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talkpoliticsLet's start with the first obvious points of the War on Christmas:
1) Christmas as it's presently celebrated is not celebrated on the actual birthday of Joshua Ben Joseph of Nazareth. That would have been in the spring/early summer. Shepherds would not have sheep grazing at the start of a Palestinian winter. Christmas also is a holiday that has origins in the pagan calendar of Rome, with the Carnival-like holiday of Saturnalia, and which has folded in the also-pagan-but-different culture holiday of Yule, as well as elements of Germanic paganism. The day is celebrated on a Graeco-Roman holiday, the tree comes from the Heathens, and the term Yule from the Celts.
2) Christmas, at least in the United States was not celebrated until the mid-19th Century. The Puritans outlawed it and the original-generation Southerners were irreligious anyhow and didn't give a damn on the one hand or alternately were as puritanical as the Puritans on the other. We owe our modern concepts of Christmas to Charles Dickens, the famous writer of what a crapsack world Victorian times actually was. Christmas was outlawed by the Puritans and not practiced in early US culture, BTW, because it was considered too rowdy for a 'city on a Hill' to practice.
3) Christmas as per the 21st Century is a great ode to the commercialist/greedy/gluttonous tendencies of society. It's an excuse to shamelessly indulge in at least four of the Seven Deadly Sins and perhaps six (Sloth is not really possible to indulge in with all the shopping that the 'ideal consumer' would do unless they're Magnificent Bastards). This is completely unrelated to the tenets of Christianity, in any form, in any fashion. Those that take the Bible literally have no excuse, those that do not have even less.
4) Thus, the War on Christmas is an annoying meme fostered by a 24/7 cable channel run by Australians and Saudis that needs something to do on a slow news day and turns to kicking hornets' nests.
5) Happy Hanukkah to all Jews on T_P and also to those who aren't.
6) TL;DR: The War on Christmas is a bunch of nonsense so let's not hear about it like it actually means anything.
1) Christmas as it's presently celebrated is not celebrated on the actual birthday of Joshua Ben Joseph of Nazareth. That would have been in the spring/early summer. Shepherds would not have sheep grazing at the start of a Palestinian winter. Christmas also is a holiday that has origins in the pagan calendar of Rome, with the Carnival-like holiday of Saturnalia, and which has folded in the also-pagan-but-different culture holiday of Yule, as well as elements of Germanic paganism. The day is celebrated on a Graeco-Roman holiday, the tree comes from the Heathens, and the term Yule from the Celts.
2) Christmas, at least in the United States was not celebrated until the mid-19th Century. The Puritans outlawed it and the original-generation Southerners were irreligious anyhow and didn't give a damn on the one hand or alternately were as puritanical as the Puritans on the other. We owe our modern concepts of Christmas to Charles Dickens, the famous writer of what a crapsack world Victorian times actually was. Christmas was outlawed by the Puritans and not practiced in early US culture, BTW, because it was considered too rowdy for a 'city on a Hill' to practice.
3) Christmas as per the 21st Century is a great ode to the commercialist/greedy/gluttonous tendencies of society. It's an excuse to shamelessly indulge in at least four of the Seven Deadly Sins and perhaps six (Sloth is not really possible to indulge in with all the shopping that the 'ideal consumer' would do unless they're Magnificent Bastards). This is completely unrelated to the tenets of Christianity, in any form, in any fashion. Those that take the Bible literally have no excuse, those that do not have even less.
4) Thus, the War on Christmas is an annoying meme fostered by a 24/7 cable channel run by Australians and Saudis that needs something to do on a slow news day and turns to kicking hornets' nests.
5) Happy Hanukkah to all Jews on T_P and also to those who aren't.
6) TL;DR: The War on Christmas is a bunch of nonsense so let's not hear about it like it actually means anything.
(no subject)
Date: 8/12/12 20:48 (UTC)*cries white women's tears and doesn't give a rat's ass*
It's tit for tat. Yeah, lemme know how that whole peace on earth and goodwill toward men works out for ya.
(Also, I despise the commercialization and I love incorporating all celebrations of this time of year into everything. If it matters. Happy Chanukah.)
(no subject)
Date: 8/12/12 21:17 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/12/12 21:29 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 8/12/12 21:32 (UTC)You're right, it wouldn't be. If it were happening.
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Date: 8/12/12 22:26 (UTC)My neighbors have lights and wreaths. The Jewish Wife™ and I do not lob stink bombs at them. We just don't. We just enjoy the lights, 'cause they're pretty, prettier actually than the menorah. And if some one wishes us a "Merry Xmas," the most incindiary thing I might lob is a heart-felt "Chappy Chanuka!"
And on the 24th we'll motor to a relative of mine, gather, open a few presents and tipple. That's the extent of our hatred.
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Date: 9/12/12 00:38 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/12/12 02:03 (UTC)There really is a Santa Claus.
Better now?
(no subject)
Date: 9/12/12 02:46 (UTC)Has anything adversely changed in your community?
(no subject)
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Date: 9/12/12 16:09 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/12/12 16:22 (UTC)You want a government sanctioned childhood memory. Well, who doesn't....
(no subject)
Date: 8/12/12 20:49 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/12/12 16:22 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 8/12/12 21:20 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 8/12/12 21:41 (UTC)I've gotten over being annoyed by the slant or the superficial coverage of the news channels. Any more, what annoys me most is the apparent glee the lazy and/or idiotic people behind the scenes must get when the "news cycle" fits neatly into their pre-fabricated, easily-replicated programming. Before the election, for example, I had to wonder if half the networks' staff mightn't be on vacation, just because the coverage itself seemed to be on autopilot. If you only need one minute of non-election coverage for every twenty minutes you have of people talking about today's press conference, yesterday's poll, last week's debate, etc., first one at a time, then against one another, then maybe four at a time - then why do you need anyone covering any other beat to be on the clock? Let them go to Hawaii!
The "War on Christmas" is, really, the same kind of phenomenon as the "fiscal cliff" and the year-round election cycle - a media narrative manufactured to minimize the costs of producing content. I profoundly hate it.
(no subject)
Date: 8/12/12 22:19 (UTC)I as well. It's cheaper to pontificate on the non-existent. Less research required, and researchers cost cash.
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Date: 8/12/12 22:20 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/12/12 18:54 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/12/12 00:04 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/12/12 18:52 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/12/12 00:08 (UTC)pissedupset that it is being claimed as the exclusive property of Christians. Yes, it is being named after a Christian holiday, but Thursday is named after the Norse god Thor. Nobody from Norway declares a war on Thursdays.(no subject)
Date: 9/12/12 09:10 (UTC)That sounds like a plan.
Actually, pretty much the whole week is Norse. Sunday and Mo(o)nday are obvious. Tuesday is Tyr's day, Wednesday is Odin's day, Thursday is Thor's day, Friday is Freya's day. I don't know where we get Saturday from, but in Denmark it's Lordag, or Bath day. Given that those gods are (amongst other things) alternatively love or war gods the week goes like this:
Worship the sun, worship the moon, fight, fuck, fight, fuck, have a bath, repeat.
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Date: 9/12/12 00:13 (UTC)I'm not a fan of the commercialization of Christmas, but I'm not going to gleefully rain on other people's parade either, just like when people get raging hardons when they can tell a child Santa doesn't exist, to see how sad they become.
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Date: 9/12/12 00:21 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 9/12/12 06:06 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/12/12 17:23 (UTC)(I'll pass on the egg nog however :D)
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Date: 9/12/12 16:31 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 9/12/12 20:11 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/12/12 20:49 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/12/12 18:47 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/12/12 21:32 (UTC)Right move, wrong initial motive.
Bring on the Festivus, but leave out the "conveniently located" bit. Why not try to be offensive to the Menorah as well -- could use the pole as the center candle.
(no subject)
Date: 10/12/12 16:32 (UTC)My question is why the nativity scene is being so offensive to the festivus pole personal icon space. Look how close they are!
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 10/12/12 18:43 (UTC)The War on Christmas was invented by the Trickster (http://www.falconastrology.com/images/trickster.gif) as a way to allow religious fundamentalists to expose themselves as fools.
(no subject)
Date: 12/12/12 00:27 (UTC)The basic point is that some people want to change our culture and others don't.