I listen to these local radio news talk shows and many of the callers
express hostility toward anyone who would say happy holidays instead of
merry Christmas. A few years ago there almost was a boycott against
Wallmart because they instructed their greeters to say happy holidays in
order to not put off their non-Christian customers. Just this year the
mayor of Charleston wanted to change the name of the annual Christmas
parade to the winter parade and to prohibit religious symbols from it so
as to be inclusive of the people of all religions in Charleston. She had
to back down when she felt like she was about to face a lynch mob.
___
Carl Sagan
“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind
and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says
everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the
fallibility of all the human beings involved?”
― Carl Sagan
On 12/22/2019 5:04 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Interesting. People around here, by and large, don't say, "Merry Christmas". They usually
say, if they say anything, "Happy Holidays". That's probably because I live in the New
York metropolitan area where a lot of Jewish people live. Many of them participate in the Christmas
holiday craziness, but people know that it isn't acceptable to assume that everyone whom they
encounter, celebrates Christmas. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that 99% of the people whom you've
encountered in your personal life are Christians, or of Christian origin. I wonder about the
Communist Party to which your parents belonged, but probably, there were no people of Jewish
background there either. On the other hand, on the East Coast, secular Jews probably dominated the
Communist Party.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2019 4:30 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: the holiday season, some thoughts
And lest we forget, back when I was a lad, the "Layaway" allowed the working
class mother/wife to put a little money down on an item she really could not afford, and
pay regular payments until just before Christmas when it was finally paid off. I don't
recall any interest rate, but at the same time the store had the use of mother's money
and still held onto the item until it was paid for.
But the change in our Holiday celebration is truly amazing. I know people who
exchange Thanksgiving gifts, and buy gifts at Christmas time for neighbors.
The mailman and the paper carrier, the...dear me, who did we forget?
If I were Christian, I'd pick another day to celebrate my Beliefs, and let Christmas and
Easter and even Washington's Birthday go to the commercial sector. I even recall seeing
a sign that read, "Celebrate the FORD of July!"
For years we heard, "As General Motors goes, so goes the nation". And it was
true. We didn't know just how true until General Motors began moving overseas and
shutting down their US plants.
I guess my point is that I live in this craziness, so I can either join in or not. Mostly I go
along. When folks say, "merry Christmas", I say, "Merry Christmas right back to
you".
Carl Jarvis
On 12/22/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On other lists, many people are sending, "seasons greetings". My non
existent relationship with Christmas gives me some distance. Of
course, I didn't always feel unrelated. I was married to a man whose
background was Italian Catholic. Even though he was not a practicing
Catholic, he celebrated the holiday and we had children who needed to
feel part of the world and so of course, they celebrated the holiday.
But actually, what we celebrated, was what our fellow members of the
Ethical Humanist Society called, "the Winter Festival" or "winter
solstice". But the holiday involved pressures. It was never a purely
joyful time. I was relieved when, after Fred died and the children
were grown, I could remove myself emotionally, from the whole thing. I
still attended some traditional family get-togethers. I sent and
received greeting cards. But I began, over the years, to see this
season in a very different way than it is represented.
What I see is a holiday, originally a time for religious worship,
turned into a commercial opportunity. For one thing, one is expected
to give monetary gifts to people like the mail delivery person, the
garbage collection people, and when I owned my apartment, all of the
service people in the building. Way back, when banks still gave people
5% compound interest on savings accounts, each year they advertised a
Christmas Club account.
One
could put money aside all year in order to have enough to pay for
Christmas gifts. The catch was that these Christmas Club accounts paid
no interest at all. The banks got to use people's money all year
without paying them anything. Yet, people were taken in. People feel a
lot of pressure to buy gifts, and to attend work parties which are usually held
in restaurants.
All
these workers celebrate together and the restaurants make money.
Everyone donates a gift which they purchase. From October on, there is
a concerted effort to convince people to spend a lot of money for
gifts and celebrations and vacations in order to be part of the
Christmas spirit. Every year, a bunch of books telling stories that
take place during the Christmas season, are released, and people buy
them. Christmas is an obsession and it is also a distraction from
one's real life problems, an escape from troubles. Of course, it isn't
always an escape. It's the time when alcoholics drink more, when
lonely people feel more isolated, when the suicide rate goes up. It's
the time when we are reminded, in case we managed to deny it, that
Christianity is the State Religion. There's the Christmas tree
lighting at the White House and there are similar ceremonies
throughout the land. In Westbury, there was a Christmas tree and a
manger scene in front of the Village recreation center. Everyone asks,
"What are you doing for Christmas?" If the answer is, "Nothing",
they're shocked. You get a pass if you give an explanation like, "I'm
Jewish". But that is the only acceptable excuse.
Miriam
