Christmas tree
With the holiday season still three months away, the city council of Perth is gearing up to make this Christmas a more "culturally diverse experience," which is just woke code for watered down, irrelevant and irreligious.

If modern PC culture has taught us anything, it is to be surprised by absolutely nothing. In fact, there appears to be some sort of secret contest going on among social justice warriors to see who can get the most engaged and enraged over the most absurd things. Today, everything and anything is susceptible to the wrath of the 'woke' brigade, whose singular mission, it seems, is to search and destroy all of the old manners, customs and traditions of Western society.

By way of example, try and imagine Christmas without a decorated tree, joyful street carolers, and the sense of magic that pervades the eggnog-fueled atmosphere of the season. It's a bit like trying to imagine the North Pole without snow, or New York City without Central Park. It just doesn't work. Yet the push for that sort of sterile, joyless environment, so as not to offend the sensitivities of the minority, just might be the new Christmas reality for millions.

In the Australian city of Perth, a hotbed of diversity and multiculturalism, city fathers are preparing to deliver, like black coals in the public stocking, a Christmas experience that is "representative and inclusive of Perth's multicultural community; a more diverse offering that is meaningful for a wide demographic," according to its 'Cultural Development Plan'. Although the authorities do not explain how they will pull off the juggling act, the citizens of Australia's fourth largest city should prepare themselves for a "Christmas experience" that is altogether devoid of a traditional Christmas experience. That much seems obvious from the next line in the glorious 10-year plan.


"While Christianity is an important part of Perth's cultural identity (46 percent of the Greater Perth demographic) the City of Perth's current holiday-season celebrations, which include a nativity scene at Council House, do not fully acknowledge or create a sense of belonging for the remaining 54 percent, including 32 percent who have no religion at all."

Well, there you have it! The percentages win. How on earth did the people of Perth tolerate such in-your-face Christian merrymaking, not to mention a nativity scene, for such a long time? Why, there must have been a horde of people brandishing pitchforks in the town square, demanding that those 46 percent of Christians cease and desist with their ubiquitous Christmas music and festive lights, right? Well, not really.


"My experience of dealing with people of all faiths ... is that they have no problem with Christians celebrating Christmas," Richard Pengelly, the former Anglican Dean of Perth, told the Steve and Baz radio show. "Particularly if they've come to Australia and they don't want to see it watered down."

The main takeaway from this radio broadcast was that very few people in Perth have been complaining about "too much Christianity" around the holiday season. So why all the fuss? Is this an attempt by Perth to make Christmastime a more "multicultural experience" nothing more than a preemptive strike designed to prevent any future entanglements with the rabid PC crowd?

While it has yet to be determined exactly how Perth will create a "sense of belonging" for the 54 percent of slighted non-Christians during the Christmas season, City Hall assured the public it would use "common sense" while addressing the issue.

"We're just taking a common sense approach to the real fact that there's about 50 percent of the people that are Christians and 50 percent that aren't," Andrew Hammond, city commissioner, told reporters in response to concerns that Perth was getting itself tied up in "political correctness knots."

Hammond assured reporters that the city of Perth is going to remain "as Christmassy as ever," but that, of course, remains to be seen. After all, the power of the PC inquisition in enforcing its will on society has enjoyed incredible success of late. Unfortunately, however, these woke warriors, who believe they know what's best for society, have not been fair in meting out their highly selective justice on the masses.

There are, after all, many other festivities that never seem to land on the PC radar. Consider, for example, St. Patrick's Day, the annual Irish holiday that is celebrated in cities around the world on March 17. Why are the social justice warriors not up in arms over the lack of "inclusiveness" of this yearly event, which may be accused of failing to create a "sense of belonging" for those not of Irish descent. Should the city of Perth demand that St. Patrick's Day celebrations become more representative of the city's "multicultural community"? In order to avoid hypocrisy, we must allow the Italians, Poles and Russians, as well as the Chinese, Indian and Pakistanis, and all the other races under the sun, to enjoy full representation on March 17. After all, how else to ensure that nobody has their national feelings submerged under a giant wave of green beer?

And what about Perth's annual LGBT parade? While it is all very good and right to see this minority enjoy their special day, in addition to the entire month of June, by the way, it may invoke feelings of 'non- belongingness' to the majority of Perth citizens who subscribe to the less colorful 'straight' crowd. Yet nowhere in the city's 10-year Cultural Plan, is there mention of making the alternative lifestyle event a more inclusive affair. Why not? If the goal of the Perth city planners is to create a diverse urban environment where everybody has a sense of belonging no matter what the festivity, then no single group can ever, ever be the absolute center of attention.

Robert Bridge is an American writer and journalist. Former Editor-in-Chief of The Moscow News, he is author of the book, 'Midnight in the American Empire,' released in 2013.