The War on Christmas Comes to Wow Wow Toaster, Wisconsin

IN HIS FOX NEWS PROGRAM ON NOVEMBER 13, Jesse Watters mused about what he called a “holiday tradition”: The war on Christmas. He observed, with palpable glee, that “Now it feels like the war on Christmas is coming earlier and earlier every year. Probably climate change.” Ha, ha.

Watters proceeded to give all of two examples of what he called “opening shots” and “complete sneak attacks” in this year’s war. One was that “a guy [who] runs a healthcare company” in Georgia was “canceling Christmas Eve,” by no longer treating it as a company holiday.

The other example of this dastardly trend was in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee whose name he badly mispronounced. (It’s “Wah-wuh-TOE-suh,” not “Wah-wah-TWO-suh,” although, to be fair, Watters came closer than did Bob Dylan in an early, unfinished song about Wisconsin: “Wow Wow Toaster.”) There, Deputy City Administrator Melissa Cantarero Weiss, Watters said, “told city workers to not put up any Christmas-related decor on public property.”

Watters quoted from Weiss’s Nov. 9 email memo to city employees. “In our ongoing efforts to foster a more equitable and inclusive community,” it said, “we kindly ask that departments refrain from using religious decorations solely associated with Christmas, such as red and green lights.” She suggested some “more neutral and inclusive decorations,” like lights and greenery, snowflakes, and “snow people.”

The email memo issued no directives and warned of no consequences. It pertained only to “public spaces within city buildings,” like the counters where people queue for various civic services. But within days of Weiss’s email going out, the story of how Wauwatosa had declared war on Christmas was picked up around the world, beginning with a November 11 report on the conservative news outlet Wisconsin Right Now, which posted the memo along with Weiss’s name, photo, a link to her LinkedIn profile, and her email address. (More on this later.)

R&I – TP