It is tempting to compare the zealots of political correctness to the pigs in Orwell's Animal Farm who proclaimed that 'all animals are equal but some are more equal than others.' There seems to be a certain selectivity in their concern for inclusiveness.

A few weeks ago, in their eagerness to avoid offending non—Christians, they campaigned to keep Christ out of Christmas by stratagems such as replacing  'Merry Christmas' with 'Happy Holidays'  — a practice that contradicted the preference of almost 70 percent of the American public  and angered religious groups who threatened to boycott Sears and Wal—Mart for this secularization.

In vain, we Christians protested (paraphrasing Scrooge), 'keep Christmas in you way and let us keep it in ours.' But the PC police wouldn't let us keep it our way; they persisted in trying to hijack our religious holiday by perverting it into something else. (Selwin Duke  recently detailed some of these tricks, such as replacing the words of 'Silent Night' with secular ones.) Such 'inclusiveness' is suspiciously reminiscent of Chesterton's observation that

"there are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all—embracing love for all religions."

Now, three weeks later, this concern for inclusiveness is conspicuously absent as these same PCs are eagerly gearing up for a national holiday honoring one particular champion of civil rights for one particular ethnic group.

Consider that this holiday honors only one of the many champions of equal rights for African—Americans. Focusing exclusively on Martin Luther King eclipses other heroes such as Frederick Douglas, Booker T. Washington, the hundreds of victims of KKK lynchings—and the recently departed lady who would not give up her seat in a bus. Remembering Mark Twain's dictum that 'thunder is good, thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does the work,' one feels that Dr. King's accomplishments were largely based on the quiet heroism of Rosa Parks and others like her.

Consider also that many other groups have been victims of discrimination and have champions of their own. American Indians, who have endured as long and horrible a persecution as African—Americans, have impressively eloquent heroes such as Chief Seattle and Chief Joseph—why shouldn't they also be honored? Hispanics might prefer to commemorate Caesar Chavez while women may want to honor Susan B. Anthony. Jews, who have endured centuries of overt and covert persecution, might well celebrate the heroism of Hyam Salomon  during the Revolutionary War. Other groups, such as Catholics, have had no high—visibility champions and, perhaps partly for that reason, are even today   the object of blatant vilification.

I therefore propose that we take some of the spirit of inclusiveness that was  recently lavished on Chris— er, the Happy Holidays, and apply it to the third Monday of January. Let its name be changed to Equality Day and let all champions of human rights and equality be honored. After all, the concept of universal human equality is the cornerstone of our nation and its laws. It is therefor fitting that we spend a day each year honoring that concept and its champions.

I'm not proposing that Congress be petitioned to officially change the name; that's jut not going to happen. Instead, I suggest that we use the same hijacking tactics that the PCs used last month. Let us simply replace 'Happy Martin Luther King Day' with 'Happy Equality Day' and quietly campaign for total inclusiveness in its celebration. Let us celebrate Equality Day by publishing, in whatever, periodicals, website journals or blogsites we have access to, articles commemorating all of the heroes of universal human equality. If African—Americans and others among us wish to focus on Martin Luther King, then by all means let them do so; after all, he was a champion of non—violent demonstration and might well be honored as an American equivalent of Gandhi. But let the rest of us celebrate Equality Day by honoring the human rights heroes of our choice.

Perhaps someone will commemorate Equality Day by writing an article on Jesus Christ, who, all religious claims aside, was the teacher who gave us the concept of universal human equality — a concept that was handed down from one Christian theologian to another until it eventually reached Mr. Jefferson. Atheist H. G. Wells acknowledged that Jesus was the most important human rights advocate who ever lived.

Even if the PC police ultimately succeed in eliminating Christ from Christmas, someday we may nonetheless be allowed to honor him publicly on Equality Day.

Paul Shlichta is a research scientist.