{"id":29,"date":"2005-12-13T14:19:28","date_gmt":"2005-12-13T20:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/index.php\/2005\/12\/13\/four-horsemen-of-christmas\/"},"modified":"2006-02-13T14:22:02","modified_gmt":"2006-02-13T20:22:02","slug":"four-horsemen-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/12\/four-horsemen-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Four horsemen of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock<\/font><\/h6>\n
The four horsemen of the Christmas<\/font><\/h5>\n

Tuesday, December 13, 2005.<\/b> Season’s greetings! Happy holidays! Quonset hut! Darwin’s Canterbury Jitterbug! Intelligent menorahs! Now, have I covered the four horsemen of the Christmas season? (I count five, too. Gotta watch ’em.)<\/font><\/p>\n

Too much ink has been spilled on this fall’s from-out-of-nowhere, wholly invented controversy of the use of Happy Holidays rather than Merry Christmas so I’ll write little. It’s not new. "Season’s Greetings" has been the preferred Christmas-card and store-display message for decades of people who were writing or selling to others some of whom may not be Christian. It has been a matter of good faith, if you will, not a mass-marketing technique.<\/font><\/p>\n

The idea that representatives of the Christian majority can claim persecution in a democracy is preposterous. The once-Silent Majority can claim to be inconvenienced or annoyed on occasion by a minority, and with good timing (and luck) be offended by a minority, but Protestants never can be discriminated against in America. Too much clout. Plus, it’s un-American.<\/font><\/p>\n

This commentary<\/a> argues this much better than today’s Brick.<\/font><\/p>\n

How can Christian leaders encourage yet more insensitivity, especially to push intolerance among those predisposed to being foul upon the least provocation? -30-<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock The four horsemen of the Christmas Tuesday, December 13, 2005. Season’s greetings! Happy holidays! Quonset hut! Darwin’s Canterbury Jitterbug! Intelligent menorahs! Now, have I covered the four horsemen of the Christmas season? (I count five, too. Gotta watch ’em.) Too much ink has been spilled on this fall’s from-out-of-nowhere, wholly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-culture"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8218,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2025\/12\/presumptive\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":0},"title":"How Presumptive Thou Art","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Holidays and Holy Days I'd like to thank the governor, the honorable Sarah Huckabee Sanders, for giving my colleagues in Arkansas state government and me Friday off, well, outside of first-responders and the like. Holiday? Actually, that was Thursday, Christmas, making this 26th of December similar to the day after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education, Coarsely"","block_context":{"text":"Education, Coarsely","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/education-coarsely\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Twelve Hanukkah candles plus the shammash helper candle are arranged on a typical nine-spot menorah.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/12-days-Hanukkah-1920x1080-122425.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/12-days-Hanukkah-1920x1080-122425.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/12-days-Hanukkah-1920x1080-122425.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/12-days-Hanukkah-1920x1080-122425.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/12-days-Hanukkah-1920x1080-122425.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/12-days-Hanukkah-1920x1080-122425.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":383,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/12\/dim-these-bulbs\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":1},"title":"Dim These Bulbs?","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Demzette reported Monday that the downtown Fayetteville annual Christmas lights this year cost $93,884. The little city foresees budget problems in 2008, and this certainly looks expendable. Of course it is. Twinkly lights as opposed to road repair and police patrols? It's a wonder it's lasted this long without\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Brick Bats Reportage"","block_context":{"text":"Brick Bats Reportage","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/brick-bats-reportage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":149,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/05\/roomie\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":2},"title":"Roomie!","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 4, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Wednesday, May 4, 2005. With help of another college friend who e-mailed me out of the blue, I've gotten the e-mail address of my freshman roommate. This was well over a month ago, and only now have I written a real letter to him. If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":385,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/12\/i-saw-a-real-santa\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":3},"title":"I Saw a Real Santa","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Taking a note from a weekend column, I spent an hour at Northwest Arkansas Mall, about 4:30 to about 5:30, on Christmas Eve, to enjoy the crowds without being a part of them, (Phil's father in the essay, having gifts all bought, enjoyed the spectacle), though if something caught my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Brick Bats Reportage"","block_context":{"text":"Brick Bats Reportage","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/brick-bats-reportage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":338,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/07\/deathly-hallowed-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":4},"title":"Deathly Hallowed Words","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"You can read here the last, first: He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/12\/always-waiting\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":5},"title":"Always waiting","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005. Waiting. Some Enron executive pleaded guilty today to being a crook. Enron? Wasn't that way back? (Wait here, I'll check.) The corporation filed for bankruptcy in 2001. He's a criminal who hurt thousands of employees, yet imagine waiting four years to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}