[3508] in Depressing_Thoughts
Re: It's started again...
marc@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (marc@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sat Dec 12 16:03:33 1992
I'll say something new (maybe).
The message of Christmas does (well, should) transcend religions.
Stories like "A Christmas Carol" (classic) and "The Grinch Who Stole
Christmas" (classic :-) aren't steeped in religion and still carry
valid messages.
But the stuff you get inundated with isn't "Be nice to your fellow
man", it's "Our Lord and Savior is Coming" and "Buy! Buy! Buy!". That
is the problem. And whether or not the practicing Catholics are
responsible for it, they probably could stop it in a subtle and
inoffensive way. And they'd probably be happier, too. For different
reasons, they are probably as annoyed at the secularization and
commercialization as we Jews, pagans, etc. are.
People shouldn't need a holiday to be nice to each other.
There's something else in my head, but I don't know how to say it. I
can think of almost nothing which crosses the boundary between
religious christmas and secular christmas. Why not just separate the
two, and rename one of them? In our PC world today, expressions like
"Season's Greetings" are commonplace; Perhaps further in this
direction lies the answer.
