Seems to me that a singularly stupid idea has been getting a thorough workout on both sides of the political blogfence this season…the notion that “the left” somehow hates calling Christmas “Christmas”, and that we all want to see it replaced with a long string of multicultural equivalents in every greeting, card, ceremony, song, celebration, lawn decoration and school pageant.

Now, I personally think this peculiar fantasy is just another product of the strange delusion many seem to have that Canada is just a poor cousin of the States. There seem to be a lot of folks who wish we shared America’s melting pot philosophy, defense policy, and horror of anything even remotely resembling socialism. And in their haste to identify themselves with the US, they’ve decided that we must be sharing America’s social problems too.

All this business about politically correct Christmases may well be a concern in the US…I’ve long since given up trying to understand what the heck goes on down there, although my blog buddies have been helpful interpreters for me.

But here in Canada, I haven’t seen any evidence of this alleged phenomenon at all. CBC, that evil bastion of political correctness, played an entire morning of Christmas carols…religious and secular…and even called them CHRISTMAS carols!! My niece played a sheperd (brilliantly, I have to tell you, a stunningly nuanced performance) in her school’s CHRISTMAS play…and there was nary a Kwanza light or menorah to be seen!

And despite all this, several of the better lefty Canadian bloggers have felt compelled to explain that THEY’RE okay with the idea of Christmas, while several of the right wing sites have moaned and groaned about the triumph of political correctness, and posted satirical “secular” greetings. All of this seems strangely out of place and time to me, like a passionate plea to get the US out of Vietnam.

Guys, honestly…this is a different country. Strangely enough, our version of “multiculturalism” doesn’t seem to produce the extremes of political correctness we see south of the border. Christmas is Christmas, and most of us seem okay with that.