Wednesday, December 13, 2006

news- why are we decorating airports?

i followed this story with a bit of interest- mainly because i was wondering when o'reilly was going to weigh in with his 'war on christmas' bullshit. i have been a bit disappointed that he hasn't. oh- not that he hasn't started it up again- just that he didn't have anything to say on this one as far as i can tell. probably because the flap was coming from brothers-in-arms- so to speak. the bigger issue for me is- why are we decorating an airport to start with? why do we feel that we have to decorate offices and public places? i can't remember the last time main street in binghamton was decorated for oh- say columbus day. why do we decorate at all? these are functional buildings- and i personally feel that decorating your own home- if you choose to- is quite enough. the other thing is- at this time of year- there are two major religions celebrating something- and probably a few minor ones. you don't get to pick which one you decorate for- in america under the constitution- simply based on your religion. christmas for the christians and chanukah for the jewish folks. i don't really know that there are decorations per se for kwanzaa and celebrating the winter solstice- but that should be taken into consideration. otherwise- don't decorate.

13 comments:

Spadoman said...

To me, I don't care what decorations are hanging around. I don't care. Nothing offends me. Jesus in a manger, a Menorah, Christmas trees and Holiday greetings. I don't care.

I get the e-mails. The ones that go into a tirade about people who were offended at a Christmas tree and saying Merry Christmas. That's their problem. I've never seen it happen and it hasn't ever happened to me.

If people don't like what, if anything, I say around this time of year, fuck them, they don't know me. If they do know me, then they know what I stand for. Total freedom to do what you want and say what you want to say without someone telling you you can't say that!

Decorate airports and everywhere else if they want to. You won't find any of that crap in my house. That's my decision.

My ex-landlord told Barb and I we had to take down some political anti-war signs. He said he didn't allow them.
I told him that I remember him coming over last year and saying that he liked the way we had the place looking with the flags and all.
He said, "I liked the flags, you could keep them, you just can't have these other signs"

So, he was dictating to us what we could have and couldn't have based on HIS beliefs. We moved in 48 hours. Now his place sits empty and for rent.

We can't expect anybody to only put up what we think is right. It is none of our business. You can make the argument that these are public buildings, but I don't buy that either. Churches are open to the public. Restaurants are open to the public, shopping malls are open to the public. They can say what they want. None of it bothers me.

Peace and total freedom to the masses.

PS Went to 1st grade "holiday" program for my Grandson yesterday. No "jesus" songs, but Christmas was mentioned. They also did some Cole Porter. No offense taken.

Boo said...

i may be an atheist, but that doesnt mean this isnt a special time of year - to me its about family and kids... not to mention Santa!

the lights and decorations everywhere are joyful and to me represent people who are happy

our city hall started calling their tree a "holiday tree" - this is bulls--t - its a Christmas tree, always has been. i cant believe all this bulls--t i'm hearing about complaints and such things - NO ONE ever decorated in order to offend people!!! yet thats how its being perceived. this is ridiculous!

doesnt anyone have anything better to do?? how about feeding the homeless? curing disease? striking out poverty?

why the f--k are people wasting their time being offended by something thats not the least bit offensive???

bet - i'd be really disappointed to not see wreaths and lights and trees and decorations at this time of year. that would be very depressing.

Mary said...

I agree with Spado and Boo- Freedom of decoration!

Anonymous said...

Decorations are not why we go to airports. The only lights I want to see in airports are planes landing safely.

Anonymous said...

Check out Lou Dobbs's article posted today (12/13/06) at www.cnn.com. Pretty much the way it should be...

Unknown said...

I suppose there is a debate if tax dollars are spent to decorate a city, including the White House tree. Although, considering all the other ways the government wastes my money, I find Christmas decorations the least objectionable.

Personally, I could care less. If a company feels its profits are well spent decorating and pushing Christmas, so be it. (I would guess there are right.)

It does seem to put the general public in a better than usual mood. If that helps people be nicer to each other, I'm all for it.

To object to that, to the point of filing a lawsuit, seems petty and silly.

I read Lou Dobbs piece, and basically agree with it.

As you can see I've changed my profile photo just for Christmas time. What a sell-out I am!

billie said...

i just don't understand why we feel the need to decorate everything.

billie said...

as for lou dobbs- this is the only part of the commentary i agree with:

"As CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin told me, "The Supreme Court has held since 1984, the famous 'Reindeer Rule,' that if a symbol of Christmas is mostly secular, like a reindeer or a Christmas tree or Santa Claus, that is not a violation of the separation of church and state."

if you are a christian, say merry christmas. if you are jewish, say happy chanukah. if you are me- i am going to say happy holidays because i don't subscribe to either camp- i am purely secular. as to my other point- if this is the religious holiday season- and allegedly christ's birthday is the reason for the season- and i won't get into the whole bag of bullshit that is- then there should be strictly religious decorations. just not in public places.

Spadoman said...

Betmo... I see your point quite clearly. To be perfectly honest, it's my not giving a damn what anyone does that states my point. I, like you, don't subscribe to the religious aspect that this is jesus's birthday. It is, however, a time of celebration in our society that most people subscribe to in some form or another. Call it what you will and I will too. After all, I decorate my place for Los Dios de Los Muertos. No one gives a shit but me. Let others do what they want.

It is a good point though. that Time brings up. Tax money spent on decorations of ANY specific religious theme. But asking for Peace on Earth can never be a bad thing.

Anonymous said...

I've never been offended by any Christmas decorations, especially trees, lights, and Santa. Like Lou Dobbs pointed out in his article, these symbols are secular and actually have pre-Christian roots. Plus, it was Queen Victoria that started the decoration craze in America - everybody followed her lead on pretty much every subject in her day.

I actually got my feeling hurt one year when I wished somebody a Merry Christmas. She gave me this snotty "I don't celebrate Christmas!" I'm not religious, but I do like it when people are nice polite to others. To me, somebody sharing a greeting is a form of being friendly with others, so I was really mad at that lady! Heck, I've been blessed so many times in the past month, I can't even keep count! However, I think it's really special when somebody takes the time to think of you, especially in the world we live in today!

Anonymous said...
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Boo said...

c'mon bet - are you serious?? is this like "bah humbug" year for you or something? you really don't get it? don't you have kids? weren't you ever a kid??

this is the absolute BEST time of year if you're a kid (okay maybe last day of school is competition but...) I can't imagine what it would be like if there weren't decorations.

I've NEVER heard anyone complain about tax dollars on decorations. we just decorated a 30 metre tree with all handmade stuff, our PM was there when it was lit and its in honour of our troops in Afghanistan - there's a maple leaf on top - the families here are telling us thay the guys and gals in uniform LOVE hearing about this kind of thing, and getting pics and videos...

this has been happening forever (so to speak) why is it suddenly an issue????

I, honestly, can't believe what I'm hearing.

Its CHRISTMAS for f--ks sake and I'm sorry if what are being perceived as Christian traditions are suddenly offensive, but suck it up people!!

billie said...

nope- i have never taken offense to christmas decorations and i doubt it would have caused me a moment's notice if it hadn't been for the religious right and their nonsense and their 'war on cmas' bull crap. i am all about letting cmas be cmas- but not to the exclusion of everyone else. there are jews who live here in america who celebrate chanukah- and while it may be a minor holiday compared to cmas- it is there nonetheless. kwanzaa and probably a host of other religious minor holidays abound- so we can't take it for granted that these folks have to 'suck it up.' if you aren't a christian, then you have no rights? that isn't fair either since christianity is only one religion on the planet. my point is- why do we have to decorate every single piece of real estate? and- supposing we must- why are we being exclusive. it costs one dollar more at the dollar store to pick up a menorah and be inclusive. i genuinely love this time of year- but i also don't buy into all of the crap surrounding it. no- i don't have kids- and yes- i was a kid. but we didn't have christians ramming "merry christmas" down our throats either. we just said whatever came naturally and everyone was happy with that.