The title of this post pretty much says it all, so there’s actually no point in continuing with this miserable monkey-motion. All people who still possess functional brainstems know full well what’s wrong with the Christmas thing, at least as far as it concerns its appallingly empty modern-day permutation. My overwrought, semi-misinformed opinions and bloviated generalizations have nothing to offer, in any sense of the word; but, as is the case with the millions of other unimaginative morons and deep-seated cynics and purveyors of sheer inexplicable bullshit out there -- in other words, the great bulk of all the yahoos in blog land -- being a half-baked ignoramus with nothing polite to say about anything is no reason to keep your trap shut. So, here we are.Now that I think about it, I’m fairly well sick of my own particular brand of viscous negativity, as I’m sure everybody is. I’ll leave it to the following quotes to place this “holiday season” in its proper context, from historical thinkers a whole hell of a lot smarter, skeptical, and cynical than I could ever hope to be ...
I am sorry to have to introduce the subject of Christmas ... It is an indecent subject; a cruel, gluttonous subject; a wicked, cadging, lying, filthy, blasphemous, and demoralizing subject. Christmas is forced on a reluctant and disgusted nation by the shopkeepers and the press: on its own merits it would wither and shrivel in the fiery breath of universal hatred; and anyone who looked back to it would be turned into a pillar of greasy sausages.
--George Bernard Shaw, Our Theatres in the Nineties, Volume 3
January 1, 1898
Yeah, that’s a good one. Then there’s this:
Or consider Christmas -- could Satan in his most malignant mood have devised a worse combination of graft plus buncombe than the system whereby several hundred million people get a billion or so gifts for which they have no use, and some thousands of shop-clerks die of exhaustion while selling them and every other child in the western world is made ill from overeating -- all in the name of the lowly Jesus?
--Upton Sinclair, Money Writes!, 1927
Merry flippin’ Christmas.
3 comments:
Dude, tell us how you REALLY feel would ya?! And don't hold anything back!
I agree to a certain extent. For me Xmas was about getting, getting and getting when I was little. Jesus who?? As I got older and went my own way I started doing volunteer work on the different holidays and Xmas and T-day have become something much more to me than the commercialized cluster fucks they are now.
Been lying low; staying outa the blogging fray for awhile. I get so overwhelmed sometimes, that the only way for me to detach is to step back for awhile. I’ll be back when I feel like I got something to write about.
Yeah, I wish there was a show or two happening as well. At least out there you got any type variation of the Dead or dead type bands playing. Here on ole Cape Cod we got bars and beaches…wait a minute, guess that ain’t too bad right?!
At least for awhile today and tomorrow I get to be with my family and I’ll try and remember that it ain’t always bad…
Wishing you & yours’ safe and happy holidays.
Gung Hay Fat Chow!
You know, Lee, I started mentally outlining this execrable post while stuck in that especially ridiculous brand of Sacramento Valley Christmas traffic. I was also sober, which only served to aggravate matters even further.
Of course you're completely correct about the family angle to all this, but I still desperately look forward to Christmas getting itself over with. I don't think I've had a positive thought about it in at least 20 years -- my cynical attitudes are simply too-well developed to deal with. Oh well.
Take care, dude.
--Ed
I hear ya!
I am glad it almost over as well. The phoniness of it all makes me sick, but sad to say it seems like we have all been conditioned from childhood to believe that Christmas is the (only?) time of the year that we are supposed to wish Peace on earth and good friggin will to all. What a crock.
New Years has never been the same without the Dead as far as I am concerned. So tonight I will probably hang with my Bro and his family for awhile, come home and have a few beers and contemplate why I should actually give a shit anymore about what happens to the rest of my "Fellow Man".
I think I am going to start posting again. My self imposed exile is comming to an end me thinks. After a few beers I should be raring to go!
Happy New Year Dude...
How knows whats in store for us next year...
An impeachment? An asteroid?
A nuclear war? Aliens?
Or maybe even human beings actually starting to give a shit about each other and all life on this planet?
The possibilities are endless.
Hears to hope.
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