{"id":4280,"date":"2005-12-17T13:21:40","date_gmt":"2005-12-17T17:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/12\/17\/the-ranter-is-hunting-reindee"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:54:18","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:54:18","slug":"the-ranter-is-hunting-reindeer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/12\/17\/the-ranter-is-hunting-reindeer\/","title":{"rendered":"the Ranter is hunting Reindeer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The opinionated proprietor of the Taken for Ranted<\/FONT><\/A><\/EM> weblog must <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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believe in the old saw “If you’ve got the name, you might as well <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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have the game.”   In response to those who insist there is a war <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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on Christmas, Ranter has posted “John Calvin Joins the Ranter<\/A> <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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in the War on Christmas<\/EM>” (Dec. 15, 2005)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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\"RanterMagnetN\"<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Here are a few excerpts (which I hope will get you to go read <\/FONT>the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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entire post and check out his merchandise; of course, if you <\/FONT>haven’t <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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already, feel free to first check out our “<\/FONT>the so-called war on Christmas<\/FONT><\/A>” <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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and <\/FONT>st. nicholas v. santa claus<\/FONT><\/A>): <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“NEWSFLASH: The Ranter has declared war on Christmas!<\/STRONG> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Or at least Bill O’Reilly and John Gibson and the other genius right-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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wingers at Faux News believe that liberal, left, secularists like<\/EM> The <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Ranter have declared war on Christmas. I hate to disappoint, so I <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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have created a “Make war on Christmas, not Iraq” bumper sticker<\/FONT><\/A>. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Joining me in this anti-crusade is John Calvin, the famous Reformer <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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of Geneva, father of the Puritan movement and one of the original <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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soldiers in the war on Christmas.
<\/A>
“Many commentators have written to note that Christmas is alive and <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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well (or ill from a case of acute commercialism, actually, but most <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Christians and atheists agree with that assessment as well unless <\/FONT>they <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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happen to be retailers). <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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“. . .  More surprising to many Christians and atheists alike is that the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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great-grandfather of religious fundamentalism, John Calvin, was himself <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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a soldier in the war against Christmas. Like most educated Christians, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Calvin knew that the birth of Jesus did not correspond in any meaningful <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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way to December 25th, and that it was in essence a pagan holiday that <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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had been absorbed and coopted by early Christians. Calvin, however, went <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the next step in believing that only holidays specifically mentioned in the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Bible should be celebrated.”<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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                                                                                       \"RanterMagnet\"<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Like any good retailer, Ranter has an entire line of products at his War on Christmas<\/EM><\/A> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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boutique — from bumper stickers and magnets, to mugs, shirts and tote bags. As <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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he explains pitching the product:  <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“Make War on Christmas, Not Iraq” Tired of Bill O’Reilly and John Gibson? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Join The Ranter in the war on Christmas. I mean this tongue in cheek, of <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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course. I wrote a <\/FONT>blog post<\/FONT><\/A> pointing out that John Calvin was a soldier in <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the war on Christmas<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT> and, being a fan of Calvin, I have decided to enlist <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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myself.”<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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If you’ve given in to the commercialization of our Holiday Season, Ranter has a lot <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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of other gifts to please the Liberals in your life (or to tweak the conservatives), <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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including products featuring:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Miracle of the Burning Bush<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Proud Member of the Vast Liberal Conspiracy<\/FONT><\/A>  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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If You Can Read This You Don’t Vote Republican<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A> – “No doubt some <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Republicans <\/FONT>can<\/EM> read, but clearly they don’t<\/EM> or they wouldn’t vote the <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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way they do.”<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Lost. One Democracy Want Ad<\/FONT><\/A>.   “LOST: One democracy. Large <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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economic <\/FONT>and military power. 300,000,000 citizens. Last seen in <\/FONT><\/EM><\/DIV>
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North America cavorting <\/FONT>with corporate fat cats and religious funda-<\/FONT><\/EM><\/DIV>
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mentalists. If found, return to the <\/FONT>American people. Great sentimental <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/EM><\/DIV>
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value.”<\/FONT> <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Besides checking out his full product line at <\/FONT>CafePress<\/FONT><\/A>, you could do far worse than <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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checking in regularly at Taken for Ranted<\/FONT><\/A><\/EM>, which has the appropriate tagline: “Paying <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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attention, and therefore outraged.”  On the other hand, reindeer might want to steer <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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clear of his home in Yosemite, CA, for the next week or so.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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lips and tongues<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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traditional Christmas<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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papercuts<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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         dagosan<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Potluck<\/STRONG><\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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\"tiny   Prof. Bainbridge often deserves tweaking, but he also again deserves<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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credit for his posts the past couple of days on <\/FONT>Iraq triumphalism,<\/FONT><\/A> and America’s<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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need to <\/FONT>be better<\/FONT><\/A> than “Coercive interrogations. A gulag of secret prisons. And <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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now warrantless surveillance.”<\/FONT> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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                                                         \"NoSantaG\"<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The opinionated proprietor of the Taken for Ranted weblog must believe in the old saw “If you’ve got the name, you might as well have the game.”   In response to those who insist there is a war on Christmas, Ranter has posted “John Calvin Joins the Ranter in the War on Christmas” (Dec. 15, 2005) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-172","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12863,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4280\/revisions\/12863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}