Ghost of a flea: The collectivization of gaiety and the compulsory infliction of joy

? Sarah Silverman: Give the Jew Girl Toys | Main | Santa's wingmen ?

December 24, 2005

The collectivization of gaiety and the compulsory infliction of joy

White Peril calls it a "James Thomson" act. I will settle at "Scrooge routine". Christopher Hitchens shows his usual lack of hesitation in choosing sides in the War on Christmas; truly, a Decembrism no ex-Trotskyite can support.

... the whole business becomes more vile and insufferable�and in new and worse ways�every 12 months. It also starts to kick in earlier each year: It was at Thanksgiving this year that, making my way through an airport, I was confronted by the leering and antlered visage of what to my disordered senses appeared to be a bloody great moose. Only as reason regained her throne did I realize that the reindeer�that plague species�were back.

It is Hitchen's remarks about Cromwell that stand out for me and I can only say I agree completely. Can it be there are people who honestly think coniferous trees, Yule logs and the 25th of December have anything to do with Biblical Christianity? Celebrate however you like but do not imagine you are standing up for revealed truth when you boo a man off stage for pointing out the obvious. Christmas springs as much from accident, expediency and convention as it does from a (pleasant) reflection of (quite sensible) mid-winter festivals. That this pagan paraphernalia should be sanctified by the folks castegating Hitch for pointing out historical fact would beggar belief but for the low opinion I have come to develop of the self-proclaimed Christian "literalists". So perhaps I am feeling a bit bah-humbuggy myself. I am not opposed to pagan paraphernalia or sentiment per se, in fact I am quite enjoying both this time of year, but this remains yet another reminder how many Christians have never bothered to read Scripture.

Humbug update: Denis Leary offers comment for those wanting to feel more Grinchy (nsfw).

Posted by Ghost of a flea at December 24, 2005 10:01 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.ghostofaflea.com/cgi-bin/mt/trackback-engine.cgi/5288

Comments

Heh. Thanks for the link. FYI, the Dennis Leary link apparently isn't available in Japan because of "persistent abuse" in this part of the world. Conflating us with the Chinese and Koreans again, no doubt.

Posted by: Sean Kinsell at December 24, 2005 05:16 PM