Seasonally Generic? Better Watch Out!

"There are some upon this Earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us." -Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote a story lamenting the loss of true Christmas spirit. That story, A Christmas Carol, has gone on to be one of the  most popular holiday tales of all time, performed on stage and screens both large and small.

Despite this evidence of more than a hundred and fifty years of bah humbugging, creeping commercialism, and all kinds of anti-Christmas sentiment in the western world, in the last couple of years the American religious right has decided this is a brand new phenomenon. No, not a phenomenon... a PLOT. A LIBERAL plot.

Yes, once more, we liberals are undermining the true meaning of Christmas. How so? No, not by ignoring the poor and hungry. Not by being intolerant of those different from us. Not by failing to seek peace on earth. No, it's none of those things.

It's by saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."

I got dragged into an argument the other day with someone over this, and not for the first time. I offered the opinion that maybe, just maybe, true believers should be GLAD that corporate America and the giants of retail are getting their sticky claws out of the religion business, but no. I'd forgotten the lessons of Lakoff, that the right has no actual concern over the spirit of Christmas or indeed, of Christianity itself, but only the enforcement of their values on their culture and society.

Hence the demand to have "Merry Christmas!" emblazoned everywhere, from the county courthouse to the White House, from the town square to the local mall, from the store on the corner to the biggest of the big box retailers. Hence the focus on the letter of the law and not a word on the spirit of Christmas, the part where we feed the hungry and clothe the naked and let the homeless sleep out of the snow, and other subversive liberal plots to undermine America.

Of course, Mark Morford said it better than I can... just like he always does, the jerk.

Screw joy and togetherness. It's all about retail, just like Jesus would have wanted.... Oh sure, there will be a handful of stories about charities and stories about how poorly poor people fare this time of year, all tainted and undermined by the story of how the increasingly porcine and spiritually repellent Jerry Falwell and his litter of Christian lawyers are prepared to sue (as a fundraising stunt) any media outlet or public institution that dares to dis Christmas, everyone's favorite consumer orgy, which was originally a big, meaty pagan solstice sun-god Saturnalia that the church swiped wholly from ancient fertility cults.

Does Santa know how good Morford is?

Comments

[Gil.]

Well, if you ask me, both sides are nuts. Yesterday, a school here in Georgia dismantled the Christmas tree and set out a "giving counter" to keep the politically correct morons happy.

I don't know one person of another faith who doesn't call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree. WHAT is the big deal? It IS a Christmas tree!

[Leigh-Ann]

My partner and I have remedied the issue by attaching no religious significance whatsoever to the word "Christmas". She's Jewish, we have a Christmas tree, and it's all about Santa and snowmen and the North Pole. We have successfully taken the Christ (and *all* religion) out of Christmas, but can't figure out any other way to spell it so current spelling will do.

[Gil.]

I totally understand your remedy, Leigh-Ann, so don't take this as a criticism, but Christmas is a religious day even though it's state-recognized and hardly recognizeable as such in the rush to spend money you don't have in order to spoil rotten kids more rotten, get things you don't need, give gifts of obligation to people you don't even much like, eat too much and then, worn out, to get snockered.

Christian or otherwise, we can take it back and observe a holy day in the way we choose, but we can't help getting caught up in the month long craziness that leads up to it, horrible traffic and bad tempers being just a couple of the joys. No wonder many of us feel as if we're crashing from a sugar high afterward.

It's a retail bonanza for sure. Makes me wonder what it would be like if we all suddenly rebelled and chose to turn our backs on Madison Avenue to remember the heart and meaning of our differing creeds.

[Leigh-Ann]

I don't really understand all the complaints I've seen on blogs about things like craziness, traffic, tempers, etc. I find this time of year absolutely peaceful, and I don't know why others can't do the same. Do your shopping online! There's much more variety than in brick and mortar stores, you can save money using coupons (free shipping, etc.), and someone brings it all to your door. Anyone with a computer, Internet access, and a debit card can do all their shopping online and never see that dreaded traffic, crowds, tempers, etc. Most places even offer gift wrapping, so if you need to mail gifts, you don't have to re-wrap and then re-ship. I think many of the people who complain about shopping just like to complain, as there are easy alternatives for anyone living in US, at least.

We've been doing 90% of all our shopping online for the past 5 years. We even have our groceries delivered so we can usually avoid the grocery store. We fill up our gas tank about once a month.

[Gil.]

Well, I envy you. I live in a big city and I drive to work where I deal with the public all day. If you're protected from all that, you're indeed lucky but I'm surprised that you don't take into account that most other people aren't as fortunate.

As for shopping online, lots of people, particularly the elderly, don't even have computers. Of those who do, many are leery of giving out information on credit cards online. It really isn't always as simple as you think to have an "absolutely peaceful" Christmas.

[Leigh-Ann]

Gil, I also live in a big city, but I'm self-employed and work from home. The people I've seen complaining about not having a "peaceful" holiday season are all bloggers, so I know they have Internet access. I wasn't speaking of the elderly, just the complaining bloggers, which I thought I'd indicated in the first sentence of my comment. I also specifically referred to "Anyone with a computer, Internet access, and a debit card", which I'm told is approx. 73% of the population (that's from a 2004 survey).

As for credit card fraud, I think that's entirely blown out of proportion. There was just a story in the Las Vegas newspaper which said that credit card fraud is much *less* likely to occur online, and much more likely to happen when you give your credit card to an actual person. It has never happened to us, ever.

All I'm saying is that there are ways to avoid the problems. You have to drive to work, but there's no reason you need to drive to a store to shop unless you make the personal choice. If you do that, I don't think you should complain, as other options do exist. I've yet to see one complaining blogger acknowledge "other options", other than to say they refuse to shop at all.

[Ellen Brunot]

Dear Christie,
A friend in Sonoma sent me a copy of your newspaper Fetch," 3 legs and a spare".
She recognized your picture even though she last saw you in the early 80's. She remembered your mother's antique shop on Polk
and the summer I clerked it.

I was saddened to hear of your recent loss of Raven.
I had a deerhound , Halley, in the early 90's, who was a spectacularly sweet and magical canine. My partner Hermina and I just lost our old mutt Emily and we're down to one rescue Ridgeback named Buddy.
I'm so impressed by your blog!
You always were a wonderful writer, and I'm so glad you kept up with it. Last I heard you had a salon in SF.
I'm still doing theatre, as a stage manager but gave up on film. I was so bored doing commercials as a script supervisor.
I now teach in South Central Los Angeles at an Options school AKA continuation high school. It's challenging. It's the least boring job I've ever had. I love it.
Hope this finds you well. I loved the Dicken's quote. Merry Christmas, Happy Chanuka, Gut Yule, Solstice etc..
Ellen Brunot