Unoriginal Thoughts, Chapter II - Special Christmas Edition!
Following along with yesterday's theme of stealing soapboxes from other people, mle292 posted about the "War on Christmas", which is a term coined by Pat Robertson (as I understand it) and advanced by such esteemed scholars as Bill O'Reilly. (Wow, even in sarcasm, my fingers won't let me use that phrase in association with that fuck.) It refers to the fact that Jesus's birthday season is under attack by those who would use it for their own despicable purposes. As such, they've taken up the gauntlet to defend Jesus' birthday against those who would undeservedly enjoy the season it has spawned.
Well, this is all part of the exclusionary practices that the religious right has been so fond of in our post 9-11 anti-Muslim, oops, I mean values and morality based society. I had previously been very encouraged that the phrase Happy Holidays was becoming more prevalent. Everyone got something out of it since the pagans have the Solstice, there's New Years, Channukah (Hannukah?), or just enjoying that particular point of the year. Now, Pat Roberts and his fellow fucks figured out that non-Christians were not only not feeling left out, they were participating in celebrations of the season. My GOD! The gall of these people! How dare they experience life in a positive way without the say-so of God's Favorite People(tm).
Now, don't get me wrong. I feel very strongly that spirituality can be a very important and positive part of anyone's life. However, like in any other situation, if you get a bunch of people together for any reason, no matter how well-intentioned, they will inevitably develop a perception of self-importance based on circular group-think attitudes. This isn't necessarily bad, either, since it can have very good results like the various charities and aid groups that do tremendously good things. Sadly, it all too often devolves into a myopic righteousness that results in stupid and damaging crusades like this one.
Jesus is all about love and forgiveness and inclusion, if you believe the basic tenets of most Christian religions. He was sent by his father, God, to suffer and die so that the score would be settled and we could all have the possibility of ascending to the Kingdom of Heaven. He healed the sick, provided for those less fortunate, and turned his cheeks. Does this sound like a guy who'd be pissed because some nerds or goths crashed his birthday party? I don't think so. I think he'd grab a basket, hand them a loaf and fish, and say "Peace be with you" and mean it. (Now, loaves and fishes? I guess he wasn't much of a cook. Still, it's a really nice gesture.) Of course, His People know better, so they're the arbiters of guest list for the Christmas/birthday party. Someone has to do it, right? Sheesh. WWJD? If Jesus showed up today, I really don't think he'd want to hang with such devisive dickheads.
Actually, if it wouldn't be so utterly painful, what I'd really like to see would be the Christians win this fight quite decisively. Stay with me. Imagine a world where only Christians are allowed to celebrate Christmas. There would be an identification system where you would have to show a badge or membership card to be able to give presents, sing Christmas carols, watch "A Very Brady Christmas", or even say "Merry Christmas!" at all. We non-believers would be forced to work that weekend and would have our names erased from all Christmas card lists.
Kind of a sucky proposition, huh? Here's the fun part, though: we would get to watch from the outside as the entire thing eventually imploded in upon itself like an office building giving way for condos. Having ousted all the icky people, the Licensed Christians (tm) would spend a couple of years congratulating each other and smugly opening presents while suckers like us could only watch sadly from the outside. Eventually, though, there would arise the sound of terrible infighting. Just who's God was Jesus the son of? Yahweh? The Lutheran God? The Episcopalian God? The American Indian loving God of the Mormons? The Pope's boss? Karl Rove? Oh, it would just be hilarious to watch that devolution of righteousness into name-calling and infighting. That's the problem with self-righteous exclusionary principles; they don't really stop until you're all by yourself.
Well, in the spirit of the season, let's just turn our own other cheek (I'll let you decide which one(s) on your own) to the haters, grab some eggnog, and watch A Christmas Story one more time. We can let The Righteous(tm) spew their bile on those that actually care to listen. They deserve each other.
Happy holidays, everyone!
Well, this is all part of the exclusionary practices that the religious right has been so fond of in our post 9-11 anti-Muslim, oops, I mean values and morality based society. I had previously been very encouraged that the phrase Happy Holidays was becoming more prevalent. Everyone got something out of it since the pagans have the Solstice, there's New Years, Channukah (Hannukah?), or just enjoying that particular point of the year. Now, Pat Roberts and his fellow fucks figured out that non-Christians were not only not feeling left out, they were participating in celebrations of the season. My GOD! The gall of these people! How dare they experience life in a positive way without the say-so of God's Favorite People(tm).
Now, don't get me wrong. I feel very strongly that spirituality can be a very important and positive part of anyone's life. However, like in any other situation, if you get a bunch of people together for any reason, no matter how well-intentioned, they will inevitably develop a perception of self-importance based on circular group-think attitudes. This isn't necessarily bad, either, since it can have very good results like the various charities and aid groups that do tremendously good things. Sadly, it all too often devolves into a myopic righteousness that results in stupid and damaging crusades like this one.
Jesus is all about love and forgiveness and inclusion, if you believe the basic tenets of most Christian religions. He was sent by his father, God, to suffer and die so that the score would be settled and we could all have the possibility of ascending to the Kingdom of Heaven. He healed the sick, provided for those less fortunate, and turned his cheeks. Does this sound like a guy who'd be pissed because some nerds or goths crashed his birthday party? I don't think so. I think he'd grab a basket, hand them a loaf and fish, and say "Peace be with you" and mean it. (Now, loaves and fishes? I guess he wasn't much of a cook. Still, it's a really nice gesture.) Of course, His People know better, so they're the arbiters of guest list for the Christmas/birthday party. Someone has to do it, right? Sheesh. WWJD? If Jesus showed up today, I really don't think he'd want to hang with such devisive dickheads.
Actually, if it wouldn't be so utterly painful, what I'd really like to see would be the Christians win this fight quite decisively. Stay with me. Imagine a world where only Christians are allowed to celebrate Christmas. There would be an identification system where you would have to show a badge or membership card to be able to give presents, sing Christmas carols, watch "A Very Brady Christmas", or even say "Merry Christmas!" at all. We non-believers would be forced to work that weekend and would have our names erased from all Christmas card lists.
Kind of a sucky proposition, huh? Here's the fun part, though: we would get to watch from the outside as the entire thing eventually imploded in upon itself like an office building giving way for condos. Having ousted all the icky people, the Licensed Christians (tm) would spend a couple of years congratulating each other and smugly opening presents while suckers like us could only watch sadly from the outside. Eventually, though, there would arise the sound of terrible infighting. Just who's God was Jesus the son of? Yahweh? The Lutheran God? The Episcopalian God? The American Indian loving God of the Mormons? The Pope's boss? Karl Rove? Oh, it would just be hilarious to watch that devolution of righteousness into name-calling and infighting. That's the problem with self-righteous exclusionary principles; they don't really stop until you're all by yourself.
Well, in the spirit of the season, let's just turn our own other cheek (I'll let you decide which one(s) on your own) to the haters, grab some eggnog, and watch A Christmas Story one more time. We can let The Righteous(tm) spew their bile on those that actually care to listen. They deserve each other.
Happy holidays, everyone!