I can't really claim to be much of a fan of the whole Christmas thing; to be perfectly honest, I find it all rather tiresome, and in some moments even outright nauseating. I don't say this because of my awareness that this "Christian" holiday has precious little to do with with some figure with a savior complex who got himself crucified in Roman-occupied Palestine for his pretensions 2000 years ago, but is merely a rebadging of Saturnalia invented for the express purpose of wooing European peasants reluctant to let go of their midwinter debaucheries; that Christmas has a religious tint to it at all certainly is far from being a plus in my rationalist, unsuperstitious eyes, but to be honest, that isn't what really drives my irritation towards it; finally, as I am a believer in free markets and an admirer of entrepreneurial energy, it certainly isn't the commercialized spirit of Christmas which gets my goat. None of these things on their own would suffice to make Christmas any more annoying to me than all of the other official days of celebration which are marked on the calendar.
No, what annoys me about this whole Christmas period is the sheer falseness of it all, the meaninglessness and hypocrisy of all the expressions of "good cheer" exchanged during the period of faux "festivity", and the all-pervasive pressure to pretend that the high-flown sentiments which are so voluminously espoused at this time of year are anything other than empty gestures being carried out by people acting out roles they've learnt by heart in a time-worn play - if there really were anything genuine about the positive spirit supposedly on display during the Christmas period, one would think we'd all know enough to try equally as hard to manifest it on every other day of the year, rather than waiting for this one occasion to put it on show. I can no more take seriously all of the treacly sentiment to which I am subjected at the end of every calendar year than I could expressions of unconditional affection on Valentine's Day between two "lovers" who spent the rest of the year either beating each other to a pulp or outright ignoring each other, for much the same reason in both scenarios, and I can't see why more people don't bother to note the same thing. The truth of the matter is that, contra Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge was actually being more of a man of principle at the start of "A Christmas Carol" in staying true to his miserly temperament throughout the year than he was at the end in choosing to play the fairweather benefactor: had Dickens been less of a weak-minded sentimentalist with an eye on the lucrative Victorian market for sugary pap, he might have had the courage to note that at least with the unreformed Scrooge one knew what one was getting, and the man himself took no pains to hide the essence of his nature from those around him, unlike all those other employers who only pretend to take an interest in the welfare of their staff at certain pre-anointed times of the year. Either every day deserves to be treated like Christmas Day or none do - in either case, the 25th of December doesn't need singling out for special treatment.
Y'all can spare me the sentimental humbug: Christmas Day is just another 24 hours as far as I'm concerned, and the only thing notable about how I intend to spend it is that I'll finally have the free time to finish watching the highly amusing Gokusen.
Abiola,
Where do you stand on every day deserving to be like Christmas or none at all? Do you have a preference amongst these options?
Though I clearly understand you are opposed to the inauthenticity encountered, would you more highly value a world where every day was Christmas?
John
Posted by: john | December 24, 2005 at 11:50 PM
That would depend on what exactly one meant by "Christmas", wouldn't it? Outside of the superficial kitschy trappings, I don't see that everyone really has a common shared definition of what the import of the holiday is - what do you think is shared between the celebration of "Christmas" in the American Bible Belt, a nominally Christian but mostly religiously indifferent Britain, a fervently evangelical southern Nigeria in which snow and reindeer are unheard of, and a Japan which lacks the European pagan festive background and in which barely 1% of the population even claims to adhere to Christianity?
To the extent that Christmas represents the celebration of certain personal virtues like good neighborliness, forgiveness, etc, then yes, every day should be like Christmas; to the extent it represents faux-generosity, a supposedly hoary "tradition" which was invented barely a century ago, never-ending broadcasts of saccharine Bing Crosby hits and an excuse for the gluttinous and incontinent to pig out and drink too much, no day should be like it. Generally speaking, my preference is for people to practice the virtues they claim to believe in quietly without making a big fuss about doing so, just like a certain semi-mythical Nazarene preacher is said to have instructed two millenia ago - "let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth" ...
Posted by: Abiola | December 25, 2005 at 12:22 AM
Merry Christmas Abiola!
Posted by: Earl | December 25, 2005 at 05:59 AM
On another note, have you seen Great Teacher Onizuka? How does it rate vis-a-vis Gokusen?
Posted by: Earl | December 25, 2005 at 06:04 AM
"Merry Christmas Abiola!"
Har har. Whatever.
"How does it rate vis-a-vis Gokusen?"
*Nothing* can beat GTO.
Posted by: Abiola | December 25, 2005 at 11:49 AM
Maybe it's your northern Hemisphere thing that makes Christmas seem nonsense. Here in Australia, it is just about the start of high summer, a wonderful time to down tools, over-indulge and generally let the hair down.
Australia won't return back to work properly until the end of January now. That whole "Christmas in July" meme really does make more sense for the northern hemisphere.
Also, treacle sentiment is what makess the social world go round. The rationalist hates to admit it but it is true. (He says after a 10 hour drinking ande eating binge.)
Oh well. Happy Gokusen Day!!!
Posted by: Scott Wickstein | December 25, 2005 at 12:17 PM
"Here in Australia, it is just about the start of high summer, a wonderful time to down tools, over-indulge and generally let the hair down."
Well, if I had the kind of weather you guys do down under, every day would seem a lot more like a holiday.
"Also, treacle sentiment is what makess the social world go round. The rationalist hates to admit it but it is true."
What a work is man, how riddled with flaws and inanities ...
"Oh well. Happy Gokusen Day!!!"
And a vigorous Festivus to you too, with much Airing of Grievances and many Feats of Strength!
Posted by: Abiola | December 25, 2005 at 02:06 PM
"an excuse for the gluttinous and incontinent to pig out and drink too much, no day should be like it"
No, actually a day here or there should be like it. That's pretty much why we have holidays in general, to over indulge a bit and break the monotony of the rest of the year. Currently I'm eating the leftovers from an eight course meal from last night. It gives one a certain feeling of bliss.
So I guess the optimal distribution of days would be forgiveness, neighborigness days all the time, sugar-coated vapid sentimental days never, and a few days in a year to get trully hedonistic or epicurean.
Posted by: radek | December 25, 2005 at 05:38 PM
"an excuse for the gluttinous and incontinent to pig out and drink too much"
For God's sake, Abiola, when you get to be my age, gluttony and drunkenness is all that's left. My whole life to date has been over-governed by wowsers like yourself. Don't criticise the mid-westerners, they're just like you. Kill-joys all of 'em. In Ozzie we have a great saying for kill-joys - "Get a life!" Good advice. Follow it while you still got it man. It doesn't last that long I can tell you.
Posted by: John Brothers | December 26, 2005 at 11:23 AM
"In Ozzie we have a great saying for kill-joys - "Get a life!" Good advice. Follow it while you still got it man."
Whatever. If you truly subscribed to your own platitudes, wouldn't you make *every* day one long orgy of eating and drinking? Why not "live" all the other 364 days of the year then? The real wowser here is you, for needing permission from the rest of the world to indulge your epicurean pleasures on any particular day, and in any case I at least am fortunate enough to have other pleasures in my life than you seem to care for.
Posted by: Abiola | December 26, 2005 at 12:02 PM
"Whatever. If you truly subscribed to your own platitudes, wouldn't you make *every* day one long orgy of eating and drinking? Why not "live" all the other 364 days of the year then?"
You're saying that to an Aussie? Are you so sure he doesn't?
:)
Posted by: Sebastian Holsclaw | December 28, 2005 at 03:13 AM
Merry Xmas scrooge!
Posted by: bettany | December 28, 2005 at 10:15 AM