Counter-culture Journals (文革)

Counter-culture Journals (文革)

Monday, December 07, 2015

Here we present holiday music and entertainment- for anyone of any religion or no religion at all

By SJ Otto
 
It is December and that means the Christmas season has begun. People here in the US, and other similar countries, do a lot of shopping to buy gifts for friends or family. They put up neat decorations and we start to hear Christmas music everywhere.
I like this festive season but I’m not a Christian, I am an Epicurean. Instead of celebrating a Christian holiday I celebrate the Winter Solstice—the shortest day and longest night of the year. The symbols and traditions are about the same. But I celebrate nature rather than a religious deity.
There are more people as me celebrating this season according to their own religions or traditions today than in years past. That has led to some Christian conservatives believing that non-Christians are out to destroy their public holiday displays—and that leads them to believe it is a plot to destroy Christian holidays altogether.
In years past I have written about the so called “war on Christmas,” such as “I’m celebrating the holidays without Jesus or God—So f*** anyone who doesn’t like that!” Usually this so called war starts with people saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” This year critics made a stink about Starbucks cups not being Christianly Christian enough.
According to Nat Parry, of Consortiumnews.com;
 
“This year, we have an early taste of the asinine arguments to come with a contrived controversy over the choice that Starbucks has made for its holiday-themed coffee cup. Eschewing its typical designs incorporating iconic wintry images of reindeer and snowmen, the 2015 cup goes for a minimalist approach of a plain bright red design with the green Starbucks logo in the center.

With no pictures of Baby Jesus or even snowflakes, the red and green cup evidently is not “Christmassy” enough for some Christians, many of whom have taken to the Internet to vent their outrage. In a viral Facebook post that has received more than 10 million views, Joshua Feuerstein fumed: “Starbucks REMOVED CHRISTMAS from their cups because they hate Jesus.”
 
It seems like a real stretch to claim that plain red cups somehow show contempt for Jesus Christ. The “war on Christmas” folks seem very touchy and seem to jump to conclusions easily.  
This year as in years past, I am not out to tear down someone else’s beliefs, (which seems to be the aim of some Christian warriors). I simply celebrate my holiday, enjoy the festivities of the season and here at my blogs I like to post thought-provoking and entertaining music clips. Hopefully these musical clips can be enjoyed by non-Christians and people who enjoy festivity without feeling offended.
   
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Christmas At Ground Zero

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