The rules of engagement

What are the rules of engagement for this holiday-video war?¹ Maitri quotes Greg Peters on that subject:

“I think the purest kind of holiday horror is not something designed to be offensive, but a piece done with all sincerity and good intentions that nevertheless makes you want to strip the skin off someone’s skull with a potato peeler.”

I have an alternative description. Remember in A Clockwork Orange where they hold this miscreant’s eyes open with clamps and force him to watch stuff until he loses his mind? If you were to inflict that torture on someone, what would you make him watch?

Then there’s this item. It’s certainly “done with all sincerity and good intentions.” Yet the sheer incongruity of elements—not to mention the Barry Manilow soundtrack²—make it a fearsome weapon. And it has a bit of an Andy Kaufman, “what the hell is going on here?” quality.

__________
¹I say "holiday" rather than "Christmas" because Leigh has posted some worthy entries with a Hannukah theme.

²I wonder whether Barry recorded the vocal track in one take. At 2:05, the band takes him to a higher key. But he can’t finish the verse in that key; at 2:10, he drops an octave.