The True Meaning of Christmas
That's right. If you can't be exclusionary, be mean:
WhoTheFuckTookChristmasOutOfTheCarol?!
An elementary school in Ottawa was flooded with hateful and threatening e-mails and phone calls after media reports that it had removed the word "Christmas" from a song to be performed at its Christmas concert.
I dunno. Elmdale parents should tone it down a bit. That school was on the OCDSB chopping block when my kids' school was on the chopping block and it was only saved by its sheer wealth in numbers.
Literally. It was money what saved it. The absolutely gross incomes of the kids' parents. Because otherwise, it was older and in need of a lot of repair and didn't have nearly the numbers of students relative to its capacity that other closed down schools had.
That was before Lynn Scott was Chair, though. She used to just be a regular old rightwing Trustee who routinely voted to close down schools like ours - which was in good repair, 100% full, in an townhouse-type neighbourhood chockablock with young families.
Oh my. I'd forgotten all about fighting the OCDSB for years and years for no apparent reason because you could have all the evidence in the world that they were making a mistake in closing your school and it didn't make a whit of difference in the end.
Oh dear. Now see? I'm mad all over again. That's the effect the OCDSB has had on me.
Anyway, here's an Ottawa factoid. Did you know it used to have 8 school boards? Well, it did:
Ottawa Public, Ottawa Catholic, Ottawa French Public, Ottawa French Catholic
Carlteon Public, Carleton Catholic, Carleton French Public, Carleton French Catholic
But then, when Ottawa et all was amalgamated, the four Ottawa boards combined with the four Carleton boards to form the Ottawa Carleton Public, Ottawa Carleton Catholic, Ottawa Carleton French Public, Ottawa Carleton French Catholic.
Our school board was/is the Ottawa Carlton Public, more formally known as the Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB). I grew to know all the Trustees and like only one by the end of it all and I only really liked her because she was sane, not necessarily because she was a particularly good Trustee. It was the dirtiest of political experiences and environments and almost a relief when the bastards finally voted to close our school.
Trustees are not people to spend any amount of time with, Dear Reader. That's because only crazy fucked up assholes want to be Trustees.
So, long post short - what do I wish Dalton McGuinty would do in 2008? Scrap the school boards.
Oh, but first, maybe police could lay charges against the radio hosts responsible for this. Or better yet, maybe somebody could lay a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission:
Teachers had originally intended to replace "Christmas time" and other Christmas references from the song's original 1951 lyrics with words referring to "a festive time." When news of the plan reached the media, some radio call-in shows and blogs encouraged people to contact the school in protest.
Because I think that's inciteful behaviour. I really do. At the very least it's being a public nuisance. C'mon. Somebody lay a charge. Those hateful pricks who called the school and sent e-mails are practically begging for it. We've got freedom of religion here in this country, dumbasses. If that means taking the word "Christmas" out of a carol, tough nuts. It's none of your gawddamned fucking business if Elmdale, a public school, takes the word "Christmas" out of a carol. None.
Whackjobs. Lock 'em up and make society safer for the rest of us, I say.
