For over two decades, the cultural battles surrounding Christmas have revealed a deeper transformation happening inside American life. What began as political correctness has evolved into a fractured culture where speech is policed, reactions explode into extremes, and sacred traditions are pushed to the margins. From the early warnings mocked in parody songs, to today’s chaotic backlash and misuse of “cancel culture,” the shift is unmistakable. Even the quiet beauty of A Charlie Brown Christmas—once a staple of American childhood—now feels radical, a reminder of the faith, truth, and simplicity our society has forgotten. This episode traces the long arc of how Christmas became a battleground in the modern culture war—and what that reveals about the country’s soul.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: So something I worked on this weekend from Glenn AI. It is our first -- our first -- I don't know if I should even announce it. I'm sure, I will not be proud of it soon. But our first offering from Glenn AI. And you'll be able to get it tomorrow.
You know, I thought -- I was thinking about a song we did years ago. Called Ramahanukwanzmas.
And I was thinking, in the time that we did that -- Stu, do you remember the year?
Sara, is it marked on the recording? What year -- it's not? It happened in 2003, Stu, do you know?
STU: I have to look it up. I probably have some record of it.
GLENN: Yeah, really early. Yeah, really early on.
And it was -- it was just as this, you know, war on Christmas thing was happening. And we were making fun of political correctness. And, you know. I was listening to it.
And I thought, oh, my gosh. This is so early on, that we were using words that you just wouldn't even use now.
You know, we were mocking this -- this coming political correctness.
Not knowing how bad it was really going to get. So I wrote putting Christ back in Christmas.
Kind of like, you know, enough. Enough. Enough. We're putting the Christ back in Christmas because we don't care.
That era is over. It's over. But here's where it began. Twenty-five, 27 years ago. Listen to this.
(music)
GLENN: Wow. I mean, did I hear the word "queer" in there? Not in the way that you would you use it today. What were we thinking?
STU: That's the technical definition of the word, at least one of them.
GLENN: Yeah.
STU: We think we used it appropriately. But, you know, I don't know. That was pretty -- like, I was looking quickly, like the YouTube there is a version of this, that if you remembered. When that song came out, we -- it played for a few years. And then some listener made an animation of the song.
And then it -- that animation was uploaded to YouTube, 17 years ago. And they called it a classic. Like, this is an animation of Glenn Beck's classic Christmas song.
So it's been a long time.
I don't know exactly how many years, but a lot of them.
It was before even the woke thing was a thing. What we were talking about was the precursor to the woke thing.
Which has now gone through so many different variations.
Where you had -- gosh, we must want to be politically correct. We should be able to say whatever we want.
And then you weren't able to say anything. And then you had, like, the George Floyd era, where you went to prison if you said anything then.
GLENN: I know. I know.
STU: Now we're on the other side of that.
And it's like, now everyone is saying everything sometimes to an extent that isn't necessarily -- necessarily appropriate.
Example of that, from over the weekend, was the Cinnabon story. Did you see this at all, Glenn?
GLENN: No, I didn't.
STU: The -- the woman working at Cinnabon, apparently has -- I think maybe Somalis come into the Cinnabon. I don't know. They get into some sort of argument. The phone turns on. They're filming her, as she tells them that she -- she calls him the N-word multiple times. And says that she's proud of being a racist.
And, you know, you might not be the shocked to hear that Cinnabon fired her for that. But see, I don't think that's cancel culture. Just so we can be clear.
GLENN: No. That's not cancel culture. No.
STU: No, I'm pretty sure it's difficult to employ someone calling customers of the store the N-word repeatedly, while working at the store.
GLENN: Right. And proud to be a racist. No. No, I don't.
STU: That's different. We lose track of these terms sometimes.
Now she's gone on to -- you know, one of these sites. I don't know if it's GoFundMe. But it's one of them, and people have put up, like, oh, gosh. She's been cancelled. Please help her.
And she's raised $100,000. It's like, you should not be rewarded for $100,000 for saying the N-word at Cinnabon.
GLENN: No, you should give that to rappers.
STU: Yes, somewhere again --
GLENN: Theater ones who should get the money for using the N-word.
STU: Yes, exactly.
GLENN: We've learned that how many times.
STU: I feel like we -- sometimes, when society makes a really bad call over a long period of time, people get angry and want to push back against that appropriately.
And that keeps extending itself until it's no longer an appropriate pushback against that bad thing.
It's just its own bad thing.
And I don't know. Maybe we should realize that.
GLENN: So when was the last time you watched a Charlie brown Christmas?
STU: It's a great question.
Probably last year. Or the year before.
I haven't watched it this year, yet.
GLENN: Yeah. I watched it last night. With my eldest daughter Mary.
And we watched it. And we've been talking about watching it for a while. We watched it last night. The night before dinner.
And you think that, oh. Simpler times.
Simpler times.
Look at, the gospel of Luke is in that.
Right?
Doesn't anyone know the real meaning of Christmas?
I do, Charlie Brown. That was not -- nobody thought that that special was going to work. Did you know this? The Charlie Brown Christmas. They thought was slow, boring, and way too sad.
And no child was going to -- was going to embrace it.
Coca-Cola went to CBS and said, I -- you want to talk about, it's all a giant syndicate, you know.
Coca-Cola went to CBS and said, we want a Christmas special to advertise in.
And so they went to this guy, Lee Mendelson, who had just done a documentary on Charles Schultz. And they had become friends with Charles Schultz.
And he said, you know. Would you do a Christmas thing?
And he said, I don't know.
I'll do it.
And so they went back and forth.
And the animator said that we have to have real children voices.
And I want to use a really sparse soundtrack. I just want to -- I mean, want to make the music really important.
So we went to the -- the jazz band, to do the Charlie Brown Christmas stuff.
And Charles Schultz said, I'll only do it if we include the gospel of you Luke. And CBS said, we can't put the gospel of Luke in there.
I mean, that's -- that's a bridge too far. Back in, what? 1964 or '65.
So the year -- I think it's the year after I'm born, it airs. So they're making this, while my mom is pushing me out. They're making the Charlie Brown Christmas. Okay?
And it was controversial back then, to put the Christmas story in.
They finish it. They expect it to last one year. Everybody at CBS is like, just don't tell Coca-Cola. Nobody is going to watch this thing. And it turned out to be, you know, a huge, huge blockbuster.
It ran for I think 35 years. Every single year. They only played it once. I remember as a kid, tonight is Charlie Brown.
Tonight is Charlie Brown. Don't forget. Tonight is Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. And Frosty the Snowman. As a kid, it was the -- that's all you talked about on those days, on Christmas.
In the Christmas season. You would say, how many days until Charlie Brown. Don't forget. Watch it tonight. And we watched it for 35 years. On CBS.
Then it -- in 2001, it moved to ABC. And now it's on Apple TV. And they have all the peanut stuff.
But I was thinking as I watched last night, how much money has this made?
And who has you all that money?
Who got you all that money?
Who are still paying for these? It had to be a fortune. A fortune.
STU: Worth every penny.
Think about that. The exposure to -- like, you're rooting for the kid, talking about God!
Like what is that -- what an incredible dynamic, that played out.
It is unbelievable watching it. And how out of place that particular thing feels, in a way.
Because, you know, as you note, the sort of sparseness of the production of it.
The whole thing just stops. And there's that long walk to the stage, before he goes into the speech. It is really -- it totally draws can't attention.
GLENN: It was slowly in the 1960s. They say it was too slow in the 1960s.
So imagine -- I mean, that's why we feel it today. Imagine what our kids think about this. Oh, God. I watched three TikTok videos by the time Linus said there was something. And he said, turn on the lights!
It was like, it's crazy. It's crazy.
STU: It really is an amazing thing. And it has a way of drawing your attention in.
It's so sparse. And reasonable medical probability like, the pacing of it is so awkward. And especially in that moment. You can't help, but kind of lean in.
You know, you're like, wait. What's he about to say? Then he just goes into like, reading the Bible. It is -- it is an amazing moment in American television history. And thank God it exists! I mean, it is something that probably is introduced, you know. A ton of kids to this stuff for the first time.





