3 Ideas in 2 Minutes on Christmas
3 Ideas in 2 Minutes on Christmas
The Birth of an Idea, Festivus & a Cowboy's Christmas Ball
I. The Birth of an Idea
We can look at Christmas as the birth of a philosophical idea. Here’s how Canadian psychologist Jordan B. Peterson explains the significance of Jesus Christ in Western culture:
It’s not an accident that the axiomatic Western individual is someone who is unfairly nailed to a cross and tortured. It’s like: “Yes! Right! Exactly!”
So what do you do about that? Well, I thought about that for a long time, too. You don’t get together the damn mob. Because all that does it allow you to be as horrible as you can possibly imagine and suffer from none of the consequences. That’s a bad idea. So how about we don’t do that?
There’s a deep idea in the West, too. It’s like: Pick up your damn suffering. And bear it. And try to be a good person. So you don’t make it worse. Well that’s a truth.
II. Festivus
We can also look at Christmas as the peak of commercialisation. That’s why we have Festivus, a secular holiday celebrated on 23 December. It was introduced in an episode of Seinfeld in 1997. The holiday is celebrated with an undecorated aluminium pole, a Festivus Dinner and the traditional ‘Airing of Grievances’ during the meal. Festivus rejects the commercialisation of Christmas. Frank Costanza explains:
Frank: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.
Kramer: What happened to the doll?
Frank: It was destroyed. But out of that, a new holiday was born: ‘A Festivus for the rest of us.’
Kramer: That must have been some kind of doll.
Frank: She was.—Seinfeld, The Strike
III. Cowboy’s Christmas Ball
Or we look at Christmas as a time to reflect, spend time with the family and enjoy the best of all Christmas songs. Here are The Killers celebrating Christmas at the intersection of tradition, cowboys and space robot aliens:
🎄 🐘
Merry Christmas!
Chris
themindcollection.com