Friday 25 December 2015

Festivus and the non-existent war on Christmas!

While Jingle Bells is safe, Little Drummer Boy, may not make the cut. According to new Victorian education guidelines, children in state schools can sing carols in class, but only if they're not hymns.
It seems Daniel Andrews not only hates the sound of children singing, but now Seinfeld too.
After being accused of banning Christmas carols in schools, the Victorian premier has taken to social media to flag his intent to take things one step forward and ban Festivus.
The popular December 23 parody holiday invented by George Costanza's father Frank includes an unadorned aluminium pole in place of a tree, an "Airing of Grievances" and "Feats of Strength", where the head of the household challenges a dinner guest to a wrestling match.
But Mr Andrews has taken aim at the Festivus for the rest of us.
"Unfortunately Seinfeld fans, we may still ban Festivus in schools," he told his Facebook fans.
"Reports from the trial indicate that the Feats of Strength were completely underwhelming and the Airing of Grievances was not warmly received in Grade 1."

Mr Andrew's comments comes after reports State Government changes to religious education in schools could mean a ban on singing Christmas carols.
The rules ban singing "songs of praise", such as religious hymns, sparking concern.
But Mr Andrews has put down the concern to Liberal party misinformation in the Facebook post that's been liked almost 15,000 times and shared more than 260.
Before declaring his decision to ban the holiday, he used Festivus to air his grievances about the opposition.
"My grievance: The Liberals say we've banned Christmas carols in schools," he said on Facebook.
"What an appalling lie. Carols are the soundtrack to the most wonderful time of the year and they will always have a place in our classrooms.
"The truth is, whatever faith or tradition you practice, you can always feel at home here in our multicultural state. That's why Christmas should always be something to celebrate."
We're just hoping for a Festivus miracle - that Mr Andrews will come round on that holiday, too.
Although, he does have every day in parliament to air his grievances.
In the words of Frank Costanza: "I got a lot of problems with you people. And now you're gonna hear about.

This was an appalling beat up by publicity seeking Liberal politicians and had NO basis in fact as the minister, Premier and principals/teachers like me made perfectly clear. There was no direction from DET to ban Christmas or carols or Nativity scenes in state schools. I doubt any state schools sing Christian hymns at Christmas time but if they do there was nothing stopping them. This is not America and we don't need a fake Fox News 'War on Christmas' non-stories!

@theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook

No comments:

Post a Comment