Never has there been such a triumph of misconception and media marketing resulting in such tangible affect on the psyche of contemporary society. Each year we all do the same thing at the same time in the same way. Never have we been so psychologically bullied into celebrating something which most of us have actually no idea of. Never has such fallacious bullshit imagery been wrapped up in pseudo-religious mish-mash waffle and served up to the monkeys who lap it all up with the fervour of a condemed man being served his last meal. And heaven help those that aren't bullied into maxing out their credit cards on the most hideous tat that will probably be returned anyway, and sending people whom we have no contact over the entire year a tatty old card, or those who don't feel the urge to bung an oversized bird in the oven on the 25th day of December. "Whaaaaaat?!" comes the cry! "you don't celebrate Christmas?!" There are a number of culprits for this monstrous, hideous madness which decends upon us. Firstly I have to call to the stand Clement Clarke Moore. He is singularly the most culpable, for his "twas the night before christmas" provided the template for all this bullshit imagery and nonsense that still lingers today, he shaped the madness: http://www.night.net/christmas/twas-the-night.html He also is solely responsible for the most indisious strategy in psychological bullying since the cold war, ie taking some old turkish saint and making him into some fat bastrard in a red suit: http://www.holiday-central.net/christmas_origins_santa.asp Next I call the emporer Constentine who converted the pagan Romans to Christianity for his own selfish means, thus diluting the middle eastern religion with pagan imagery and ultimately bastardising christianity into the monstrosity we call "Roman Catholism" today. This idiot (and the romans in general) are solely responsible for setting the date for this madness to 25th of december which actually is an important date in the pagan calender (the actual birth date of Jesus is un known), aswell as turning a middle eastern prophet into a blonde blue eyed western euro centric icon, providing the template for WASP white supremicist ideology for years to come. Fuck Christmas. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I know that I didn't get the Barbie house I asked Santa forPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ... Damn Santa!! I don't think my mummy sent my letter off to Santa... Damn mummy!! Damn them all!!!! sob...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! lol.. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Hey man, Constantine was pretty sweet. The eastern Empire he established lasted until the 1500s. The western Empire survives in the Roman Catholics, who are, of course still around (but decreasing steadily I believe) today. He was largely responsible for the construction of the Bible--I think he picked the guys who would later put it together at the Council of Nicea, picking from thousands of gospels to form the few dozen we have now. The rest were of course, destroyed--all that remains of them so far are the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Holy Grail, which contains the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, which is, if the Da Vinci Code is right, somewhere in Great Britain. You have to admire what Constantine did in spite of the awful things it means for us of the present. He created the society we live in now, based around the Bible. But then there's also an entire month of unmitigated materialism on television or virtually anywhere we look with an advertisement. "Buy me diamonds, honey, and I'll love you, oh by the way it's Christmas." "Get your kids this toy and they'll love you because you spent a lot of money on them parents." Giftgiving is nice, but it's just been perverted so much by the Corporation. I think it'd be great to just spend the night around a fire with your closest friends and talk about the year, or something.
No one makes anyone buy anything. If you care not to buy things that's your right. Most people who share the same religious thoughts will conform to their own doctrines and standards. As the Muslims go to Mecca like lemmings and other religions will do whatever they are told to do. So goes life, this is something that each person can or won't have to do. They have the right to stop anytime they want. They don't want to stop for they enjoy whatever it is they maybe following even though it MAY BE wrong to you, it is perfectly sensible to their way of thinking. You do what YOU want and they will do as they want.
cosmic there is absolutely no comparison between Hajj and modern "Christmas" ideology. Totally chalk and cheese.
Christmas is not religious any more than Halloween... despite the desperate attempts to make such things socially acceptable, both holidays represent important ideas of understanding, beauty, and human decency that we are better off with than without. The symbol of Christmas is a tree with lights. If anyone wants to get out their nativity scene and all that they can... for me, I like the fact that on the darkest days of the year, we have a holiday celebrating light and colour.
Poll, this is my point buddy. As a millitary/political leader sure Const was fine, but my point is regards to his specific influence on christianity, the nature of that influence, and the effect of that influence within the context of modern "christianity" Also cosmic just unwittingly made my point: equating the madness we call modern day "christmas" with christianity there is no connection.
Wraith, you are correct in your post. Christmas is a holiday where the only real winners is the retail department. As soon as we see the Christmas decorations hit the stores, our eyes light up and we go on a buying frenzy. We then sit down on December 25 and gorge ourselves on the big bird (I do love the roasted turkey by the way... but nemind... errr.. ahem) and think privately to ourselves that our relatives are insane if they think that we could actually use or want a candle set or yet another cheese board. You sit there at the table and watch everyone trying to be nice and sooo happy with their gifts while you think to yourself that it would be nice to stab the relo's that you hate in the neck with a fork (ermmm maybe that's just me.. ummm nemind again...). Christmas should not be forced down our throats. I don't want to spend copious amounts of money for celebrations that only last one day and which I know not all the gifts are wanted or needed as I don't know what the individual wants. I detest sending Christmas cards to people and this year told myself stuff it, and refused to send them out. Most years when Christmas day comes around I'm tempted to just stay in bed and sleep the day away. There's nothing on TV and the thought of spending the day with certain relatives makes me grit my teeth. Sometimes I just don't want to celebrate Christmas! There I admit it! It always ends up with my needing a holiday from that holiday. No one should be looked at with amazement if you decide not to celebrate it. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! And Wraith... how could you say that the Barbie house is not a serious matter? It was pink and purdy and everythingPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image! .... sob...
He's right. The Hajj cannot be compared to Christmas. Religious Muslims might feel a desire to pilgrimage to Mecca, but Religious Christians would likely feel disgusted by Christmas because it is largely a pagan holidy dressed with crucifixes for Western benefit. There's nothing in Christianity that says we Christians have to go to Vatican City or Bethlehem, while I would personally like an excuse to go to Mecca to see the Kabbaa. I think I'd do reasonably well as long as I told people I was Scandinavian and that I wasn't Jewish. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Tell me that isn't cooler than Christmas. edit: I'd rather touch the Kabbaa than a Christmas tree any day of the week!
Blue: indeed. What I object to is the hijacking of something that clearly has no connection with "christianity" by what is ostensibly WASP and making it a "christian" thing, then equating that with a white thing. It's so insidious the way we're all brainwashed by it. Why not scrap all the faux christian imagery and make it a universal holiday with no bullshit pseudo religious connatations??
That's because the majority of Christian holidays are based on Pagan holidays, and the only way for the Catholic church to attract more people to their faiths and to stop the members they had from going to the pagan holiday festivals, was to adopt the same dates. Christmas should be something that should be left up to the individual to celebrate or not celebrate as they so choose. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Bells: indeed. I'm sure that if jesus christ looked down on what his teachings have "become" he'd be destroyed. Have the pagan imagery, but don't hide it in wrapped up pseudo chriatianity. Have the materialism, but don't put a religious gloss on it. it's an insult to out intelligence and to a great religion. oh...i'm sorry about the barbie Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Though I wouldn't say I share your ire, Wraith, I do appreciate the sentiment. For most of my life I celebrated Xmas, because that's what my mother did, and as a kid, I even enjoyed it. Then I started to put some more thought into it and went through a long period of railing against Xmas, but feeling forced to "celebrate" because everyone around me did. Finally, a few years ago I found a peaceful, satisfying solution, and I just stopped doing it -- stopped celebrating, stopped giving presents, stopped making a big deal about bringing the right side dish to the family potluck, stopped being concerned with how I was going to satisfy all the imposed obligations that go along with families & holidays. Fuck all that. I don't feel resentful about anything that Xmas used to mean or how the solstice was co-opted by Christianity and then Xmas was co-opted by commercialism. It doesn't matter to me. I still celebrate the change of seasons [nothing religious there for me, I just like transitions], but I've gotten pretty good at ignoring all the hoo-ha going on around me. And because I enjoyed giving presents at Xmas, I now do that at my birthday, so those close to me still get some loot Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I don't get a lot of people who are surprised or confused or offended about my choice to not celebrate, but I also spend little time in conversation with people who'd take issue with something so silly. My husband's grandmother says she's sad that I don't celebrate, but I think it's got more to do with my not being Christian than with how I percieve this particular holiday. Now, something I can get a little more fired up about is the fact that this religious event is a federal holiday. That really pisses me off.
You Hobbit! Hey, the government represents the people. The people are largely Christian. A long time ago, during Jackson's reign, the government didn't want to finance public schools because they thought that private, religious schools were doing the job and they wanted kids to grow up knowing about Christ--something they knew they couldn't teach in schools. The so-called "religious assholes" who run the country have had their victories here and there, namely the mention of God in the Pledge of Allegiance, which, now that I think about it, should remain as an example to the future as to how stupid people were and how stupid people are now. Why the hell does God have to be mentioned? Don't you know that it goes against one of the more important pillars upon which the American civilization was founded--namely, religious freedom? Aughh! It boggles the mind!
Wraith: I agree. Pagan all the way, but that's how I do most things. I still use the star on the tree 'cause I don't want to let some bunch of culties own a SHAPE, of all things. (Didja hear about that nightmare Angel Day thing they did on Halloween before? Eesh. Horror.)
I've been called worse Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I was one of those kids in grade school who would neither stand for nor recite the Pledge, in part because of that damn "under god" bullshit. I won't even get into that "the people are largely Christian" business; the political scientist in me just gets apoplectic! It all boggles the mind.... Btw, your sig reminds me of one of my all-time favourite Onion articles -- "I Could Write a Better Rubaiyat than that Khayyam Dipshit" Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
