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I'm Not Scared of X-Mas; I Just Loathe It

Dec 21, 2004 12:10 PM
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But these kids are just plain frightened of Santa.

update Let me clarify: I loathe the way Christmas is publicly celebrated in the US, and it goes beyond the gaudy commercialism. I will elaborate in an upcoming post.


Comments: I'm Not Scared of X-Mas; I Just Loathe It

Why exactly do you loathe it?

Posted by: O'dell on December 21, 2004 1:27 PM | permalink

Is it related to things happened around Christmas in Europe a long time ago? That doesn't happen anymore. I would like to know why a people who push for other to tolerate them are so intolerant of other people.

Why is it that non-Christians in Japan can celebrate or be indifferent to Christmas without any problem?

Posted by: O'dell on December 21, 2004 1:50 PM | permalink

Third post, sorry, but just wanted to say something...

I'm not trying to troll or infuriate, I just want to know what the big deal is. Muslims also seem to be the same way. Outside of Muslims and Jews, the Christmas time hate just isn't as evident.

Posted by: O'dell on December 21, 2004 2:36 PM | permalink

That's worthy of its own post.

I should clarify -- I don't loathe Christmas. I loathe how it's publicly celebrated in the US (and not just the commercialism).

A lot of it has to do with the dynamics of being a minority.

Posted by: Joe Grossberg on December 21, 2004 3:05 PM | permalink

It's strange, back when I was a non-participating Catholic, I always wondered why non-Christians could get so bent out of shape about Christmas. (And at the time Christmas didn't start until the day after Thanksgiving)

Now that I am a non-Christian I find Christmas very irritating. It's just a day, but preparation begins on Boxing Day for the next years Christmas. And now, about a week before Halloween, Christmas stuff goes up. And it's everywhere. Nonstop. Permiating everything. If it was only a week or so to put up with it, that's fine, but it seems to go on forever. I, personally, don't ask everyone how their Ramadan is going. Certainly I have the advantage of being a minority and therefore chances are that other people aren't of my abstraction, but still there should be a limit.

Which of course then comes around to the knee-jerk over-PCification of the "holiday season". Sometimes I feel that the increased importance of Channukah was dreamed up by a Christian. And Kawanza? Puh-leeze. Any research into its dubious origins should turn everyone off to Kawanza, yet it gets press so that white anglo Christians can feel like they're being inclusive.

Throw on top of all of that that Christmas (at one point) was a religious holiday. I swear it was. It centers around the birth of Jesus, really it's true, you can look it up on the Interweb. Most outward, all consuming, all present indications of Christmas; however; are the "non-religious" symbols (aka pagan). Which means that the people who really want to celbrate the holiday that this is all based on can't even do it as they would like.

Perhaps it's time to split Saturnalia AKA Giftmas AKA Winter Solstice back into it's own deal, and move Christmas back to where it belongs some time in the summer. And while we're at it get rid of Kawanza and replace it with a more global Festivus. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Christmas-linked_holidays]

Oh, and I forgot, bah humbug! (Yes the irony there is intended...)

Posted by: Kearns on December 21, 2004 9:36 PM | permalink

"Why is it that non-Christians in Japan can celebrate or be indifferent to Christmas without any problem?"

I think Christmas to the Japanese is a different thing altogether than it is to the groups who claim Abraham as a patriarch. Japanese religions --Shinto and Buddhism-- are so typologically different from Christianity that Christmas doesn't feel like a religious threat in any way.

From my observations, Christmas in Japan is 0 percent about religion and 100 percent about consumerism, romance (I swear), Baskin Robbins ice-cream cakes (not kidding) and "Last Christmas" by Wham playing on continuous loop at all department stores.

Personally, I love the smell of pine so Christmas is alright, though I could do without all those kitchy plastic nativity scenes around town.

Posted by: S on December 22, 2004 10:23 AM | permalink

No more comments! Either someone has violated Godwin's Law, I'm tired of the discussion or, most likely, the ten-week window has closed. You can, however, contact me through email.