Path: utzoo!hoptoad!uunet!husc6!bu-cs!bzs
From: bzs@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Barry Shein)
Newsgroups: alt.flame
Subject: Re: Christmas Celebrations and the Tyrrany of the Majority
Message-ID: <17986@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: 25 Dec 87 06:11:58 GMT
References: <3445@ihlpl.ATT.COM> <7706@eddie.MIT.EDU> <5409@sol.ARPA> <7709@eddie.MIT.EDU> <22254@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <2681@gryphon.CTS.COM> <22313@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Boston U. Comp. Sci.
Lines: 31
In-reply-to: jwl@ernie.Berkeley.EDU's message of 24 Dec 87 22:02:04 GMT
Posting-Front-End: GNU Emacs 18.41.4 of Mon Mar 23 1987 on bu-cs (berkeley-unix)


Jim,

I think you jumped too fast for the Constitutional rights issues. I
don't think (I might be wrong) that anyone was arguing that. I think
they were just saying they thought it was wrong, on a personal level.

For someone who talks about libertarianism you seem to have jumped on
the statist bandwagon for defense real fast (of course I know why,
this time the state agreed with you!)

Some things need to be dealt with w/o looking at them in some
governmental way. Many Universities, for example, refer to a "Winter"
break rather than a Xmas break simply to recognize that not everyone
affected wants to think they are being sort of forced to celebrate
Xmas (BU refers to it as "Intersession", of course it's always timed
to coincide with Xmas, no matter how otherwise inconvenient that might
be [eg. squeezing in an accreditable amount of instruction between
Labor Day and "Intersession", usually requires cutting any Finals
study period to about a weekend and gives the entire staff and faculty
a week off just about when they least need it, classes start again on
1/11, not much time, I'd rather see a week long break in July.])

Symbolic gestures help blunt the obvious, at least the point has been
acknowledged. No one forced the University (eg) by law, they just
conceded the point based upon some consideration of what might be good
taste or some such.

I think that's the level people are dealing with this, or probably
should be. Trying to imply that non-Xtians would like to see Xmas
parties made illegal is emotion-baiting at best.