WHY YOU MIGHT WANT TO RETHINK CELEBRATING THE TRINITARIAN FESTIVAL OF GREED

Occasionally, I rip-off other people's fine texts. This is not because I have nothing to say (I would say something anyway), but because I like what they wrote, and I like people reading my blog, and I think it good to combine the two.


Read what the famous and infamous "THEY" wrote, on MY blog - It's win-win.


Today's featured rip-off-ee is Tzipporah, who suggests pertinent ways to 'discourage' people of the Jewish ilk from celebrating Christmas.


1. "Hey did you know that latkes, unlike that giant gingerbread cookie you're eating, have NO calories, so long as you eat them with applesauce? No, really, it's true -they cancel each other out in your digestive system."

2. "Wow, nice tree. Looks just like the one that caught fire and burned down Joshua's house last year. Oh, you didn't hear about that?"

3. "Oh, thanks for the gifts, but we follow the Hanukkah tradition of just giving gelt. But if that's what you like, I guess we'll just keep the $500 we were going to give you and go buy you some kitsch, instead."

4. (loudly) "Yes, sweetie, Aunt Mira IS just like the Hellenized Jews that got slaughtered by our heroic Maccabean ancestors. But it's really not nice to point that out."

SOURCE
This comment string:http://www.haloscan.com/comments/dovbear/2939109936100349944/?src=hsn
Appended to this post:http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2008/12/if-you-know-jew-planning-to-observe.html
On this blog that is very-well-worth reading :http://dovbear.blogspot.com/


TZIPPORAHTzipporah is a not-infrequent commenter on Dovbear's blog - and it seems as if her best moments are the short, snarky, and to-the-point comments that she leaves there.
This is unfortunate, because she has both a grasp of the material, and insightfull intelligence, and should be able to express both well independently and at length. But she has an infant, you see, and that takes away from her time - so much so that dimsum-like sparks, and the very occasional short piece, are all that we can expect from her for a while.
But just wait until the kid goes to school.

Tzipporah's own blog:http://www.midianitemanna.blogspot.com/

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Note: The use of ilk in my intro: Not in a negative sense, but instead of the term 'persuasion'.

Persuasion, in my view, indicates a general system of beliefs which are adhered to by the persuadee. Much like one could convert to Buddhism, Idol Worship, Christianity, or Astrology-Witchcraft-Tarot Reading.
[Or even the latest crackpot faith: '700 Billion Bail-out Solves All Woes'. Which is probably better than self-castration followed by putting on black shirts, Nikes, purple sheets, and drinking phenobarbitol mixed with vodka. But hey, who am I to judge other people's weird avodah zara? If YOU like the black shirt and sneakers thing, go right ahead. Do it. It's cheaper than sucking the treasury dry.]


Judaism, however, includes membership in an ethno-culturo-religio-ritual unity. An 'ilk', in other words.
[So, in short: Jews are members of an ilk, somewhat Jewishy bloggers have a persuasion. ]

I consider myself largely Jewish-persuaded, but I am not a Jew, nor likely to become one.

I am too stubborn, and too much a skeptic to convert (i.e. to sincerely and formally assume membership of the 'ilk', and be accepted as a member).

And for those exact same reasons, I will not celebrate Christmas - I am too much a skeptic, and much too stubborn.
[Plainly stated, resolutely neither a member of any Trinitarian 'ilk', nor in any way persuaded by the Nicene credulity either.]


I will nevertheless be giving gifts this season. This is NOT in celebration of Christmas, but in very grudging acknowledgement of the tradition of skeptics, apikorsim, agnostikim, and atheists buying-in to the general custom, and overlapping our giftery with the Trinitarian Festival of Greed™.
[No, it's not festivus! There is no pole, there are no feats of strength - stop trying to win converts!]

It is a purely pragmatic approach. We do not wish to be burned at the stake, and there are no other convenient occasions to hijack.

We celebrate chocolate. And cynicism. And hugely uncomfortable weather.

Possibly also fine pottery.

But we do not have a tree-cadaver anywhere on the premises.