Holiday Tree Tales
But wait. What is with this "Holiday Tree"? Why isn't it called a Christmas tree? Whats going on here?
I'll be frank, I don't think that Christmas trees (or any other religious doo-dad) have any place on public property, but that's not the issue here. If you're have to have a Christmas tree, call it a goddamn Christmas tree, for Chrissakes! What is with all of this "holiday tree" pussyfooting going on this season?
There is nothing less stealthy than a fifty foot lighted pine tree in Southern California, and no one is fooled by the "holiday-ness" of this or any other tree. It's got a star on top (you know the five pointed symbol that stands for the star that led the Wise Guys to baby Jesus?), which I presume is just a "holiday star"?
All I'm saying is that if the Christian community wants a special display of their religion on public land, then they can pay for it themselves (which I hope they are already doing) and they should take the pride to call it a Christmas tree, or not have the silly thing at all.
Oh, and Merry Christmas & Happy Chanukkah to everyone. As of this year I'm lactose intolerant, so put back some nogg for me.
8 Comments:
Well, I have to admit that this is the first time I've heard the Fox News "War On Christmas" rigamarole framed from a liberal-ish perspective. Happy Christkwanzaakah to you too, dude.
(For the record, there's nothing "Christian" about the decorated-tree-in-the-house tradition. It's an ancient northern European pagan ritual that was co-opted into Christianity for the convenience of both the church and the "converted" pagans. It's about as Christian as Santa Claus or Schwartze Pieter, in other words; thus atheists and other devout nobelievers can enjoy the trees and the lights without the slightest guilt about selling out.)
Well Noel, if you're reading this, looks like the "San Pedro Magazine" bird cage liner doesn't want to publish your letter. Maybe it should be renamed the Papadakis magazine, with the subtitle: "I'm too lazy to write text because it's Christmas time". It's horrible.
Hey don't mix that crazy made up Kwanzaa BS in with my Christmas & Chanukkah. That's a whole other issue.
I somewhat refrained myself from dissecting the various (and there are many) pagan symbols used by Christians at Christmas. Hell, even the whole idea of Christ as a sun symbol who dies and is ressurected predates the literature of the Church by thousands of years in pagan traditions. We've got a tree at my house, sure it's got Chanukkah stuff on it in addition to the Christmas stuff, but we all know it's a Christmas tree, and address it as such. We've even got our Playmobile nativity set out, complete with the extra pirate, crusader and revolutionary war soldier that we bought to jazz it up a little.
It just drives me crazy to see these various Christian traditions shoved down everyone's throats, as a Jew (not that I keep kosher or go to temple or anything, although like all Jews, I am a money grubbing, sex-crazed zionist) and a minority I'm not suprised to be on the short end of the stick on this one, however. What drives me even crazier are attempts to make excuses to engage in what are obviously exercises in Christian symbology, and then couching them under the term "holiday". The same thing happens with the Downtown BID's "hoilday decorations", which consist of "Happy Holidays" wreaths hung on light poles. Just by changing "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays" you haven't included anyone, you've just watered down Christmas and also you've insulted the intelligence of non-Christians who are smart enough to know that no one is really interested in our opinion on the matter.
What's up with Noel's letter?
I remember Noel saying something here about writing a letter to San Pedro "Magazine" (scare quotes intentional) in rebuttal to former Harbor Commissioner Wentworth's execrable column of a few weeks ago, in which Wentworth compared local activists to insects. I guess the "magazine" didn't print it? As you might have guessed, I'm not exactly a loyal reader of that rag, so I don't know whether they pointedly refused to publish the letter, or even whether Noel ever wrote one at all.
I really hate it when I tell my Christian friends, "Merry Christmas" but they can't utter the words "Happy Chanukah" to me. It's really odd actually. I also think all this pussyfooting around is stupid. Calling it a Holiday Tree is pretty funny, but I rather like hearing about how offended some people are that they feel Christmas is being taken out of their holiday. This year Chanukah landed on Christmas night. Let the Jesus lovers be offended for ONCE. Maybe it will build them some character.
Thanks for asking. Yes I wrote it, and no, they didn't publish it. Maybe next time, what do you think?
I also wrote a letter to Larry Allison, Editor of the Editroial Page of the Press-Telegram. On balance,the P-T has done an excellent job of covering the port diesel pollution issue. They have done a number of excellent editorials on the issue. I warned him that the great image the P-T was creating with this leadership was being undermined by the blatant shilling for the Port of Los Angeles of this "magazine"
I have to agree, the thing is so toxic that I could hardly open it to see if my letter made it into the latest issue.
Wow. The love for the magazine I helm is so palpable around these parts. :)
For the record, I never received said letter from Mr. Park, and if Mr. Park has anything to say, there is a perfectly legible email address in my so-called, yet affectionately labeled, "rag" at sanpedromag@presstelegram.com. I also have a phone number printed just as legibly as well.
Trust me Mr. Park, had I received a letter from you, of all people, it certainly would have been noticed. It's not like I don't know who you are. I was actually expecting to hear some feedback from Mr. Wentworth's piece, though funnily enough, I never got a single complaint. Not one. Plenty of compliments though...
Mr. Park, if you are interested in contributing a piece for the P.O. Box section in the magazine, the invite is out there for you. Contact me.
While I know the magazine content isn't for everybody, I'm not going to sit here and defend my "rag" to those who obviously have enough bile and vitriol in their systems clouding their judgement to see that it IS a magazine - not a newspaper. My lead time between issues (6 weeks, for perspective I'm almost done with the Feb. issue and am starting on March this week), coupled with my limited resources (and trust me, they ARE limited), prohibits me to cover the more timely news that the Daily Breeze and Random Lengths cover. That's just a fact of life I, unfortunately, deal with.
I consider the magazine an alternative to the alternative press in town.
Besides, why should I cover the same topics everyone else does? There are plenty more personal stories going on in town that do not include the word "Port," "environment," or "Harbor Commission." I'm a feature-based magazine, coupled with one opinion piece and four personal columns (My Editor's letter, Jack Baric's column, Councilwoman Hahn and Mylah) a month, period. If you have a problem with that, then please, don't read it. Though I do find it funny that the mystery "anonymous" or [insert clever Internet handle here] people who seem to be so hateful towards a 40-page stack of newsprint readily admits to not reading the darn thing to begin with yet seems to hate it all the same.
Ignorance by choice is no way to file an opinion on something.
And with that, I wish everyone a Happy New Year. :)
Mr. Park (or anyone else for that matter), the invite is out there. Let's talk.
-Joshua
That's a heartfelt apologia, Josh, but I have to go with what my eyes tell me; and what they tell me is that your rag is...well, a rag.
As to "admitting" that I don't read it: well, of course I don't read it. Why? Because I've read it, and every time I've done so, it has proved to be approximately 40 pages of soporific dribble. Granted, some of your columnists are not writers by trade, but that doesn't make it any less painful to read their insipid prose. Surely you don't expect me, or anybody else, to read issue after issue of a bad magazine on the off chance that it will suddenly improve. Do you? Is that something you would do? Have you ever done it? If so, how did it work out for you?
For what it's worth, I think More San Pedro--your real competition--is just as lame as your publication. And I believe I'm on the record in this very blog criticizing Random Lengths, which I generally like, for spending a little too much time patting themselves on the back for their radical fearlessness when they should be doing legwork. So it's not like I'm playing favorites.
P.S. Don't mix me up with Noel Park; I, not he, called your rag a rag.
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