Monday, October 16, 2017

SDSU Gear Is Offensive To Me

I was thinking about the support for "Merry Christmas!" from The Donald that I posted yesterday. I came up with an analogy for the people who object to calling those decorated pines "Christmas Trees" and the rest of that nonsense.

As a wannabe Southern boy, I'm a big LSU fan. I live in San Diego. I am a distinct minority. On college game days, I see lots and lots of people in SDSU gear. If I got offended at that, I'd go see a therapist, I wouldn't demand everyone else change to be more "inclusive." This whole objection to Christmas is idiocy.

Counter argument 1: Religion is different! Think of how the atheists feel.

Rebuttal: The atheists think it's all fairy tales anyway. The thought that I'd object to fairy tales is similarly stupid.

Counter argument 2: Religion is different! Think of how the Jews or Muslims feel!

Rebuttal: A college football game lasts 3 hours, not including tailgating. A religious service is typically an hour or so. Most people don't even go to their services every week. I'd say college football is a bigger deal than religion. Further, it's not uncommon to see drunken fights in the stands at a game. That's pretty uncommon in church. It looks like college football engenders more passion than religion.

Conclusion

SDSU gear needs to be restricted to college-football-free-speech-zones. After this weekend's loss to Boise State, I might find a lot of support for that idea.



1 comment:

tim eisele said...

So, I've been realizing for a few years that while there are a lot of prominent people railing about how it is necessary to "reclaim Christmas" and get people "saying Merry Christmas again", I can't actually put a name to anybody who is actually pushing for saying "happy holidays". So I go to wondering, just how much of a push was ever there against saying "merry christmas" in the first place?

So, I went to Wikipedia, which (of course!) has a Christmas Controversies page. Boy, do people love to argue about Christmas! I'd go so far as to say that bickering about how to observe Christmas is just as much of a tradition as Christmas itself. And people love the argument, because no matter which way one goes, it is a great way to feel virtuous without consequences. If you say "Merry Christmas!", you can feel like you are striking a blow against political correctness, while if you say "Happy Holidays!", you can feel like you're standing up for minorities (particularly Jews). And meanwhile, whoever you are saying it to most likely is completely oblivious to which position you are taking,, and so there is no real risk to you!.

I was amused by the Trump video you posted yesterday, where he lead with how important it was to maintain our "Judeo-Christian Values", and then went on to insist that we should all say "Merry Christmas!", apparently completely oblivious to the fact that the "Judeo" part of "Judeo-Christian" is the big reason why this whole Nontroversy came into existence in the first place. What a great way to stir up both sides, so that he can continue to do his job as President[1]!

[1] "The qualities [the president] is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage. For this reason the President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it."
(From "The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy". It seems to me to apply to Donald Trump just about as well as it does to Zaphod Beeblebrox).