The brave soldiers readied for battle. Fingers flexed above keyboards and sensitivity meters turned to the highest possible setting, they prepared to engage the enemy in the ongoing War Against Christmas. (Seattle’s King5:)
A local rabbi wanted to install an 8-foot menorah and have a public lighting ceremony. He threatened to sue if the menorah wasn’t put up, and gave a two-day deadline to remove the trees.
The bugles had sounded from Seattle, and the stalwart warriors answered the call:
Angry airport employees alerted local TV stations Saturday night, and the story took off — spreading through national media reports as well as blogs and Internet bulletin board postings.
Into the fray they waded, a-lashing and -slashing:
A local rabbi is receiving hate mail and angry phone calls after Seattle airport officials took down its Christmas trees in response to his request to include a giant Menorah in the airport’s holiday decorations, his lawyer said on Monday.
Filled with anger and urged to foam-flecked flights of fancy heights of anger, they blogged and blathered (ad nauseum) about the evil rabbi who was forcing the poor beleaguered Port of Seattle to its knees.
Overwhelmed by the forces of good, the heretics retreated; lust is sated and Christmas defended… but in the hush of the bloody aftermath, reason returns. It seems that the forces of evil were not arrayed after all:
Port officials received word Monday afternoon that Bogomilsky’s organization would not file a lawsuit at this time over the placement of a menorah, Davis said in a statement.
“Given that, the holiday trees will be replaced as quickly as possible,” he said.
Davis added that the rabbi “never asked us to remove the trees; it was the port’s decision based on what we knew at the time.”
You mean… the rabbi wasn’t saying he wanted the trees removed? He wasn’t objecting to public Christmas displays?
Ahem…
Okay, enough fun at the expense of the warriors. Yes, they went over the edge, but given the sensitivity on this issue, that’s not particularly hard to understand.
It’s much harder to make allowances for the irresponsible media reporting about it. The authors of those first inflammatory stories out of Seattle did no favors to anyone when they issued the call to arms without checking with the parties involved.
As it happens, I think the rabbi’s decision to involve an attorney was very poorly done — particularly since it turns out he has no objections to the trees at all. Furthermore, adding the menorah to a display of trees makes very little sense; they’re apples and oranges in the fruit basket of religious symbolism.
Frankly, it’s hard to imagine a more neutral holiday display than festive trees (unless it’s Frosty), and Sea-Tac officals’ knee-jerk decision to remove them was ridiculous — an outcome they probably could have avoided with a bit of dialogue.
Clearly, lots of mistakes were made on all sides, leaving everyone looking pretty silly. Maybe next time, they’ll leave the swords — both secular and religious — in their sheaths.
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For those who prefer their commentary neat, Captain Ed’s post this morning is well done. He seems particularly unimpressed with Sea-Tac, and says so with his usual clarity.
There’s also an excellent piece at Townhall by Michael Medved; I recommend it highly.
More reaction at memeorandum, here.