MERRY AMERICAN HOLIDAY

The Butler Institute of American Art is the oldest museum in the United States dedicated solely to American artists. One of the gems of the Mahoning Valley, it has expanded several times through stunning additions to its main building, and the purchase of the surrounding historic buildings and churches.

One of the mainstays of the Christmas season for years has been Christmas at the Gallery. This was a high end craft and artisan show. EVERYONE in the "see and be seen crowd" shoved their way into the opening night gala, and returned the next day to purchase their stuff. And it had some really nice stuff.

This year, I couldn't find Christmas at the Gallery anywhere on the holiday promotional pages of the paper. Nor was there the usual television advertising. I wondered what happened to it as I was one of the regular attendees. Then I saw an ad on television for the "An American Holiday at the Butler". I looked at the ad, and it hit me. The Butler Art Gallery has gone PC. Can anyone tell me exactly what is the "American Holiday"? I don't want to go to An American Holiday at the Butler. I want to go to Christmas at the Gallery.

Let's sort this out. Christians believe that Jesus was born on Christmas. Christmas is a national holiday in a nation that is 85% Christian. Built up around this holiday was the tradition of gift giving. And in the United States,the entire retail industry is primarily based on people buying Christmas gifts. That is why the Friday after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. It is the day most retailers turn their "in the red" year to their "in the black" year. Translated, they make most of their money, along with the grocery industry, from Thanksgiving to Christmas as a result of Christians buying Christmas gifts and food for their Christmas celebration.

Now, somewhere along the line, people running the retail businesses decided they had to be "inclusive", and decided to ban the word "Christmas" from their sales pitches and greetings. That is, the very holiday upon which their stock prices rise and fall has been given equal footing with Hanukkah, Ramadan, and the Winter Solstice. Just how much of the Christmas crap they try pawning off on everyone do you think someone celebrating Ramadan is going to buy? How stupid is that?? They have secularized their goose that laid the golden egg to the point where they are about to kill it. As a shareholder of Wal Mart, I want to know how much this inclusiveness is going to help my stock price, or will it eventually force Christmas to melt away, just as political correctness finally killed off the Miss America pageant.

Political correctness has now infected the Butler Art Institute, and we now celebrate The American Holiday, which by law, is Christmas. My bet is that the attendance at Christmas at the Gallery will be off under the guise of An American Holiday at the Butler, if for no other reason, nobody knows what it is. I don't buy American Holiday presents. I buy Christmas presents. What a shame. Merry American Holiday.

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