[verme (prevaricator)]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

also, for the record, I don't dislike gypsies. verme does, however. hates 'em baaad.

if you're trying to make sure that the gypsy hinders my reputation, he already have.

bring it on.

 

Originally Posted by knox

but i get the impression he dislikes everyone?

yes.

[ni'k]

Originally Posted by Crumb's Crunchy Delights

no ones gonna stop me celebrating the birth of our savior

NO ONE

are you being sarcastic? if not then noone cares enough to stop you and noone is trying to. it is a conservative fantasy that evil secularists are trying to take away their christmas enjoyment, and that some avant quirk of modernity will rob christmas of its true substance. my theory is it comes from their repressed knowledge of the ridiculousness of their beliefs and the anger at projected onto the other that arouses from the shame and guilt they feel for experiencing the misery of their traditions, like most other forms of conservative pyschosis. its up to us to make this fantasy a reality, and wreck christmas for everyone else. it is our duty to destroy it and punish anyone expressing christmas cheer, ban all outdoor decorations and set up a gestapo like force to bust into people's homes and destroy their trees and break up any illegal celebrations. this ruthless taskforce must not hesitate in mercy when stamping on and firing point blank at little timmys ps3 or little jane's new puppy. any mention of santa claus or christ should be enough to get people fired and all attempts to send cards should be intercepted and burnt by the postal authorities. we can erase it within a few generations when we work together. this would give the daily mail brigade exactly the type of persecution they so desperately want so they can burst forth in a shrieking orgy of self righteous defiance, allowing us to easily acertain and thin out the less desirable ranks of the populace, sending them to work in the water mines or if we are feeling gracious into the merzcell. december 25th (or whatever it's equivalent in the metric calendar) will become annual celebration of secular modernity day, a minor state holiday not generally noticed by the populace.

[Crumb's Crunchy Delights]

liberals and gays are stealing christmas

not on my frikkin watch

[ni'k]

if your watch is found to have an illegal obscene motif such as reindeer or elves it will be incinerated and you will be charged with possession of contraband.

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Christmas is fun. . . you drink egg nog, you decorate a tree, you play piano and sing songs, you exchange gifts, you watch christmas movies, you have a big dinner, you get really drunk, peace on earth and good will towards men, and yes, it's a celebration of the birth of Christ in place of the pagan celebration of the solstice. Christians You just have to ignore all the commercialism around this time of year.

good times

And despite wanting to go on a killing spree today (I went to Target. . . need I say more?) I believe this.

[pbradley]

Originally Posted by ni'k

are you being sarcastic? if not then noone cares enough to stop you and noone is trying to. it is a conservative fantasy that evil secularists are trying to take away their christmas enjoyment, and that some avant quirk of modernity will rob christmas of its true substance. my theory is it comes from their repressed knowledge of the ridiculousness of their beliefs and the anger at projected onto the other that arouses from the shame and guilt they feel for experiencing the misery of their traditions, like most other forms of conservative pyschosis. its up to us to make this fantasy a reality, and wreck christmas for everyone else. it is our duty to destroy it and punish anyone expressing christmas cheer, ban all outdoor decorations and set up a gestapo like force to bust into people's homes and destroy their trees and break up any illegal celebrations. this ruthless taskforce must not hesitate in mercy when stamping on and firing point blank at little timmys ps3 or little jane's new puppy. any mention of santa claus or christ should be enough to get people fired and all attempts to send cards should be intercepted and burnt by the postal authorities. we can erase it within a few generations when we work together. this would give the daily mail brigade exactly the type of persecution they so desperately want so they can burst forth in a shrieking orgy of self righteous defiance, allowing us to easily acertain and thin out the less desirable ranks of the populace, sending them to work in the water mines or if we are feeling gracious into the merzcell. december 25th (or whatever it's equivalent in the metric calendar) will become annual celebration of secular modernity day, a minor state holiday not generally noticed by the populace.

I don't think this conservative fear is a fantasy, just misplaced. This is the one time of the year that the true anti-consumerist philosophy at the core of Christianity is apparent but it's never self-conscious. Instead, its somehow turned in on itself and this 'good will toward man' humanism. Consumerism is taken as an effect of this secular humanism but what they are really angry at is the consumerism that robs both humanism and Christianity of their spiritual value. Again, no good Christian would curse A Christmas Carol which epitomizes Christmas humanism critical of consumerism.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Keeping It Simple

The homeowner's carbon footprint must be huge.

thats alright.. the Ghost of Al Gore will catch up with them inevitably haunting their conscience.

 

Originally Posted by ni'k

are you being sarcastic? if not then noone cares enough to stop you and noone is trying to. it is a conservative fantasy that evil secularists are trying to take away their christmas enjoyment, and that some avant quirk of modernity will rob christmas of its true substance. my theory is it comes from their repressed knowledge of the ridiculousness of their beliefs and the anger at projected onto the other that arouses from the shame and guilt they feel for experiencing the misery of their traditions, like most other forms of conservative pyschosis. its up to us to make this fantasy a reality, and wreck christmas for everyone else. it is our duty to destroy it and punish anyone expressing christmas cheer, ban all outdoor decorations and set up a gestapo like force to bust into people's homes and destroy their trees and break up any illegal celebrations. this ruthless taskforce must not hesitate in mercy when stamping on and firing point blank at little timmys ps3 or little jane's new puppy. any mention of santa claus or christ should be enough to get people fired and all attempts to send cards should be intercepted and burnt by the postal authorities. we can erase it within a few generations when we work together. this would give the daily mail brigade exactly the type of persecution they so desperately want so they can burst forth in a shrieking orgy of self righteous defiance, allowing us to easily acertain and thin out the less desirable ranks of the populace, sending them to work in the water mines or if we are feeling gracious into the merzcell. december 25th (or whatever it's equivalent in the metric calendar) will become annual celebration of secular modernity day, a minor state holiday not generally noticed by the populace.

yes, as long as you realize that those assholes are not truly Christians, and the cyclical totalitarianism they practice is not Christianity."Pure and undefiled religion is this, that you look after the orphans and widows in their distress.."

[ni'k]

both pbradley and suchfriends invoke the idea of the 'good' or true christian. now i'm not saying this to be cynical or out of spite but i have never known one of these to exist in my personal life anyway. perhaps there are some out there, if so i'd like to see them. isn't christianity too fragmented and diverse for a set of characteristics narrow enough to converge in an archetypal good christian? also i would question the massive bias in our cultural towards seeing an inherent goodness in christianity. even when taken at its most pious, inoffensive and banally positive there are dangerous and morally shaky presumptions. i find the commandment thou shalt not steal simply evil. i find the idea of jesus's crucifiction as redemption for our sins to be horrendous. i find it to be the most masochistically arrogant act i'd like to imagine. the idea that jesus got gifts from wise men on his birthday and on that very same day you too little boy or girl will get a present - to be closer to the source of our selfish materialism rather than the outcome of our corruption. Are not the properties of christmas that pbradley mentioned that are destructive to humanism and christian agape precisely those very same properties that are integral to it ie. covering up the wound of crucifiction with a crude material gift? a tenuous link could also be made with the whole feeding thousands with a small quantity of bread and fish thing and the capitalist view of the enviroment as an infinite resource to consume. i think it is a mistake to view christianity as being corrupted by man and instead view the characteristics of man's corruption as stemming from his christian civilisation. i've always seen the jesus myth as an apology for imperialism and our ideas of selfish individualism rather than a way out of them. isn't the idea of worshipping this tortured rebel a way of making sure noone stands up to the roman empire of today? isn't original sin just a way of instilling guilt and control? any christian who would follow that fucked up pyscho yahweh is simply wrong. what's worth salvaging from christianity? Surely not following christ to the cross? isn't he blocking our way beyond that fear anyway? isn't much of the relegion too ridiculously fictitious to be considered anything beyond kitsch insanity?

[pbradley]

Good and true are very different, at least how I used it. The good Christian, to me, is entirely an idea and a judgment of quality from my own interpretation of what I see as good in Christianity. There is more than enough bad that I see in the faith. I'm not a Christian.

[Satan]

i hate christmas

[davenotdead]

Originally Posted by ni'k

both pbradley and suchfriends invoke the idea of the 'good' or true christian. now i'm not saying this to be cynical or out of spite but i have never known one of these to exist in my personal life anyway. perhaps there are some out there, if so i'd like to see them. isn't christianity too fragmented and diverse for a set of characteristics narrow enough to converge in an archetypal good christian? also i would question the massive bias in our cultural towards seeing an inherent goodness in christianity. even when taken at its most pious, inoffensive and banally positive there are dangerous and morally shaky presumptions. i find the commandment thou shalt not steal simply evil. i find the idea of jesus's crucifiction as redemption for our sins to be horrendous. i find it to be the most masochistically arrogant act i'd like to imagine. the idea that jesus got gifts from wise men on his birthday and on that very same day you too little boy or girl will get a present - to be closer to the source of our selfish materialism rather than the outcome of our corruption. Are not the properties of christmas that pbradley mentioned that are destructive to humanism and christian agape precisely those very same properties that are integral to it ie. covering up the wound of crucifiction with a crude material gift? a tenuous link could also be made with the whole feeding thousands with a small quantity of bread and fish thing and the capitalist view of the enviroment as an infinite resource to consume. i think it is a mistake to view christianity as being corrupted by man and instead view the characteristics of man's corruption as stemming from his christian civilisation. i've always seen the jesus myth as an apology for imperialism and our ideas of selfish individualism rather than a way out of them. isn't the idea of worshipping this tortured rebel a way of making sure noone stands up to the roman empire of today? isn't original sin just a way of instilling guilt and control? any christian who would follow that fucked up pyscho yahweh is simply wrong. what's worth salvaging from christianity? Surely not following christ to the cross? isn't he blocking our way beyond that fear anyway? isn't much of the relegion too ridiculously fictitious to be considered anything beyond kitsch insanity?

dawg, wtf is wrong with u?

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Christmas is usually pretty cathartic. I get really pissed off at everything, and then I get drunk with people I love and we go on a tirade about how much everything pisses me off.

[GeneticKiss]

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

Christmas is fun. . . you drink egg nog, you decorate a tree, you play piano and sing songs, you exchange gifts, you watch christmas movies, you have a big dinner, you get really drunk, peace on earth and good will towards men, and yes, it's a celebration of the birth of Christ in place of the pagan celebration of the solstice. Christians You just have to ignore all the commercialism around this time of year.

good times

And despite wanting to go on a killing spree today (I went to Target. . . need I say more?) I believe this.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to SpectralJulianIsNotDead again.

If for nothing else other than the last sentence of this post...

[GeneticKiss]

Originally Posted by ni'k

if not then noone cares enough to stop you and noone is trying to. it is a conservative fantasy that evil secularists are trying to take away their christmas enjoyment, and that some avant quirk of modernity will rob christmas of its true substance.

Like a friend of mine said, Christians today see themselves as some kind of opressed minority.

Much like the Jehovah's Witnesses the other day who handed me a pamphlet (numbered in the wrong order) making out the end of the world out to be a good thing.

[pbradley]

Originally Posted by ni'k

what's worth salvaging from christianity?

On a personal note, Kierkegaard. Or, rather, some of Kierkegaard since he's a bit all over the place.

[Glice]

Originally Posted by pbradley

On a personal note, Kierkegaard. Or, rather, some of Kierkegaard since he's a bit all over the place.

The ongoing debate with Kierkegaard revolves around him not being Christian. There's a lot of people would say that his 'Christianity' is only inches away from Nietzsche's. Personally, I tend to think that Nietzsche is Christian anyway, but I'm often more inclined to agree with my own detractors, in a strange twist of logic.

The thing with Christianity, by which I mean the social Christianity, the Christianity that gives us democracy (amongst other things), is such a saturated epistemic that most atheism is little more than a mourning for lost Christianity, rather than its outwright dismissal. Philosophically, I tend to feel Christianity itself is as much a fight for the 'true' anti-Christ that the now-fashionable 'atheism' forms only an adumbration of that dialogue.

None of this is a comment on anything that's important to the true believers (articles of faith, dogma, trinitarian belief etc etc), which is a whole different thing.

[Satan]

1. santa is an anagram of satan (obvious)

2. there is no god (glaringly obvious)

[Glice]

What an insightful post. Prey tell, where do I sign up to subscribe to your blog? No doubt it's positively glimmering with similar insights of pellucid magnificence.

[Satan]

thanks.

[pokkeherrie]

Originally Posted by Glice

Prey tell

I see what you did there.

BTW, have you ever noticed that god is an anagram of dog? That's some more insightful shit for you right there. Mindfuck, dude.