re: #20 Bob Levin

It doesn’t have to be Islamic, but it could become an American Muslim custom.

I’m just saying that if you feel this ‘thing’—I don’t know the word, but many minorities certainly feel it, I feel it, (everything keeps getting back to consciousness, creating the right words for these invisible things, at least for me, that’s where I fight)—and if this thing genuinely feels threatening, then the best strategy is to go into battle with the credit card as your shield. There’s nothing spiritual about this, it is purely pragmatic.

And because this isn’t a spiritual holiday—but a buying holiday, a gift holiday, Hallmark is pretty good at inventing these.

This is just the way America is. If you can show that your group is willing to get up to your necks in debt every December, the doors of accommodation magically open up. The more you hold on to your spirituality, then the more you will feel like the ‘other’. Thems the rules.

I really don’t think hostility toward Muslims is going to be even slightly dented by inventing a December holiday that involves massive spending.