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| So, Yoni was trying to convince me to update my Xanga, and while I've long ago grown bored of using Xanga for those same-old "here's the random run-of-the-mill crap that's going in my life" updates, I do enjoy writing when I have a specific topic on my mind (like the Ubuntu post). So I told Yoni I would make a post to write about why I hate Christmas, and think it is a stupid holiday.
Why Christmas is a Stupid Holiday
I know what came immediately to your mind when you read that: "I feel like I hate Christmas sometimes too! It's so commercialized." Yeah, everyone complains about how Christmas is commercialized. Everyone hates the lines at stores, and all the money you have to spend, and the cheesy commercials on T.V. You may think this is why I hate Christmas. Nay, that is not the main reason Christmas is a stupid holiday.
Reason #1: The "True Meaning" of Christmas
If you are a Christian, then I'm sure that you have heard a million sermons on how we need to remember the "true meaning of Christmas." When people in religious circles say this, they are referring to the birth of Christ. This is stupid. Christmas originated as a Roman holiday known as "Natalis Solis Invicti," which translates as "The birthday of the unconquered sun." It was celebrated on December 25th, and they celebrated the birthday of their sun god. In fact, the whole tradition of celebrating birthdays originated with the practice of commemorating the birth days of pagan gods.
How interesting. A holiday on December 25th ... which celebrates the birth of a god ... the birth of the Son, er, oops ... the sun. In the 4th or 5th century the Catholic church decided that they needed a way to help spread Christianity, so they hijacked the Roman holiday. This is a very common way of converting pagans into the Catholic church: let the pagans keep their gods and celebrations, but simply rename or retool them into Christian saints and celebrations. Thus, the Roman Catholic church started promoting the celebration of Jesus' birthday on the usual birthday of the Roman sun god.
Jesus was not born on Christmas. He was probably not even born in the winter. And neither Jesus, nor His apostles, nor any of the early church even celebrated His birthday. It was not Jewish custom to celebrate birthdays. Most likely, Jesus and His closest friends let His own birthday pass unmarked. Rod Reynolds wrote that "neither Christ, nor His Apostles, nor their true followers, observed their birthdays. ... the practice has its origin in idolatry and the worship of the sun, moon and stars" (http://www.cogwriter.com/birthdays.htm)
I have no problem with setting aside time to commemorate the fact that Jesus became the God-man, and was born here on earth. But saying that the "true meaning" of Christmas is the birthday of Jesus would be like me saying that the true meaning of Halloween is to celebrate the day that Jesus got his first tooth -- that's not how it started, and it's an event that Jesus himself probably never celebrated.
Reason #2: Using Christmas
After reading that last section you may be thinking, "Blasphemy! Christmas has been a sacred holiday for thousands of years. Maybe it started as a pagan holiday, but we have established it as Jesus's special day, and created a new meaning for it.
The problem is, Christmas, as it exists today, is a little more "created" than you think, and much less sacred and long-standing. Christmas grew and fell in popularity in various times in history. In fact, Christmas was never very popular in early America. Due to puritan influence, and the notion that Christmas was an English holiday, it died out around the time of the American Revolution. It wasn't until the mid-1800's that writings such as "A Christmas Carol" and "T'was the Night Before Christmas" first portrayed Christmas as a family-centric holiday, that interest in Christmas started to rise. People wanted something that would boost then-suffering family values and family togetherness. Along with this, retailers began to realize the commercial possibilities of a gift-giving holiday, and they began to give it heavy support. By only the 1850's people were already complaining that the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping spree. (Imagine of they could see it today)
Reason #3: Useless crap
Finally, of course, the commercialization. Actually, forget the word "commercialization." That word places the blame on the corporations and the stores. It's their fault for turning Christmas into one big month-long shopping spree, right? WRONG. It is our fault for buying their useless crap. People drop hundreds, even thousands of dollars on decorations that will be seen for a few weeks, and then thrown out or put in a dusty attic for 11 1/2 months. People give each other presents, which actually, according to a recent study published in the Economist, creates a dead weight loss on our economy of about $4 billion. (www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=885748) Not to mention that parents go around spending exorbitant amounts of money on their already spoiled rich American children, further reinforcing their budding sense of self-entitlement.
Conclusion
Christmas is a waste of time, money, and energy. And Christians need to get off their high-horses about it. Jesus didn't, and probably doesn't care about His birthday. How about we take all the energy, all the time spent writing Christmas carols, all the ballyhooing about the true meaning ... and move it up a few months and have a killer awesome Good Friday and Easter celebration? The day that Jesus was born is small beans when compared to his death and resurrection. But we spend 10 times the amount of energy, money, and time on Christmas that we do on celebration the death and resurrection of Christ. The death and resurrection is, and always was, the true meaning of Good Friday and Easter. No Catholic meddling or commercial creation there. (Well, the eggs and the Easter bunny could be done without)
Well, there's my update. To any of you who actually read the whole freaking thing, congratulations.
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| here I sit in my mostly empty room ...
tomorrow I head for home. Good ol' PA.
3 months of full time work = blah. 3 months with the family = sweet.
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| Tired of Microsuck Winblows?Wow, ok, I guess I kind of broke my promise in the last post. I said I would start posting again and it's been a couple of months. There were several times I considered it, but I couldn't think of anything to write about. My life still isn't very interesting, but I'm gonna take advantage of this space to inform people of my latest hobby - running, enjoying, and spreading the use of Ubuntu.
Perhaps those of you who know my friend Brendon (www.xanga.com/bought_with_a_price) saw his recent post where he said he is now running a Linux machine. Well, that is thanks to my efforts to convert him from using the unholy, error-laden, reboot-fest that is Micro$oft Windows. We, like many computer users were sick and tired of dealing with the constant annoyances of Windows, and the total lack of helpful support or useful, free programs. A few weeks ago a friend of mine suggested I try switching to a version of linux known as Ubuntu. I was skeptical. Everyone knows linux is only for computer geniuses, right? Everyone knows that linux doesn't actually work the way you want it to, right? Wrong.
Ubuntu is an African word that, translated means, "Humanity toward others." This is an operating system that is built around the idea of community-supported, free software that is easy and enjoyable for even the average user. Unlike, Windows Vista, which will cost you anywhere from $100 to $400, Ubuntu is absolutely, 100% free. And it comes with every kind of software you could possibly need, totally free. It has Firefox internet browser, Thunderbird email, Rythmbox music player, and OpenOffice, a free, complete office productivity suite. A replacement for Microsoft Office, that is equally, if not more functional. Not to mention that with a few clicks in the Package Manager you can install any one of over 10,000 free programs.
Here is a screenshot of my desktop:
Good looking, if I say so myself. And you can customize your desktop any way you want. Do you want one of those animated object docks like they have on a Mac? You got it! Want those widgets or gadgets that fly in from the sides? You got it! Want your desktop to look like the Windows environment you're used to? You got it! If you really want to be impressed by the eye candy available on Ubuntu, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYsxaMyFV2Y. This guy is taking advantage of Ubuntu's multiple desktops, the Beryl program that lets you have crazy 3D effects, and the awesome kiba-docker, which I also use. It lets you play with your taskbar icons and bounce them around.
On top of all that, Ubuntu is about 50% faster that Windows. Also, I run Ubuntu for days on end without a single error, lockup, or reboot. And if one buggy program has a problem, it doesn't lock up the whole system. When Brendon installed Ubuntu, it revitalized his old laptop, and it fixed an internal wireless card that had been broken for many months, and a Windows expert was unable to fix it. And if you do have any problems, Ubuntu has an online community of users that are dedicated to helping people fix any problems they might have, installing any extras
Maybe you now think I'm a nerd, or just crazy. But if any of this intrigues you, check out http://www.ubuntu.com/products/WhatIsUbuntu/desktopedition. One of the coolest features of Ubuntu: when you put the CD in your computer and restart, it boots up into a FULLY FUNCTIONAL session of Ubuntu, where you can test and see if you like it. If not, pop out the CD, restart, and go back to Windows.
Ok, that concludes my nerd rant. In other news, I'm doing good, school is almost over, and I can't wait for summer. Yay.
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| To anyone who was wondering why my xanga and facebook were mysteriously empty, or why all my pictures were gone ... I apologize. I was involved in a campus-wide game called the "Assassins Tournament." Basically, you buy a little squirt gun, and everyone gets assigned the name of another person in the game to "kill." I took down or locked most of my facebook and xanga so that the person hunting me would have a harder time finding pictures or tracking me down.
Anyways, I "died" last week, so I'm putting everything back up, and I'll be posting again.
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| Hurray, classes have begun! I am sitting in one right now, and I'm bored. I have a lot of classes on Monday and Wednesday, and no lunch break until 2:00, so I'm hungry. hungry. and bored. | | |
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