disenchantedbunny.

    It has probably come to everyone’s attention that December has arrived and Christmas, whatever that means to us, is around the corner. Although I hear that Americans atheists have to suffer the torments of a hegemonic Christian reading, down here in Australia a rather secular tone is wafting out streets. Still, everyone in the West, regardless of nation, must put up with the horrible TV schedule dished out to us. Dodgy re-runs and cherished “Christmas Classics” permeate our poor television sets and for someone who in normal, non-holiday circumstances has the privilege of downloading whatever they want to watch it can be quite a traumatic experience.

With the largely secular atmosphere down here there is not too much for an atheist to say. Theism is sometimes tacked onto the end of a news broadcast, but most of the attention goes north to visit Santa. All those Christmas-Santa-ish movies are being screened at the moment. Last night it was The Santa Clause. Tonight it is Elf or something. They all follow the same plot: disenchanted parent (most likely a business autocrat of some type) realizes that the world can be an exciting, enchanted place due to some magical happening and despite being regarded as delusional by those around them continue in their sugary existence. THE END. The (more often than not) bitter skeptical characters such as the step-father in The Santa Clause are shown to be the irrational ones, having committed to their mechanistic beginnings at an early age (the step-father stopped believing in Santa after being disappointed at age three). They invested so much of their personality in being heartless that they cannot accept any enchantment when it is presented to them.

Sure, if an elf from the North Pole started talking to me I would not be in a position to doubt its existence. But if no one else could see it I would most likely check myself in to some sort of Institution and stop drinking so much. And so skepticism is treated in these films as being one of the more disgusting traits of humanity. Oh, us bitter, joy-killing, godless heathens!

But if you really want to milk the stereotypical Mr. Gruff, you will find that it is not the religious zealots who are benefiting from the caricature. Kmart started stocking tinsel about a month ago (I know this because I have a tinsel fetish). The famous Myer ‘Christmas Window’ in Melbourne opened a few weeks ago too. Shopping centers are the source of enchantment for everyone at this time of year, including the religious. If anyone hears of a religious family not buying each other presents they will be accused of being cold and bitter; disenchanted from the spirit of giving at Christmas. The joyful Christmas displays generally exist solely around the sites of consumerism that we worship to a larger extent around this time of year, with ‘Meet Santa’ booths opening everywhere. The festivity is here to intoxicate us, with those 50% of my street competing to see who can muster up the most extravagant lights display on their front lawns.

The problem is that this is such a religious event - it seems scarily all-encompassing. If I do not buy a gift for my girlfriend I will most likely be dumped and if I neglect my family members I will be shafted as the greedy and selfish black sheep. I enjoy the fact that this time of year makes everyone happy, but I never asked for gifts! I don’t want gifts, for fucks sake, I’m a philosophy major who has his bass and his computer and is content!

But anyway; while it is hard for the disenchanted to get out of participating, we should at least try to keep a cynical, condescending eye open to mock the spirituality of the other, right? And now I need my morning coffee.