Everything I need to know about the War on Christmas, I learned from watching toddlers.

[tazira]

I have two nieces, Sienna and Avery, ages two and one, respectively. Most of the time, they get on surprisingly well, without most of the jealousy issues you'd expect from children that age. They've been seen to willingly share toys, food and the attention of the nearest attendant adult

Comments

[droops]

Best post I've seen on the subject in a long time.

[tazira]

Thank you much!

[tompurdue]

You're trying to make sense out of this. There isn't any sense to me made, and all you can to is preach to the choir. The "War on Christmas" is so mind-bogglingly stupid, so self-evidently self-serving, that only the purest idiots can give it the slightest credence.

I make no two ways about it: if you give even the slightest instant's credence to it, I hope you had a shitty Christmas and wish that 2011 bring you the misery you deserve. Jesus is disgusted with you, but not half as disgusted as I am.

[tazira]

Unfortunately, there is no better way of doing it. The whole notion of a War on Christmas lends itself richly to satire, but the minute you give in to that temptation, you, too, are Warring on Christmas, you secular gay liberal conspirator. And that plays into the hands of everyone who wants to take conservative Christians and make them feel oppressed, increasingly isolated in an increasingly multicultural society, and hard done by, because the fact that they're WASPs doesn't have the social cachet it used to. No more dedicated restaurants, bathrooms and water fountains. They're free, white and 21 (times three or four), and nobody but Peter Brimelow cares anymore

[tompurdue]

You're right, of course. Taking the rational road is always harder work, and sometimes that work gets frustrating. It's so compelling to hop off it and let the anger and frustration take over. It's working so well for them, after all.

But it's just what they want me to do, give up the one tool I have that's better than theirs. It's slower and less effective, but rationality can at least potentially appeal to everybody, rather than the most idiotic of a set of partisans.

It bothers me because I should have to fight this. There should be rational partisans on the right saying, "No, this is too much, too stupid." The whole point of rationality is that it has cross-spectrum appeal. I feel like I'm fighting off left-wing idiots on one side and everybody on the right wing on the other, even the rational ones who aren't standing up to the stupid people. Instead of being in a hard-fighting large minority, I feel like it's you and me and practically nobody else.

So, the occasional outburst. I'll be better... when, I don't know.

[riolobo]

There's no way you would know this, as I don't believe we are friended on Facebook, and this isn't intended with any sort of 'nyah nyah nyah' sort of tone, but I am and have been leaning fairly atheist of late and subscribe to The Thinking Atheist on both Facebook and his videos on YouTube

[_blackjack_]

The reason for the season is the tilt in the earth's axis, last time I checked.

[tazira]

"It's only a model."

"Shh!"

[evcelt]

Well put.

[tazira]

Dankes!

[leiacat]

I respectfully submit that no, wishing people "happy holidays" does _not_ embrace everybody's traditions, because it requires that everyone _has_ some manner of a holiday to celebrate in December.

Furthermore, That Big Holiday is, in fact, the main reason anyone wishes to wish anyone anything at all; it is indeed the reason for commercialization of the season, and they do _too_ own it, because nobody says "happy holidays" any other other month which may be full of holidays. So as far as I'm concerned, the generic is not at all an improvement.

And a fill-in-the-blankish Monday to all.

[tazira]

It's true that as an avowed, militant agnostic, I have no December holidays. But you know what? Everybody else gets to make up holidays, so do I. I hereby declare December 25 to have been Schrodinger's cat's birthday, and will celebrate it with joy in my heart every year from now on.

*sniff! wipe away tear!*

[_blackjack_]

It's true that as an avowed, militant agnostic, I have no December holidays.

What about New Year's Eve? It's drunkards Christmas!

[tazira]

Hooray, Drunkards' Christmas!

I dimly remember reading somewhere recently that Christmas used to be its own Drunkards' Christmas, i.e. for about a century before Dickens re-popularized the notion of Christmas as a time for charity and gift giving, it had devolved into more of a Halloween thing, where bands of roving young men would go from house to house seeking free food and drink.

So it could always be worse, I suppose. Instead of a season of commercial hell, we could have a season of annoying and unwanted house guests.