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Commercialization and loss of holiday spirit


RoseGoesToYale

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SorryNotSorry

I don't think there's a single holiday recognized here in the US which hasn't been commercialized. The Powers That Be will very soon have a go at pushing April 20th as a time to consume pot, pot, and more pot! Thank Christ we don't have any holidays in August—yet.

 

However I admit without shame that I don't miss what Christmas and Thanksgiving used to mean back when the rest of my family members were still alive: a time to act like a bunch of formal fussbudgets while scarfing down food which didn't taste that great and getting gifts which you had absolutely no use for.

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I don't think there are many AVEN members who are old enough to remember a Christmas that was not commercialised. Be careful about those statements how times are changing drastically, especially how new generations are behaving oh so differently. Most of it is about age, not about generations. When I was a kid I tended to enjoy Christmas (I think), now I find it annoying. Our perception is changing over the years, but when you look at the facts you're likely to find that the strange apes that inhabit this planet have been largely the same over thousands of years.

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On 12/3/2018 at 3:32 PM, RosyIcepick said:

Do you still have holiday spirit or have you gone the way of the humbug? If you have it, please tell me where I can get some. And for free, preferably...

 

I am a humbug, I hate all holidays and even birthdays. If the calendar skipped Oct-Dec or I could just hibernate through them it would be better.

 

3 hours ago, rudolph the timewarp said:

I don't think there are many AVEN members who are old enough to remember a Christmas that was not commercialised. Be careful about those statements how times are changing drastically, especially how new generations are behaving oh so differently. Most of it is about age, not about generations. When I was a kid I tended to enjoy Christmas (I think), now I find it annoying. Our perception is changing over the years, but when you look at the facts you're likely to find that the strange apes that inhabit this planet have been largely the same over thousands of years.

I grew up in the sixties and it was commercialized then (maybe not to the same extent as now yet but still). My parents tried to use christmas as a way of bribing us into ignoring the abuse that happened all year. It did not work.

 

Also, all holidays were ruined by all the rigid rules around everything, forced family time, forced unusual eating times, holidays are loud....

 

I am now engaged to someone who likes holidays. I am working on it.

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8 hours ago, rudolph the timewarp said:

I don't think there are many AVEN members who are old enough to remember a Christmas that was not commercialised

Yeah. I'd venture to say it was commercialized in Victorian times if not earlier. :P 

 

The thing is people can choose how much they want to participate in that and/or to make the holidays what they want them to be (barring things like family obligations and such). It's easier for me because I am on my own and can do what I want. Maybe that's why I like the holidays. :) 

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa
13 hours ago, daveb said:

The thing is people can choose how much they want to participate in that and/or to make the holidays what they want them to be (barring things like family obligations and such). It's easier for me because I am on my own and can do what I want. Maybe that's why I like the holidays. :) 

...I wish! I've just been called 'the Grinch' ...because I won't gorge myself at my desk all day while flanked by two people who have a combined weight of over 50 stones....I think common sense and a degree of adulthood need to kick in at some point in people's lives. By the way, the 'grinch accusers' are older than me! 

 

As someone who deals with the general public, I've had drunk people (who are working in pharmacies and drunk during the work day), confused and agitated ones...all because  suddenly Xmas is looming. In what way does one day suddenly cause mass memory problems and mood swings? I don't get it (literally and metaphorically)..😆

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  • 2 weeks later...

I never had 'holiday' spirit. Usually when people say that they mean a particular holiday: Christmas. I don't celebrate it, since I'm Jewish. It's almost oppressive with how much Christmas stuff is pushed. Sometimes as early as July. I feel like not going anywhere out during most of December. I can't escape it, though. It's in ads, we have a Santa that rides a fire engine through the neighborhood every day for a week before it (he 'ho hos' and the sirens go off, so it's loud and you can't ignore it), there are Christmas decorations outside, etc. If you go to a restaurant, mall, etc. there's constant Christmas music, decorations, and people are wishing you Merry Christmas. There are 'holiday' parties, kids have 'holiday' projects at public schools, and band kids have to play 'holiday' tunes (I was forced to play a couple of those concerts in a church...). Every time that word 'holiday' actually meant Christmas. For someone who doesn't celebrate it, it gets really difficult from an early age. I hate that some people in the Jewish community usually bring up the 'December Dilemma'. Saying that Jewish kids would be more attracted to Christmas than Hanukkah. Funny thing is Hanukkah's a very minor holiday. We have major holidays during the rest of the year. As a kid, I never got jealous of my friends who celebrated it. In fact, I was happy to have a fun minor, but beautiful, 8-day holiday instead. I also have always thought it would be way too stressful even if I did celebrate Christmas. I sometimes think wouldn't people get tired of it before the holiday even arrived? I know some people are actually trying to commercialize Hanukkah more, but it's not really working. Passover is a bit more commercialized, but really that's just with expanding what we can eat during the holiday each year. Nothing compared to the Christmas hoopla stuff.

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Everything about the period from Nov. 1 to Jan. 3 is designed to annoy, pester, and drive me into a nearly murderous state. I think its all a big farce to get us to believe in certain things best forgotten. 

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I've been hearing about the commercialization of Christmas for 40+ years.  Ironically, the people who seem to complain most about it are not really very religious.  As the years go on, it bothers me less.  Since I'm Jewish it used to drive me nuts, especially being asked by clerks "Have you got your Christmas shopping done yet?"  It was hard to figure out what to say, other than just "No", which then elicited a paragraph from the clerk about how they haven't either.  Now I just smile, since they probably have been taught by their bosses to sound friendly and don't care anyway.  

 

Cmas carols are beautiful.  It's the other stupid songs that are awful, like "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Three months of that...

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