You gotta be shitting me! [Christmas music]

[vivalostwages]

@pkbites

I found out on on November 10 that WMYX in Milwaukee has already switched it’s format over to 24 hours of Chrismas music.

NOVEMBER 10th!?!?! :eek::mad::rolleyes::eek:

This is an otherwise popular station that plays a mix of contemorary & top 40 music.

Have people gone mad? On October 28th some neighbors of ours already had Xmas decorations out all over their yard.

I’m 46. I’ve never, ever observed the birth of a Jewish carpenter who died over 2000 years ago. I also do not celebrate any of the ancient winter festivals that eventually were incorporated into Christmas. So I’ll admit I don’t understand the fucking madness that overtakes some of you with this nonsense.

I like the 4th of July. It means something to me. But I don’t put out decorations for it in late May!

I just got back from a walk around the tract, and spotted a full lit Christmas tree smack in the middle of someone’s front yard.
Sigh. They couldn’t have waited a few more weeks?

[Walter_Windchill]

@vivalostwages

I just got back from a walk around the tract, and spotted a full lit Christmas tree smack in the middle of someone’s front yard.
Sigh. They couldn’t have waited a few more weeks?

I feel sorry for people who look at other people freely exercising their freedom of religion on their own property and feel they’ve been somehow victimized.

[Sarahfeena]

@Ensign Edison

If you mean the second part, the first is just blowing sunshine – “you’re entitled to be wrong”, essentially. If it’s against our best interests, it’s wrong, regardless of whether we have the right to do things that hurt us. I respect someone like Walter for at least understanding his own damn position more than all the people who want to have it both ways.

Not sure what you mean by the first & second parts…it’s all one paragraph, and none of it has anything to do with what you say here, as far as I can tell.

I disagree that not shopping somewhere and writing a letter is injudicious. I’d like to see you or Walter substantiate the idea that there’s something excessive and reckless about such actions, and that somehow they take away from the “real” struggle.

All I can say is that you must spend an awful lot of time writing letters. I never said these actions take away from the “real” struggle, exactly, but I do think that if someone is going to expend energy, it might be better to put it in an area where some real harm is being done to someone.

I don’t understand this fashionable dismissal of the idea that small, even symbolic gestures can be incredibly important, or the seeming belief that unless jackbooted thugs are actually kicking down your door, no unfairness is worth even the very small act of writing a letter over.

I don’t understand how a private business, running their business by catering to their customer base, has anything to do with jackbooted thugs, but maybe you can explain it to me.

[Walter_Windchill]

@Ensign Edison

I disagree that not shopping somewhere and writing a letter is injudicious. I’d like to see you or Walter substantiate the idea that there’s something excessive and reckless about such actions, and that somehow they take away from the “real” struggle.

I don’t understand this fashionable dismissal of the idea that small, even symbolic gestures can be incredibly important, or the seeming belief that unless jackbooted thugs are actually kicking down your door, no unfairness is worth even the very small act of writing a letter over.

There are legitimate reasons to stage a consumer boycott, of course: pollution, health code violations, labor practices, etc. In that case, not shopping there, or even writing a letter are perfectly civil ways to go about your business. Hopefully you can articulate exactly why what they are doing is harming other people. In the case of playing a particular genre of music, you have a tough row to hoe.

Perhaps if you could explain who is measurably harmed by this music and why such small symbolic gestures are necessary, and why you have the right to program the music for all public address system, you would have a convert in old Walter.

In the meantime, if Christmas music bothers you so much, wear an iPod.

[vivalostwages]

@pkbites

I reiterate: You gotta be shitting me!

Hallmark has been bringing out the Keepsake ornaments in July for some years now.

[The_Swan]

@vivalostwages

Hallmark has been bringing out the Keepsake ornaments in July for some years now.

This dates waaaaaaaaaay back. I know Reed & Barton has made silver ornaments for each year for decades. My wife and I bought one for the year we were married. Most silver companies, crystal makers, etc. seem to do this.

I’d say it’s a bit different than decorations & music two months in advance, as most collectables are not displayed in an overly “Christmasy” manner.

[Ensign_Edison]

@Sarahfeena

Not sure what you mean by the first & second parts…it’s all one paragraph, and none of it has anything to do with what you say here, as far as I can tell.

I’ll restate. You keep saying ‘Hey, you have a right to do that’ and then following it with ‘but here’s why you shouldn’t’. Effectively, you’re just saying ‘You have a right to be wrong’, which is meaningless bullshit you employ to make yourself feel better about telling someone off.

All I can say is that you must spend an awful lot of time writing letters. I never said these actions take away from the “real” struggle, exactly, but I do think that if someone is going to expend energy, it might be better to put it in an area where some real harm is being done to someone.

For the billionth fucking time, I don’t write these letters. I don’t even go places where I hear Jesus music. I am defending the right of others to do so.

And let’s look at your logic problems here. Because a person chooses one small issue to write a letter over, they must be a lunatic who spends their entire life writing letters about everything? One of the many things I object to in this thread is this bizarre leap everyone seems to make.

Also, again for the billionth time, writing a letter in NO WAY prevents a person from expending energy toward other issues. And also yet again, many of those “other issues” are not separate from the little things. The little stuff builds into the big stuff.

I don’t understand how a private business, running their business by catering to their customer base, has anything to do with jackbooted thugs, but maybe you can explain it to me.

If you’re dim enough to think I was comparing them, I’m not sure I can explain, no. I just used jackboot thugs breaking down the door for no reason as an example of something everyone could agree was bad and worth getting angry over. My point was that many people here seem to feel that only the very worst and most horrible events warrant attention or action.

[Ensign_Edison]

@Walter Windchill

There are legitimate reasons to stage a consumer boycott, of course: pollution, health code violations, labor practices, etc. In that case, not shopping there, or even writing a letter are perfectly civil ways to go about your business. Hopefully you can articulate exactly why what they are doing is harming other people. In the case of playing a particular genre of music, you have a tough row to hoe.

It’s not ‘a particular genre of music’. It’s Worship Music. You can’t pretend that religion is a highly sensitive issue in this country. Are you seriously telling me that if the local grocery store chain’s manager decided to start playing Satanic Hymns all the time, you’d have a tough row to hoe getting it stopped? No, it would be easy, because the issue here isn’t musical preference but religious dominance.

The majority of the country is Christian, so stores may play explicitly Christian music all they like without upsetting most people, including, apparently, non-VCh

Perhaps if you could explain who is measurably harmed by this music and why such small symbolic gestures are necessary, and why you have the right to program the music for all public address system, you would have a convert in old Walter.

Taken by itself, the harm caused is very minor indeed – resentment from members of religions which, as far as the stores’ PA systems are concerned, do not exist. But for the 1,205,513th time in this thread, there are many small issues about which the same question could be asked, which when taken in context become part of larger problems.

Let me ask you, would it be okay to broadcast actual prayers over the PA? If not, how are many of the Jesus-oriented hymns of this season not simply prayers set to music? If so, would you still think it was insane and pointless if people wrote letters and stopped shopping there?

And I don’t have a “right to program” the music, what a ridiculous leap to make. I have a right to not shop there and write a letter so the manager knows why. Please explain what is so horribly tyrannical and unreasonable about that?

In the meantime, if Christmas music bothers you so much, wear an iPod.

I shop online, and I enjoy Christmas music, especially the Jesusy stuff. I just don’t think non-Christians should have to listen to it while doing their shopping, and if they do, I definitely don’t think they should have to just shut up and shop there anyway.

[Catamount]

@WhyNot

Oh, come on, you’re going to have to be nastier than that! This is the Pit Ladies Sewing Circle, after all. You can’t just be all namby-pamby asking for the goat-felching pinking shears all polite and shit. We have fucking standards to maintain, you know. Beeyotch.

Okay then. Hey asshole, gimme the goddamn pinking shears. Triangles await!

[Ensign_Edison]

Oof. Edit in: The majority of this country is Christian, that should read, so they can play it all they want without even offending most non-Christians anymore. But just how much ground do you think should rightly be given to 24 Hour Jesus? I’m curious to know where some of you think the line is drawn. Is it only at public property lines?

[Ensign_Edison]

ARRG. Can’t pretend that religion isn’t, I meant, of course. I need more tea, but I’m afraid of what the Ladies’ Sewing Circle might have put in the water.

[Jackmannii]

Toys for Tots has agreed to accept talking Jesus dolls for distribution.

Link.
It is a very manly Jesus doll, I am pleased to note. Almost a Martial Arts Jesus.

[Walter_Windchill]

@Ensign Edison

Oof. Edit in: The majority of this country is Christian, that should read, so they can play it all they want without even offending most non-Christians anymore. But just how much ground do you think should rightly be given to 24 Hour Jesus? I’m curious to know where some of you think the line is drawn. Is it only at public property lines?

Beg the question much, Eddy?

[Walter_Windchill]

@Jackmannii

Toys for Tots has agreed to accept talking Jesus dolls for distribution.

Link.
It is a very manly Jesus doll, I am pleased to note. Almost a Martial Arts Jesus.

I hear the new models can be transformed into robot dinosaurs.

[Khadaji]

Well, I actually like Christmas and the music.

However, since I won’t get my hair cut at the salon that plays the rap music, I certainly support the rights of those who won’t shop at stores which play music.

None-the-less, I offer this, just for fun.

The Dopers down in Dopeville
liked Christmas alot
but Ensign Edison who lived
somewhere other than Dopeville did not

Ensign Edison Hated Christmas
The whole Christmas Season
he hated Christmas for the
following reason

It’s Christmas music, he said and said it once more
It’s Christmas music that’s causing this war!
Dead babies and carols they sorta relate
It’s not a direct line but they kinda equate

They’re playing their songs he snarled with a sneer
They’re playing their songs where everyone can hear!
I know what I’ll do, he said with a roar
I’ll write them a letter and stop frequenting this store!

I’m not upset - I’ve made it quite plain!
But their music, for me, is really a pain
So I’ll write them a letter, I’ll write one right now
And I won’t go back, that’ll show them. And how!

[Walter_Windchill]

Nicely done, Khadaji.

I tried to write my own song, but couldn’t get past “Ensign Edison, majoring in medicine” (actually, that just plays in my head whenever I see the user name).

[GLWasteful]

@Jackmannii

It is a very manly Jesus doll, I am pleased to note. Almost a Martial Arts Jesus.

So sorry, but if there’s no kung-fu grip, bulging bicep that will break a steel (read: plastic) band wrapped around it, ripped abs and clearly delineated thigh and calf muscles, it simply cannot be referred to as “manly”.

I don’t make these rules. Simply enforce them.

[Sarahfeena]

@Ensign Edison

I’ll restate. You keep saying ‘Hey, you have a right to do that’ and then following it with ‘but here’s why you shouldn’t’. Effectively, you’re just saying ‘You have a right to be wrong’, which is meaningless bullshit you employ to make yourself feel better about telling someone off.

Whatever…it’s two different issues. Of course you have the right to have whatever opinion you want, and I have the right to think it’s kind of a lame opinion. (See us both having our own opinions, here?) It’s not a matter of rightness or wrongness, it’s a matter of disagreement.

For the billionth fucking time, I don’t write these letters. I don’t even go places where I hear Jesus music. I am defending the right of others to do so.

OK, so anyone (not meaning you) who writes a letter every time they hear religious Christmas music at a store must write a lot of letters.

And let’s look at your logic problems here. Because a person chooses one small issue to write a letter over, they must be a lunatic who spends their entire life writing letters about everything? One of the many things I object to in this thread is this bizarre leap everyone seems to make.

I don’t see the illogic. Even if this person writes letters just over this one issue, as I say above, that could add up to a whole lot of letters.

Also, again for the billionth time, writing a letter in NO WAY prevents a person from expending energy toward other issues. And also yet again, many of those “other issues” are not separate from the little things. The little stuff builds into the big stuff.

I guess I just don’t see how a merchant, playing Christmas music in their own store, is a little thing adding up to a big thing. How does this infringe on anyone else’s freedom, or right to do what they want to do in THEIR own life?

If you’re dim enough to think I was comparing them, I’m not sure I can explain, no. I just used jackboot thugs breaking down the door for no reason as an example of something everyone could agree was bad and worth getting angry over. My point was that many people here seem to feel that only the very worst and most horrible events warrant attention or action.

I took your quote:

I don’t understand this fashionable dismissal of the idea that small, even symbolic gestures can be incredibly important, or the seeming belief that unless jackbooted thugs are actually kicking down your door, no unfairness is worth even the very small act of writing a letter over.

to mean that if we let these small things go, eventually the jackbooted thugs will be at our doors. I don’t necessarily disagree with this, but if you didn’t say it, I am sorry if I misinterpreted you. Still do not understand how a store playing Christmas music is somehow unfair to anyone.

[Catamount]

@Ensign Edison

ARRG. Can’t pretend that religion isn’t, I meant, of course. I need more tea, but I’m afraid of what the Ladies’ Sewing Circle might have put in the water.

It’s either poison or lithium. You decide.

[Ensign_Edison]

That song might be good if I didn’t like Jesus music and wrote letters about it, but of course no one here is bright enough to stop declaring it personal on my part, despite it being clarified over and over and over and over on every page, along with “small things add up to big things” and “it’s not a zero sum game” and “it’s not a slippery slope straight to insane crankery”.

Points which no one has yet to try to refute, because you…can’t. You’re just totally fucking wrong, and all you have now is shrieking and cavorting about desperately trying to pretend I never destroyed your oh-so-laudible position that writing a letter to the manager if you object to a policy in the store is insane.