The Dec. 12 editorial in the Springfield News Leader entitled “War on Christmas?” expressed “the view of the News-Leader Editorial Board.” The Editorial Board informed readers of the boards opinion that “Branson aldermen need not fight the War on Christmas” because the “city’s Christmas spirit is obvious and the ‘war’ is fake.”
The basis for the editorial appears to be the action that the Branson Board of Aldermen took on a resolution entitled “The Support of the Board of Aldermen of the city of Branson to the celebration of Christmas in Branson as part of Ozark Mountain Christmas” presented at its Dec. 10 meeting. The resolution was sponsored and presented by Branson Alderman Stephen Marshall.
The editorial, after a back handed slap at Branson’s Aldermen, said, “Things must be quiet down in Branson when the town leaders decide to waste time fighting another phantom battle in the War on Christmas. If there’s one place in Missouri — make that the world — in which the so-called War on Christmas was long ago won handily by the pro-Christ bunch, it’s got to be Branson.”
Verbiage such as “phantom battle in the War on Christmas” and “pro-Christ bunch” show a sensitivity on the part of the News-Leader’s Editorial Board that is exceeded only by its arrogance and apparent lack of knowledge as to why the Branson Board of Aldermen invested their time in addressing this issue. Let’s look at the actual resolution itself. It contained three simple operable provisions:
Section 1 reads, “The Board of Aldermen hereby states its support of the celebration of
Ozark Mountain Christmas.”
Section 2 reads, “In furtherance of that support, the Board hereby urges Branson businesses to try to keep the word and spirit of ‘Christmas’ in Christmas and to foster the history and heritage of the traditional American Christmas in Branson, Missouri.”
Section 3 reads, “The Board of Aldermen also hereby encourages all businesses and residents of Branson to show their support by the displaying of Christmas decorations during Branson’s Ozark Mountain Christmas to ensure that all visitors experience the old fashion Christmas they imagined.”
At the Dec. 10 meeting, in discussing the resolution, as he has done on other occasions, Marshall said, “The whole intent of this resolution has absolutely nothing to do with religion, nothing zero zip” and went on to say, “It’s to do with Ozark Mountain Christmas.”
Exactly what part of the resolution, or Marshall’s stated rationale for presenting the resolution, supports the Editorial Boards “war” theme, phantom or otherwise? To a lot of businesses in Branson, Ozark Mountain Christmas is critical. Opinion of the Editorial Board aside, the resolution, to an Ole Seagull appears to be a simple straight forward statement of support for an event that is an important and integral economic and cultural part of our community.
The editorial arrogantly asks the question, “Have the aldermen spent any time in their own city lately?” Did not their reporter at the meeting or their review of the recording of the meeting give them a clue in that regard when Marshall said, “All one has to do is drive down the strip and see if you really get a sense of Ozark Mountain Christmas. Some theatres have done a great job in decorating and there are others that have done nothing. There are stores that have done zippo.”
Marshall went on to point out that there are other cities out there vying for the same tourists and business that Branson is “and there are other towns that do an incredible job of decorating for whatever they call their Christmas season. We ended up number two because of Silver Dollar City, not because they drove down the strip and saw a bunch of stuff to do with Ozark Mountain Christmas.”
Interestingly, the mind set and bias of the Editorial Board appears to show through when they made a Freudian slip while asking the question “Have you been to Silver Dollar City lately to see the lights?” Oh sure, one will see one of the best display of lights and Christmas festiveness available anywhere but more importantly, they will experience the true meaning and celebration of Ozark Mountain Christmas.
May an Ole Seagull suggest that the sole purpose of the resolution was to spread some of the same Christmas spirit, effort, and vibrancy evidenced within Silver Dollar City to other areas of Branson where a lot of times, at best, visitors see a neutered politically correct version of Christmas and, at worst, see nothing reminding them of Christmas. The only thing “fake” appears to be the “war” premise of the Editorial and that the Editorial Board actually had a clue about why the resolution was presented to the board for consideration.
