Garrison Keillor has always struck me as mean-spirited, wrapping a fundamentally smug and condescending world view in a fondant of cutesy-poo irony.
Now, thanks to Glenn Reynolds‘ posting of Marissa Brostoff’s TABLET MAGAZINE column, “Garrison Keillor Doesn’t Like Jews Writing Christmas Songs,” others may also reassess their opinion of NPR’s favorite son. Brostoff describes Keillor’s recent Baltimore Sun column, in which he complains about
“all those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolph and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write ‘Grab your loafers, coma along if you wanna, and we’ll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah’?”
Anyone capable of writing a column like this doesn’t ‘get’ Christmas — unlike Irving Berlin, who very clearly did.
Well, I actually read what Keiller wrote, and I basically agree with him. Believe me I am generally not a fan of Keiller. However, I think that Christmas should be about God and Christ. There is room for Rudolph and Santa, but all most all the songs I hear on there radio are about them, not about Christ. I think that only one TV special mentions Jesus and that is “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Even a Christmas Carol is not really about Christ, and really don’t re-write Silent Night.
Comment by tom t — December 19, 2009 @ 11:16 pm |
You assessment of Garrison is spot on.
Comment by austin tx personal trainer — December 21, 2009 @ 4:27 pm |