Merry Something!
This will be the first of hopefully several entries regarding Christmas.
Young, secular, middle class folk are in an odd position these days. The meaning of December 25th is always changing, and it seems that no matter what we celebrate, it's not quite something we 'believe in'.
Must we celebrate the birth of Christ?
Absolutely not. And let's be honest here, Jesus is getting a bit dated.
Capitalism has offered an alternative. What we can choose to celebrate the spirit of consumption - or more sympathetically, the spirit of contributing to economic growth by investing in various products. Of course, it has become common rhetoric that consumption is, by its very nature, a bad thing. We confidently argue that consumerism has the twofold effect of enhancing superficial selfishness, while simultaneously pushing into the periphery the 'real' self, burying the soul under mountains of plastic and electronics. And there's a point to this: Santa's naughty/nice list, for example, is nothing more than a morality defined by a material payoff structure. Character is incidental, and virture is not its own reward.
Therefore Santa, of all figures, is a Hobbesian! I know too many people who liken Santa to God (in some sort of primative, child-luring form). I also know people who believe Santa is Capitalism's spokesman, citing Coca-cola as the source of his uniform. But both of those theories are a bunch of baloney. If anything, the fat man is a Sovereign: the (Hobbesian) figure who is appointed to rescue humanity from its state of nature by assuming complete power, and enforcing a structural morality with a system of rewards and punishments for those who comply and break the law. And really, benevolence has got nothing to do with it. Santa doesn't 'give' anything, he is the reflexive embodiment of conflict between parent and child; he is an arbiter. And since desire is transient, and new children are born every day, the cards in play during this arbitration are material goods.
Anyway. What of December 25th then, if we don't feel God's love, and desire to fill our preverbial bellies with something more substantive than mere substance?
Richard Dawkins, as usual, thinks he's got the solution: http://richarddawkins.net/article,2026,n,n
For you lazy bastards, I'll summarize: Dawkins notes that the 25th just happens to be the birthday of Issac Newton, often called the father of modern science. Newton Day could be a secular, non-denominational, non-materialistic, albeit cheeky way to to celebrate the day.
Clever! Though, it only gives us an excuse to celebrate, not a reason.
Personally, I'd call it Rum and Eggnog Day. But that's just me.
My next entry will be on Festivus (from seinfeld), ie. The anti-Christmas for the old, disillusioned, and bitter. For those who are fans, I am proud to say I put up my aluminum pole just today.
Young, secular, middle class folk are in an odd position these days. The meaning of December 25th is always changing, and it seems that no matter what we celebrate, it's not quite something we 'believe in'.
Must we celebrate the birth of Christ?
Absolutely not. And let's be honest here, Jesus is getting a bit dated.
Capitalism has offered an alternative. What we can choose to celebrate the spirit of consumption - or more sympathetically, the spirit of contributing to economic growth by investing in various products. Of course, it has become common rhetoric that consumption is, by its very nature, a bad thing. We confidently argue that consumerism has the twofold effect of enhancing superficial selfishness, while simultaneously pushing into the periphery the 'real' self, burying the soul under mountains of plastic and electronics. And there's a point to this: Santa's naughty/nice list, for example, is nothing more than a morality defined by a material payoff structure. Character is incidental, and virture is not its own reward.
Therefore Santa, of all figures, is a Hobbesian! I know too many people who liken Santa to God (in some sort of primative, child-luring form). I also know people who believe Santa is Capitalism's spokesman, citing Coca-cola as the source of his uniform. But both of those theories are a bunch of baloney. If anything, the fat man is a Sovereign: the (Hobbesian) figure who is appointed to rescue humanity from its state of nature by assuming complete power, and enforcing a structural morality with a system of rewards and punishments for those who comply and break the law. And really, benevolence has got nothing to do with it. Santa doesn't 'give' anything, he is the reflexive embodiment of conflict between parent and child; he is an arbiter. And since desire is transient, and new children are born every day, the cards in play during this arbitration are material goods.
Anyway. What of December 25th then, if we don't feel God's love, and desire to fill our preverbial bellies with something more substantive than mere substance?
Richard Dawkins, as usual, thinks he's got the solution: http://richarddawkins.net/article,2026,n,n
For you lazy bastards, I'll summarize: Dawkins notes that the 25th just happens to be the birthday of Issac Newton, often called the father of modern science. Newton Day could be a secular, non-denominational, non-materialistic, albeit cheeky way to to celebrate the day.
Clever! Though, it only gives us an excuse to celebrate, not a reason.
Personally, I'd call it Rum and Eggnog Day. But that's just me.
My next entry will be on Festivus (from seinfeld), ie. The anti-Christmas for the old, disillusioned, and bitter. For those who are fans, I am proud to say I put up my aluminum pole just today.
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