Christmas

[TheReasoner]

Is it just me, or is there something vaguely appalling about commemorating the birth of the son of God (whose life on earth would inspire countless acts of compassion and benevolence) by drowning our offspring in disposable, media-hyped novelties assembled by disposable children forced to toil in slave-labor sweatshops; moreover, paying for the grisly merchandise with currency that embodies a perfectly amoral system of socio-economic exploitation, based on the wickedly devious lies of enlightened self-interest. Yet, somehow, the garish spectacle appears rational and even altruistic because we idiotically believe the psychotic ramblings of economists who are, ostensibly, the real deities of this shameless pretense for civilization.
Oh well....... it's probably just me.

(scissored and slightly altered from apoplecticpress)

 

[Lynden1000]

Of course it's appalling, and people have decried it for decades. Even Linus railed against it in the Peanuts classic, and that was how many years ago?

But the economy depends on our rampant consumerism. What can you do about it?

 

[TheReasoner]

Of course it's appalling, and people have decried it for decades. Even Linus railed against it in the Peanuts classic, and that was how many years ago?

But the economy depends on our rampant consumerism. What can you do about it?

Well, we must do something about it!

You say our economy depends on our rampant consumption. It probably does.
But we consume far more than this world can sustain. The pollution, the strain on the natural resources and the global ecosystem as a whole is just too much.

So we have a choice... Either we reform our current way of living - in it's entirety.
Or... The world pretty much collapses around us till natural disasters force us into it.
As clearly shown in "an inconvenient truth".

I think our western culture is despicable as far as consumption goes. (And yes, I am a part of it all ). The epitome of our greed and the corruption of our entire civilization is more clearly shown in Christmas than at any other time. Our gluttonous lifestyle is most clearly revealed in the corrupted celebration of the birth/coming of our Lord and saviour.
What a mockery of His gift we have made Christmas! He, our Lord and God said "you cannot serve both God and mammon" and indeed we have in an alarmingly large part chosen Mammon over God. Truly, Christmas could in many ways be called mammon-mass, no longer a Christ-mass. He gave himself for the poor, the needy, the weak and the downtrodden. He died so that us sinners could receive forgiveness for our sins.
And how do we celebrate His coming? By gluttony. Oh, gluttony can be so much more than just food. Gluttonous consumption is also something I would call gluttony.
I know I lash out harshly against the current corruption of Christmas. But to more concretely show what I want to do to break the circle;

* Give money to charity in someone elses name as a gift
*If I do buy a gift...
- buy a fair trade gift
- buy used
- buy from a charitable organization.

I do not lash out against celebrating Christmas. I lash out against celebrating it with this despicable gluttony!

 

[LittleNipper]

The more Christmas maybe presented publically (schools included) as the spiritual holiday it can be, the less of a toy day it can become. However, people are going to have to be willing to listen.

 

[DailyBlessings]

I'd have no objection to letting Christmas become a smaller, humbler, religious holiday. But if people want to buy things and ramble on about snowbound mystical toy-making elves, who am I to stop them? Capitalism has many evils, and the church may be the only entity with power to change that, but it is hearts that must changed, before shopping habits.

 

[UntakenName]

But...but it's got Christ in it...

 

[katautumn]

I have tried to curb the commercialized aspect of Christmas in regards to my son and family. I am handmaking gifts this year. I got started early (before Halloween) and have spent significantly less buying supplies to make gifts than I would running to the stores. I do buy some small toys for my son, but he already has so much stuff that Christmas is beyond overwhelming for him. It's hard on a kid. As a parent, you want to buy your children loads of nifty gifts and those "big toys" that Santa brings. But, I also realized last year that having presents piled up the wall and spilling out from under the tree made him more exhausted and frustrated than joyous. I then understood that the best approach would be to instill in him the family traditions of the Holidays instead of values of commercialism and greed.

I say that everyone who feels led to should celebrate Christmas. There are those who do not for religious reasons (Jews, JW's, etc.) and there are those who claim it's because of their religion we have Christmas to begin with (mainstream Christians). When you look at historical accounts, Christmas was originally a Pagan holiday that was later adopted by the Catholic church in order to entice Pagans to convert. They would still be able to observe their religious holidays and traditions, only instead of worshiping Mithras, they were celebrating the birth of Christ. Which, by the way, the Catholics knew full well was not on December 25th.

 

[Garnet2727]

I stopped celebrating Christmas several years ago. When asked why, my response is, "I'm not a Christian, I'm not a pagan and I don't worship at the altar of commercialism."

 

[justanobserver]

Not to be insultive to those that revere 25 Dec but for me, its just another day and if it falls on a work day, I get it off with pay. Sorry if I am indifferent about the religious aspects of that day but its what it is with me. It just does not hold any religious significance for me.

I do have kids that live with their mother elsewhere in my state and she is christian and I assume that they are as well but i do send them a check so they can get something. Its what is expected I suppose on that day of the year (besides their birthday) and so its what I do. They are used to getting something, I use to getting them something as when I was a kid I got something.

perhaps thats why 25 Dec is nothing more than that to me. Well, besides being a day off from work with pay...

 

[Arnold_Philips]

God vs Mammon

 

[The Nihilist]

God vs Mammon

Mammon: 1
God: 0

 

[Paulos23]

Christmas...ishmas....

Just give me my presents.

 

[LittleNipper]

I enjoy being with people and giving at Christmas. I can understand that among nonchristians that such a holiday can be a drudge. I can imagine that their life in general may seem pointless to them and holidays only become a material show. That only proves to me that there must be a GOD. Those without HIM need things to compensate and that soon becomes old hat and pointless.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

Well, not only does this false holiday called "Xmas" keep our economy going so that the injustices of the past can continue to be spread throughout the world and become even more entrenched, it has important cultural significance.

Once a year we fall into a sort of mass hysteria of 'peace', 'good-will' et al. We manage to convince ourselves that we are doing something good by sharing, and that there is hope after all. And we manage to delude ourselves into believing that we are happy, in most cases getting us through a little bit more of the year.

Since those in power know that if values like 'peace on earth' actually prevailed they wouldn't be able to afford the repulsive opulence and oligarchical (is that a word? ) level of power they have become accustomed to, the whole thing is squeezed into a couple of weeks of mushy, pathetic and shallow sentiment, eradicating the need for human compassion the rest of the year round.

It also manages to convince the working people that we actually have any dignity in capitalist society, and that we are actually respected, because we are given a break and able to have a bit of luxury.

Not to mention that if we are bombarded with "you need to buy this!" and "must see TV!" and all the other BS, then we might forget that people are being starved to death and left to suffer in horrendous conditions so that we can continue to live wasteful and selfish lives. And that very little has actually changed, or is likely to.

If we can look up at the stars and start believing they might lead us to the messiah, we can forget that they are in fact cold witnesses to the fact that we are alone with no purpose.

Of course, the obligation to believe you are happy is probably one of the major causes of the peak in suicide around Christmas, imo.

Merry Xmas everyone!

 

[LittleNipper]

If one believes that we are but an accident and that in fact we are alone and with no purpose, can suicide be far behind? No one is twisting your arm. Christmas has become secularized, it certainly was not my goal.

 

[ConservativeAtheist]

Of course it's appalling, and people have decried it for decades. Even Linus railed against it in the Peanuts classic, and that was how many years ago?

But the economy depends on our rampant consumerism. What can you do about it?

nothing

 

[TheReasoner]

nothing

that's a little fatalistic...

 

[Steezie]

I personally HATE Christmas. With a capital bloody H.

All the Christmas commercials, music, decorations, the constant whining of fundamentalists about the non-existant "War on Christmas". Its all just too much for me.

If I could I'd spend every day from Thanksgiving till the day after Christmas with Jewish people. Ive ALWAYS appreciated that about Jewish people is that they dont get so worked up over thier holidays or fabricate some phony war on them to sell books and newspapers

 

[Lynden1000]

I enjoy being with people and giving at Christmas. I can understand that among nonchristians that such a holiday can be a drudge. I can imagine that their life in general may seem pointless to them and holidays only become a material show. That only proves to me that there must be a GOD. Those without HIM need things to compensate and that soon becomes old hat and pointless.

Christmas isn't a drudge for me. I get a whole week off.

 

[LittleNipper]

I personally HATE Christmas. With a capital bloody H.

All the Christmas commercials, music, decorations, the constant whining of fundamentalists about the non-existant "War on Christmas". Its all just too much for me.

If I could I'd spend every day from Thanksgiving till the day after Christmas with Jewish people. Ive ALWAYS appreciated that about Jewish people is that they dont get so worked up over thier holidays or fabricate some phony war on them to sell books and newspapers

Poor boy----life is so hard for you.