You may have noticed in recent years that politicians, church leaders and newspapers have been outraged at the various attempts made by local authorities to ban Christmas. Although I seem to have celebrated it as usual for 29 years now, I seem to be one of the lucky ones. Others have been banned from putting up decorations in town centres and even from saying the word Christmas in their offices – whilst their children no longer get to act out the traditional nativity in school. Of course, it is all the fault of the PC brigade, because banning Christmas is just another example of political correctness gone mad. If it’s not the PC brigade, then it is definitely the fault of Muslims, coming over here and demanding that we burn our decorations because they are really, really offending by tinsel don’t you know.
Or not.
This essay is not an attempt to debunk every Christmas-has-been-banned story, that is a job for another day. No, this essay is a thorough examination of the Winterval myth, which you may have read about on numerous occasions thanks to the fact that our wonderful media have repeated it over 283 times since 1998. This essay will take you back to 1997 and the man who created Winterval. It will explain what Winterval actually was and how it was never about replacing Christmas in any way – which explains why the first Winterval in 1997 was such a great success. The Winterval myth was created by a Bishop and repeated by a local newspaper, this essay will look at that article and examine just how such a terrible piece of journalism could be published – and how on earth could 8 newspapers churnalise it the next day.
It is a tale of bad journalism that will take you from those early days in 1998 when the media saw it as an humorous example of PC gone mad, to the recent years when Winterval became a much darker tale of how Christianity was being systematically destroyed to appease threatening Muslims. You will see how many famous names – from David Cameron to the Pope – sustained the myth for 12 years and how it might yet make it 13.
Now, without further ado, please click to download the file as a PDF (which I understand e-books can read).
The download is completely free. However, you will also see two donate buttons below. One is a suggested donation of 99p, the other you can donate as much or as little as you like.
The files are hosted with MediaFire so you may be taken to a separate page to download.
Click here to download: The Winterval Myth [pdf - 47 pages]
Click here to download the appendix: Appendix [pdf - 55 pages]
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10 Comments
Excellent stuff. A sterling piece of work.
One interesting thing – you mention Tony Blair apparently backing the Sun’s campaign back in 2006, which the paper claimed he did.
The thing is – the paper was lying. Obsolete covered it at the time , but the paper selectively quoted him, cutting out the bit of an answer he gave that was actually sceptical about the idea of Christmas bans.
Wheels within wheels of terrible, dishonest journalism.
An excellent piece all in all, and well worth reading. I do have a small issue, however, with you falling into the same trap as the media of conflating race and religion. Islam/muslim isn’t a race!
That aside, great work!
You may be interested in my October 2008 blog post:
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk/winterval-the-truth/
which has additional comments from Mike Chubb.
This is good stuff! Proper, well researched journalism. One thing I would like to suggest is that when dealing with Eric Pickles (page 34), it should be pointed out quite explicitly that when he says:
“We live in tough financial times, but there’s no need for town halls to play Scrooge. It is councils’ financial interests to draw in shoppers to their town centres at Christmas given the benefits of packed car parks to councils’ coffers. Shoppers want to see Christmas lights, Christmas trees, Carol Services and nativity scenes, and councils should not hesitate in supporting them.”
( Source: http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2010/11/Councils_should_take_pride_in_Christmas_celebrations.aspx )
He is actually describing Winterval. There really can be no greater illustration of the ignorance that fuels the whole phony War On Xmas.
Keep up the good work!
This is really good stuff, thank you for taking the time to write it.
Promoted:
http://hurryupharry.org/2010/12/14/the-pcmuslimatheist-war-on-christmas-debunked/
By the way, if you set up an archive.org account you can offer direct PDF download links.
You have indeed been very busy. I am duly impressed with the sheer volume of writing on a subject that I has assumed was marginal. I was evidently misinformed.
Thank you! As a resident of Birmingham I am pleased to see the truth being published!
What a joy to stumble upon this website via Deltoid.com. I was fascinated by your meticulously researched essay on Winterval, which dispelled the vaguely-held disquiet I associated with the whole PC anti-Christmas guff.So many commonalities with the anti-GW lobby. Your writing is succinct, lucid and thoughtful and I will be a regular visitor. Is it still ZOK to say Happy New Year?
Best 99p I’ve spent in a while! I moved to Birmingham as a stoodent in late 1997 and was thoroughly nonplussed by the ‘Winterval’ non-story when it originally broke in the local press. I’ve done my best to argue in Brum’s favour whenever the subject has come up in casual conversation since – and it does come up – but it’s great to have a definitive piece that debunks the whole thing in fine style.
Excellent – glad to see someone debunking this particular myth.
There are some Christians (by no means all – I came here via a tweet from a Christian I follow on Twitter) who mistake the removal of privileges for persecution.
24 Trackbacks
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by James, ciro pellegrino, Kevin Arscott, Marina de Joslin, Jamie Thunder and others. Jamie Thunder said: This needs to be read by anyone who likes facts RT : My New Blog, my first media essay: The Winterval Myth. [...]
[...] The Winterval Myth. | The Disinformed This essay is not an attempt to debunk every Christmas-has-been-banned story, that is a job for another day. No, this essay is a thorough examination of the Winterval myth, which you may have read about on numerous occasions thanks to the fact that our wonderful media have repeated it over 283 times since 1998. This essay will take you back to 1997 and the man who created Winterval. It will explain what Winterval actually was and how is was never about replacing Christmas in any way – which explains why the first Winterval in 1997 was such a great success. The Winterval myth was created by a Bishop and repeated by a local newspaper, this essay will look at that article and examine just how such a terrible piece of journalism could be published – and how on earth could 8 newspapers churnalise it the next day. (tags: churnalism journalism tories banning.christmas religion&state local.government pc.gone.maaaaad) LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
[...] still reading through, but if you do read it then let us know what you thought. If you have stumbled onto this blog please do take a few [...]
[...] didn’t think the traditional festivities were Christian enough. It wasn’t changed to Winterval because of political [...]
[...] The Winterval Myth. | The Disinformed This essay is not an attempt to debunk every Christmas-has-been-banned story, that is a job for another day. No, this essay is a thorough examination of the Winterval myth, which you may have read about on numerous occasions thanks to the fact that our wonderful media have repeated it over 283 times since 1998. This essay will take you back to 1997 and the man who created Winterval. It will explain what Winterval actually was and how it was never about replacing Christmas in any way – which explains why the first Winterval in 1997 was such a great success. The Winterval myth was created by a Bishop and repeated by a local newspaper, this essay will look at that article and examine just how such a terrible piece of journalism could be published – and how on earth could 8 newspapers churnalise it the next day. [...]
[...] meant to link to this ages ago – the Winterval Myth . And along with it, you should read the rest of Andrew Rilstone’s Homosexual Frogs series. [...]
[...] page of results alone, the Wikipedia article, an article from Tabloid Watch, another from 5CC and Kevin Arscott’s very detailed paper on [...]
[...] New Year to you all. Given the Winterval celebrations, I was uncertain as to whether I would have a great deal to report in this post, but [...]
[...] hard to kill off a good myth. Winterval sadly won't die away, despite my fellow media blogger Kevin having done a magnificent job of summing up the silliness. His essay shows you exactly why things won't just fade into the distance, and why instead they [...]
[...] Let’s take a step back. The British working class lost all its arguments and struggles in the 1980s. Having seen its unions dismantled, its pay and conditions compromised, its economic base withered and outsourced, the dignity of its labour destroyed, its men of craft and industry ending their careers in call centres, the working class retreated into self-pity and conspiracy. The National Government can drive through its radical monetarist programme with confidence. European governments with similar policies have faced strikes and riots, but in Britain the resistance has been led by middle and upper class students and liberal-creatives, rather than the working class which arguably has a lot more to lose. Yet the working class is unlikely to hold a demo or a riot on the scale we saw in the 1980s, and if they did it would be about Winterval. [...]
[...] The programme features an interview with Kevin Arscott, author of the The Winterval Myth, an in-depth analysis of how it came to be. This entry was posted in BBC, Winterval. Bookmark the [...]
[...] year Kevin Arscott did a sterling job in researching the full story of these rumours. His report is well worth reading (not that any tabloid journalists will ever [...]
[...] sense of entitlement shout and stamp their feet in anger. We must all celebrate Christmas, and woe betide any public figure or authority who dares deviate from the conventions prescribed in honours of our Dear Leader Jesus. You can’t even use an [...]
[...] You can’t even celebrate Christmas any more since the gays banned it in favour of Winterval. And now, to add hideous insult to grave injury, the Daily Mail have revealed in a front-page [...]
[...] As it appears you have somehow missed this can I point you in the direction of this essay so you can apologise to your readers for misleading them: http://www.thedisinformed.co.uk/2010/12/12/the-winterval-myth/ [...]
[...] matters not a jot in the face of the opportunity for right-wing Christian nutjobs to create another persecution myth.—Daz Share this:TwitterFacebookEmailStumbleUponDiggRedditLinkedInLike this:LikeBe the first to [...]
[...] on Christmas. Of course, he mentioned Winterval. I actually printed a copy of ‘s The Winterval Myth essay—all 47 pages plus the appendix—and sent it to Mr. Pickles. I received his reply [...]
[...] always when discussing this myth, I need to link to Kevin Arscott’s forensic investigation of the evidence which is the most thorough debunking of a tabloid lie that I’ve ever seen. Bookmark on [...]
[...] must also add that Kevin Arscott and his paper The Winterval Myth had a big part to play in this. Share [...]
[...] always when discussing this myth, I need to link to Kevin Arscott’s forensic investigation of the evidence which is the most thorough debunking of a tabloid lie that I’ve ever [...]
[...] Blogger Kevin Arscott brilliantly de-constructed the history of the Winterval myth last year. [...]
[...] cheerleader for this annual nonsense has been columnist Melanie Phillips. However, today the Mail has done the unthinkable. This from its corrections and [...]
[...] Whilst you eagerly await 2011′s roll call of terrible hacks, feel free to re-read (or read for the first time) and share my essay on Winterval. [...]
[...] has been disassembled expertly by blogger Kevin Arscott – Uponnothing – and by the likes of top Brum internet bloke Andy Mabbett. There’s a potted dismantling by [...]