puritans and Pilgrims all, and I was raised and confirmed in the United Methodist Church. Guess which side I am ashamed of today? War on Christmas? That’s another sick joke played by manipulative political sociopaths on gullible people eager to vent ignorant anger where-ever they can. How about the war on the Nazis we fought 70 years ago to make people safe from this sort of disgusting outrage? The Churches, city council and people of Lancaster need to make it loud and clear that this is evil and will not be tolerated.
There is no war on Christmas. We all have a choice, you can say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. What is the problem with that? I am a Christian and not offended when someone says Happy Holidays. Get off this kick that Fox News made up. I feel bad for the family in Lancaster, but I don’t believe it was their fault. Put blame where it belongs with the liars who made up that there is a war on Christmas. By the way, God Bless American – we certainly need it now!
“Time constraints” sounds like a convenient excuse given that the play is an annual production at the school. How hard is it to plan for something that an organization puts on every year?
Although I sympathize with this family for dealing with the backlash and wish people upset with the decision would hold administrators accountable instead of the family, it doesn’t negate the fact that the war on Christmas continues.