Required reading

Start with James Wolcott's "Intelligent Design: Opiate of the Dummies":

On a more vulgar level, I think the same dynamic is at play in the entire "War on Christmas" sham perpetrated by Fox News and rightwing talkshow hosts. They rant on and on about how Christianity is the kick-toy of the Hollywood left and snobby liberals and the ACLU, how Nativity displays are being vandalized by Nation readers disguised as wild raccoons, pound the anchor desk to demand prayer be restored to public schools. And yet how religiously observant are most of these blowhards? How often does Rush Limbaugh attend services? Or does he spend every Sunday on the golf course? Would John Gibson or O'Reilly mouth off to any of their Jewish friends (assuming they've accumulated some over the years), "Look, pal, I have no problem with Hanukah, just remember this is a Christian country, we're the majority, the majority makes the rules, what we say goes, so don't get bent out of shape when someone wishes you a Merry Christmas--and tell George Soros that goes double for him"? It's easy to swagger in front of a microphone, and I suspect most conservative demagogues practice a strange form of hypocrisy: talking shit in public that they would be wary to do in private. (Most hypocrites do the opposite, talking trash one on one that they would never say over the sanctity of the airwaves.)

Mind you, I have no proof, but I imagine that the Fox Newsers, like Kristol and co., profess and promote religious faith must more than they practice it. They caricature liberal elites for "looking down" on religion while they themselves only pretend to look up to it, like Noel Coward imagining himself a nun. They approve of religion in part because, you know, it gives the little people something to do and makes them more manageable.

And speaking of the "War on Christmas", I point you to Brad R.'s "The Fucktardification of the American Mind":

Yes, it's elitists like me, who work part-time for a cool $12 an hour while going to school full time, that are trying to ruin Christmas for the poor underprivledged conservative Christians who control all three branches of the government. Woe be to them.

OK, so I've just ably demonstrated how completely mindless and divorced from reality our public discourse has become. Now, I'd like to know why this has happened. I honestly don't remember it being this bad even three years ago- what the hell is going on?

I'd have to go with the bait and switch theory myself (Republicans: "Let's talk about the war on terr- oh, wait, no. How about how great our economy...wait, no that won't work. And for fuck's sake we need to change the topic from GOP legal problems. The whole gay marriage thing is so last week...hmmm. Wait, I got it, the simultaneous victimization and ascendency of the Christian majority!"), but I'm open to other ideas.