'Twas two days after Xmas...

[illusionofjoy]

I remember talking to a girl online years ago, back when I thought Yahoo Chat was a good way to meet people. As it turns out, chat rooms are a good way to get propositioned and add usernames to the list of morons who think that typing "a/s/l?" is a good way to meet people.

In any case, this girl and I had graduated from the moribund world of Yahoo Chat to the ludicrous world of AOL Instant Messager. I recall that she always typed in this green font that, while legible, had no other purpose than to give credit to the colour mentioned in her profile.

One conversation around this time of year found me typing "Xmas," namely because I didn't care to be bothered typing out the entirety of the word for a season I didn't care about. She of the green font snapped at me, saying, "It's Christmas!" I pointed out that I was just abbreviating for the sake of time and she shot back that the "Christ" was important to her.

A few years later this same girl would tell me that she had converted to her own unique flavour of paganism and would be getting married to some guy not necessarily because she loved him ("oh, and by the way, I love him") but because she needed security. She also needed to stay on schedule as far as graduating from college, having a career, breeding a family, etc. I haven't spoken to her since.

In the ensuing years, this girl has become one of my many symbols for what is wrong with America. Here was a supposedly intelligent, self-proclaimed open-minded, young woman jumping upon me for not spelling out the name of her saviour at the time and then chiding me for just questioning her methods in pursuing "the American dream." The message is always the same: conform.

It was like that at the office up until Christmas rolled around. The omni-denominational workplace is a myth at best. In fact, to say that we in the United States cherish diversity and accept the differing beliefs of others is laughable - especially in these times. As of late, I've been buying copies of the Post-Gazette, namely because I need something to read during my breaks. The television is always dominated by a group of sad thirty-something women who just have to watch their soap operas.

Having read the letters section of the Post-Gazette, I was reminded as to why I prefer the alternative newsweeklies to the mainstream media. In newsprint were the self-righteous diatribes of the small-minded who believe that it would be glorious if Bush and company were to see yet another four years in office. Meanwhile, lamebrain from capitalist suburbia extolled the virtues of our 84% Christian nation, telling of how school prayer and religious symbols in the classroom most certainly belong, because it is the will of the majority and how wrong the French leadership is for outlawing such things on school grounds.

I was set to ignore Christmas, in favour of simply celebrating "the holidays." The Holidays are nice and generic; I can still give cards and presents (as my budget allows) to those I care about without the burden of sponsoring one so-called saviour over another. Of course, this didn't prevent people from asking how my Christmas was, but the mass-mind is difficult to pry open.

I do like getting stuff though. This year I received the first two seasons of Red Dwarf on DVD. I also got the authorised Siouxsie & the Banshees biography along with Dan Savage's new book Skipping Towards Gomorrah. Add to that a $100 gift card along with various foodstuffs and alcohol and the list is complete.

Next up: New Year's, wherein I pontificate about the mobius strip we are all trapped on.

Comments

[trhodes.livejournal.com]

Wow, I really want to go off about religion in the classroom. If the government thinks that is where the majority want to be, then they should make appropriations for those not in the majority who should be allowed to practice their beliefs in an environment that sees them all as being equal. So, they should hire more teachers and build more schools for these people who, by luck, decided they either believe something else or will not be sheep herded, blindfolded, toward a future life controlled by religion.

That said, i'm not sure if this is your typo or not but: s/yet another for years/yet another four years/

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Tom Rhodes

[illusion-of-joy.livejournal.com]

For should be four. I've corrected it.

[trhodes.livejournal.com]

You didn't HAVE to correct it my friend, it was just an extra on my part. You were in fact, to be paying more attention to the former comment than the latter comment.

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Tom Rhodes

[oneirophrenia.livejournal.com]

Religion in the classroom is bad enough, but religion in the CHATroom is even worse! I should seriously start haunting the chatrooms again, attacking anyone who even vaguely seems religious with my savage doctrine of cybergnosticism until they cry and renounce their faith in everything but scrambled eggs.

[silver-forest.livejournal.com]

I used to do that in Diaryland Chat. All those prats who came in with names like bev4jesus and crap like that.