Jay Nordlinger writes today about the need for a “safe zone” from the politicization of everything, something socialists are notorious for. (I wrote something very similar to Nordlinger’s lament back in 2004: “I think the public generally takes the art that’s produced for its own merits, regardless of the artists’ political views. No doubt that’s largely due to the fact that we do not share the socialist’s worldview of everything is political. It is comforting to keep certain things removed from the political sphere, including one’s enjoyment of art.”)
Here is one of the examples Nordlinger shares from a reader, which no doubt will interest the Library of Congress and other Obama acolytes:
A couple weekends back, I was listening to Garrison Keillor?s A Prairie Home Companion. And Ren?e Fleming [the great soprano] sang ?In the Bleak Midwinter.? But the lyrics to this beloved and touching carol were changed, in order to celebrate Barack Obama. The original carol is about Christ. But, in this version, Obama was the central figure. What is happening to us?
Here is new “In the Bleak Midwinter,” showing the replaced lyrics as well:
Strike:
In the bleak midwinter, frost wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Replace with:
In the bleak midwinter at the Christmas feast
A family leaves Chicago and travels to the East
For a public mansion in Washington, D.C.,
In a time of trouble and festivity.
Strike:
Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Replace with:
All across the nation, sea to shining sea,
People watch the passage of that family.
And our loving wishes go out to them there.
All the nation breathes a silent, hopeful prayer.