Bah Humbug!

[Ashfordian]

Seems to be the most appropriate place to raise a glass to Ebenezer Scrooge



Only 14 hours to go...

[UncleEbenezer]

Why are you raising any glass to anyone?

George Bernard Shaw got the spirit of it:

Like all intelligent people, I greatly dislike Christmas. It revolts me to see a whole nation refrain from music for weeks together in order that every man may rifle his neighbour’s pockets under cover of a ghastly general pretence of festivity. It is really an atrocious institution, this Christmas. We must be gluttonous because it is Christmas. We must be drunken because it is Christmas. We must be insincerely generous; we must buy things that nobody wants, and give them to people we don’t like; we must go to absurd entertainments that make even our little children satirical; we must writhe under venal officiousness from legions of freebooters, all because it is Christmas – that is, because the mass of the population, including the all-powerful middle-class tradesman, depends on a week of license and brigandage, waste and intemperance, to clear off its outstanding liabilities at the end of the year.

[jackdaww]

George Bernard Shaw got the spirit of it:

Like all intelligent people, I greatly dislike Christmas. It revolts me to see a whole nation refrain from music for weeks together in order that every man may rifle his neighbour’s pockets under cover of a ghastly general pretence of festivity. It is really an atrocious institution, this Christmas. We must be gluttonous because it is Christmas. We must be drunken because it is Christmas. We must be insincerely generous; we must buy things that nobody wants, and give them to people we don’t like; we must go to absurd entertainments that make even our little children satirical; we must writhe under venal officiousness from legions of freebooters, all because it is Christmas – that is, because the mass of the population, including the all-powerful middle-class tradesman, depends on a week of license and brigandage, waste and intemperance, to clear off its outstanding liabilities at the end of the year.

===========================
so ive finally got around to reading some GBS !

.

[bionichamster]

What strikes me about the quote is that 70 years on it is still so relevant and thus rather underlines the fact that the notion that Christmas has only become commercialised in recent decades is a myth. On reflection it's probably because as children we lap up the 'magic' of Christmas yet are under no pressure to go out of our way to engineer it; then as we get older the pressure from society to conform and play along rises, and with it the dawning realisation that the whole thing has been hijacked by commercial interests and traditions that few people particularly like but most people are afraid to challenge lest they be deemed spoilsports, grumps or downright rude. And therefore each generation thinks Christmas only got that way in their lifetime because their early selves were sheltered from the reality while being indoctrinated by the fantasy.

On the subject of GBS, he's often quoted cynically musing on a range of topics and it has always struck me that he's a man who's opinions may make amusing reading, wether you agree with some of them or not. However I'm not sure where most of his quotations arise from, can anyone reccomend any of his non-fiction work that brings together his musings in an accessible format (i.e. I'd like to read some of his quotes in original context).

BH

[UncleEbenezer]

Was walking through a large graveyard this afternoon. Around 4:30, to a classic shepherd's-delight red sky to the west.

I was shocked to see seasonal ugly fairy lights desecrating a grave. Not just a headstone, but all around a full-sized coffin plot. Good grief!

A moment later, some gaudy-coloured thing moving vigorously. Strange: there's hardly a breath of wind! Turns out to be some kind of toy with balloons. Yuck!

Whose idea of eternity is such hideous inanity?