College students at the University of Virginia actually signed a petition to ban Christmas on their campus this past weekend. In less than two hours, nearly twenty students signed the petition, Campus Reform reported.
Campus Reform reporters Amber Athey and Cabot Phillips created a fake student group called “Students for an Inclusive Holiday Season” and convinced many students to support the organization’s goal — to ban Christmas.
“Christians have a lot of privilege on campus because a lot of the holiday stuff is usually geared towards them,” Athey declared.
Phillips echoed her remarks. “The lights just feel kind of oppressive, though. I don’t celebrate Christmas,” he declared, adding that “those lights aren’t for us.” He described his organization’s goal as “inclusivity, a safe space for students who don’t want to see Christmas lights, don’t want to hear ‘Merry Christmas!’ or see Christmas trees.”
But Athey and Phillips did not really believe these things — they were trying to expose liberal students who would be willing to ban Christmas.
To be fair, the politically correct censorship in vogue on today’s college campuses has already attacked Christmas in much the same vein. In June, the University of North Carolina published a guide for the perpetually aggrieved that lists “Christmas vacation” as a microaggression — a phrase that is off limits because it might offend someone.
At Cornell University, the administration listed decorations that are “NOT consistent” with the school’s “commitment to diversity and inclusiveness.” Naturally, the list included religious symbols like nativity scenes and menorahs, but for some reason it also included … mistletoe! Mistletoe?!
For those who don’t know, mistletoe is a plant hung from the ceiling. The tradition — not religious at all — is that lovers kiss beneath the mistletoe. Perhaps the plant is too closely associated with “heteronormative” sexuality? Then again, mistletoe doesn’t seem restricted to straight people…
Hearing about these cases, Athey and Phillips decided to see how many students at UVA they could get to sign the petition. Unfortunately, they seemed a little heavy-handed to the students they approached.
While many students did indeed sign the petition, they seemed to do so reluctantly, more because Athey and Phillips pressured them than because they really believed in the cause.
One student replied, “I feel like at this point I’ve kind of gotten used to it.” To this, Phillips shot back, “No one should have to get used to oppression.”
One signer agreed, “Yeah, that’s — that’s hard.” Another said, “Well, we’ll survive, right?”
One more enthusiastic signer left his John Hancock and left, saying, “Well, good luck.”
Despite varying levels of enthusiasm, many students did indeed sign the petition. These reluctant Grinches may steal Christmas only when badgered to do so, but they are willing to do it all the same.
The “War on Christmas” is alive and well on college campuses, but at least at UVA, students aren’t quite so enthusiastic to ban the holiday. If only the same could be said for the University of North Carolina and Cornell.
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