What have we become?
 

I don't watch too much TV but I do like the news. I am getting to the point where it is just too damn depressing. Poeople are getting beaten half to death for a $29 DVD player, people are getting shot for a PS3.
When did the celebration of our loard and saviours birthday become a right of passage for stupidity? Have we as a whole forgotten the true meaning of Christmas? Have we forgotten how to behave as a society? What are we turning into? It almost makes me wonder if the 3 wisemen had a fight over getting the discount price on Frankensence.
Wise up people, Christmas is about family, faith,and good will towards man. Oh and don't forget to wish the big guy a happy birthday.
It's no wonder the rest of the world laughs at us, and not behind our backs. Makes me glad (now) that I grew up poor, I know the true meaning of Christmas.
Too bad some will never get it.
End rant

Sadly, Christmas is like church for too many people - simply a way to delude themselves into thinking they're atoining for being an ********* the rest of the time.

The "goodwill toward man" thing is a good idea, but in this sense, even that is tainted, since it's done out of a guilt rather than any deep-seeded desire to do good on the part of a great number of people. As such, what's really the point? I mean, I'd rather have the goodwill (even if it's faked) for one day than not at all - the ends justify the means, but why can't the message be to simply be less of a prick the rest of the time rather than faking it for one day?

Sadly, I think this is what Christmas is for a lot of people - a "feelgood" drug to allay (temporarily) their guilt. Got news for you people - stickin' a big animated plastic Santa in your front yard doesn't make you any less of a d1ckhead.

So all I want for Christmas this year is for the "goodwill towards man" to be absorbed into our collective behavior the REST OF THE YEAR and maybe even a little bit more genuine at that. The retailers would never go for it, but hey. . . even they would be better off for it in the long run, wouldn't they?

"greed is good". Blame the US government and corporate America for fuvking up this country.

plus all the trash they market to our kids on tv these days.

the morals of our society is down the tubes.

Rick V

+1 and a Amen!

Cumbersome

Nowadays, Christmas kind'a sucks. A lot of people have lost their way.

LOL good tune, local band for me!

+2

If it makes anyone feel better, my family and I will be volunteering time at a regional animal shelter on Christmas morning. My wife is a frequent volunteer and we are doing this so the regular staff can have a morning with their families.

Merry Christmas
Les

Watching the See-BS and other nightly liberal views shows could certainly make you feel down on the world. Keep in mind, this is a distorted overall view. "If it bleeds, it leads". These folks don't cover good news much. Good news, nice people going about their daily routine, simply doesn't gain enough audience to sell the Ciallis...

Christmas has turned in to the Tower of Mammon. Exploited and commercialized in absurd um. If I did not have kids I would have boycotted the whole charade.

As I believe it is commonly known, the holidays can be a very depressing time for many folks and this seems to have been the case for a long time. The media seems to revel in reporting bad stories during the holidays, for that fact they do it all year long. So I stay away from the news and TV in general, they are part of the problem.

Newspapers are not much better but at least I have the option of picking what I want to digest. I think far too many folks see TV as the only means of getting "good/accurate/factual" information, how unfortunate is that.

It most unfortunate that people see the Christmas holidays (from T'giving until Jan. 2nd) as a time to be kind to their fellow man when they should behave that way 365 days of the year.

I have been slowly turning a sour point of view towards Christmas outside of my own home for some time now. I think the final straw was when I went to get some Holloween candy, I was tripping over plastic santas, and snowmen while tring to get some monster money and snickersbars for the gouls and goblins.
People are becomming conditioned to believe they arn't good if they don't spend X dollars for Y item.
I will pass on my Christmas gift to every one.
I wish you peace and happiness in whatever you chose...............all year long. Merry Christmas

Yeah, we have those problems here, but don't imagine that they don't have the same problems in other countries. There's plenty wrong with the other first would countries in Europe and Asia, many even have the same problems.

Wow, such angry lib's. Is it the smoking hot economy? . . .all that purchasing power? Maybe it's all those cool technologies that allows you all to communicate more (cell phones, internet...).

I think you all need to go Amish, to calm your conflicts.


:cool:

So much hand wringing. Sad.

Just watch out you don't get capped in Amish land by a disgruntled quaker.

They just had a shooting spree of their own about 4 months ago or something.

A liberal is one thing that doesn't apply to me. I am about as conservative as they come. Sorry to disapiont

So then you're already Amish? --sorry, my bad. :cool:

Ok You win, I'm a conservative person but not to the point of Amishism. I am conservative enough to be ticked off about the things I stated in my origional post.
I was born in Philly, just outside of Lancaster county, I grew up near the Amish, and have alot of respect for those people. They can hold to the values they have while being surrounded by the rest of the world, and all it's ideas.

Hey now... you have yet to see my animated Charlie Brown nativity scene in my front yard.

Now that certainly allows me to be a raging A-hole to my neighbors the rest of the year!

Bah humbug! I hate X-mas anymore. It used to be really cool and I liked visiting my folks and seeing everyone. But shopping is hell and, as good as my family to me in the presents dept., I really wince at the emailed wish lists. Weekend shopping around NoVA is a nightmare and that's why I do EVERYTHING online now except for buying cards and wrapping paper. I swear, when I finally get a big house and start having my folks over for X-mas, I am going to have a make-it, bake-it, or we-won't-take-it Xmas. I'm sick fo all the commericialism. I'm not a religious person at all and I still can't stand it.

BTW, it's 10x worse in China. They're largely an atheist country and Xmas is bigger there than here because of sales. You'll see Xmas decorations up into February there.

What have I been saying one way or another every time I get on the OT forum? Other than computer questions, that is.

That's what we do. Christmas presents are great for the kids, but the grownups don't exchange gifts anymore. It is all just commercialism and materialism, that adults don't have to put up with.

We get together, have a nice dinner, conversation among 4 generations of family, and have fun watching the kids rip open all their presents.

Rick, that is hilarious. I remember a very similar thread last year, when I mentioned that we do "make it, bake it, or I won't take it" in our house, and you said you were gonna try it.

We're on year 3, and this year we're clamping down. All friends & family have been put on notice... any store bought gifts will be given to charity.

The best part for us is not having to go to the friggin mall. We get to hang out in the kitchen and make stuff, hittin the booze and having a grand time. My wife makes fantastic pesto & chocolate truffles and we wrap them up. The last two years, I bottled maple syrup that I make from the maples on my property. Unfortunately, we had such a mild spring last year that the sap never really ran.

Some of my best X-mases were those where whatever big present I got required spending a lot of time with my folks or grandparents, like shopping for nice clothes after X-mas or bore-sighting the Weaver scope I got for my single shot .22 (in our huge front yard in TX) or learning how to do my own reloading with the equipment my dad gave me (bonus that we skipped church to do that a few yrs. ago). I guess the gifts were more important when I couldn't afford to buy whatever I wanted for myself. But now that I can AND I have just about every gizmo and toy I ever wanted, I'd really rather just hang out with the family and cook while I get bombed.

5 years ago I would have thought it was lame, but now I love it.

We're having a crew in next weekend for the bake-off and booze fest. "Make it bake it or I won't take it" does not mean it has to be wholesome. One of the main tenants of our "new" holiday tradition is lots of homemade wine & beer, plus my dad makes a pretty deadly Vodka.

Hard to say how it will hold up once we have brats... hard to make a PS3.