Reference to “holiday tree” shows “infinite liberal bias”

Well, Badger Herald, you have done it again. I thought you may have learned after your mistake last year, but apparently you haven’t. As explained last year in my letter, I no longer take the energy to pick up the ridiculous, biased drivel you call a newspaper, but walking into one of my classes, one just happened to be open at my seat. 

On the front page of your Dec. 6 issue, you have a picture of the Christmas tree at the State Capitol, with a caption referring to it as a “holiday tree.” I raised the same issue last year when you again decided to take a side in belittling Christians and our celebration of Christmas, even as Governor Walker publicly called it a “Christmas tree,” explaining that he didn’t do anything special — he just called it what it was! 

To guide you down the right path this year, I would cite Ben Stein: lawyer, actor, economist and, not least of all, follower of the Jewish faith. When asked about Christmas and the recent attempt by many to dilute its meaning, he explained, “It does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu.” 

Now in your infinite liberal bias, you wouldn’t want to offend Mr. Stein by referring to a Menorah as a “holiday candle holder,” so why do you think it is all right to do the equivalent to Christians?

Austin Kautzer ([email protected]) is a student at the University of Wisconsin.