Newsletter: You don’t have to ignore global suffering to celebrate Christmas

Good morning. I’m Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023. Let’s look back at the week in Opinion.

At a time when mass suffering plagues parts of the world, the celebration of Christmas and wish for peace may seem inappropriate. Speaking only for myself, I struggle to maintain headspace for both the 1,200 people killed in Israel on Oct. 7 and the 20,000 in Gaza since, and the idea that my family ought to revel in our abundance because the calendar tells us to.

It is a time like this that I recall pieces I’ve read, some of which I’ve edited, that convey both the beauty of the season and the struggles that continue in spite of it. I’m reminded of a letter and “Hear Me Out” video featuring a Ukrainian reader in Los Angeles who wrote of hearing “Carol of the Bells” at LAX the Christmas before Russian forces invaded her country in 2022, and wishing that more Americans knew the song originates from a Ukrainian folk chant set to music in the song “Shchedryk.”

I am also reminded of a piece from way back in 2005 by my former colleague and cubicle-mate at The Times, Diedre Ann Ware, who wrote of seeing her first Black mall Santa at the age of 24, something she had never experienced growing up as a Black girl in Maryland. That theme of representation subverting our expectations at Christmas — and sparking joy and ugly displays of racism in the process — is at the heart of a new L.A. Times short documentary, “American Santa.”

Most recently, on The Times’ op-ed page, journalists Catherine Baker and Shahd Safi find similarities between the Nativity tale — Mary and Joseph wandering far from home, about to give birth and unable to find shelter until an innkeeper offered them room in his stable — and the plight of thousands of Palestinian women in Gaza who will have given birth by the end of Advent. These women, like Mary, were uprooted from their homes and told to migrate south, where they must now deliver their children amid relentless Israeli bombardment and no guarantee of medical assistance. It’s a reminder that these Christmas tales are more than just stories to be told out of tradition, but also lessons on ending suffering where we see it.

Merry Christmas. I hope the holiday brings you peace, joy and contemplation.

I didn’t mean for this to kill your holiday buzz: Christmas turbocharges our trash problem, so I wrote about ways I cope with all this garbage and conspicuous consumerism. The upshot: Yes, I give and receive gifts — after all, “don’t get me anything” sounds like “I want a divorce” — but I try to keep old Norwegian traditions alive that don’t produce so much waste. For better or worse, people find love and meaning in gift-giving, and I try to participate rather than shun.

Should fat people get an extra airline seat for free? Southwest Airlines thinks they should. I hate to admit it: Reading Robin Abcarian’s piece on Southwest Airlines’ welcome show of generosity in allowing larger passengers to book a second seat at no extra charge, I wondered if tall people could expect a similar accommodation. Standing a few millimeters short of 6 feet 4, I find most airline seats intolerable after two hours. But extending humanity isn’t a zero-sum game, and improving comfort for more body types has to start somewhere. Progress!

Colorado’s ruling against Trump raises questions only the Supreme Court can answer. “I believe that the Colorado court got it right in interpreting Section 3 [of the 14th Amendment],” writes UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “But what is most important is that its decision provides a vehicle for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the issue quickly. It’s also important to resolve this issue for the entire country rather than have it litigated in many different states or be decided by state election officials.”

Amazon’s takeover of the Inland Empire is a textbook case of corporate manipulation. How did massive warehouses and pollution-spewing diesel trucks come to dominate the political and physical landscape of Riverside and San Bernardino counties? Susan A. Phillips, a professor of environmental analysis at Pitzer College in Pomona, says a leaked internal memo tells of Amazon’s cynical community engagement strategy: “Amazon’s memo is a stark representation of the kind of manipulation that has systematically eroded community voices in places like the Inland Empire.”

Germany pledged “never again.” Here’s how it’s grappling with Israel’s bombing of Gaza. “German disavowal of its past through commemoration has become something of a gold standard for countries that have perpetrated unforgivable crimes,” writes anthropologist Manuel Schwab. “And yet, since Oct. 7, Holocaust memory has increasingly been invoked in Germany to suppress debate on Hamas militants’ massacres of that day in Israel and the brutalities the Israel Defense Forces have meted out against Gaza Strip civilians in the aftermath.”

More from this week in opinion

From our columnists

• Harry Litman: A seismic Colorado court decision just upended Trump’s campaign. Here’s what comes next
• Jean Guerrero: I’m not ashamed of being childless in my 30s, not at Christmas or any time of year
• Jonah Goldberg: The right’s antisemitism problem is well-known. What about the left’s?

From the op-ed desk

• My life after meth — learning to open and close the curtains
• Talks can’t end the Ukraine war, because Russia lies
• Biden is sending America’s military back to the Middle East. He shouldn’t

From the editorial board

• No, wealthy La Cañada Flintridge shouldn’t be allowed to block affordable housing
• The Boston Tea Party 250 years later, and we’re still fighting for democracy
• The science of reading works. California should require it

Letters to the editor

• Scream it from the mountaintops, media — Trump wants to be a dictator
• “Pro-life”? Texas shows abortion foes are really forced-birth advocates
• “I am not wearing a Star of David. I am not attending synagogue. I am hiding my Judaism”