What would Jesus buy?

Ozrat

Ozrat

Antediluvian as Feck
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Another Black Friday has come and gone. Other folks such as myself participated in Buy Nothing Day instead. I think that these following two videos are both excellent discourses on today's Christmas season, and maybe the most intelligent segments ever aired on Fox News.

Here is a segment of the Glen Beck show from over three years ago:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wxjl2ERhnI[/youtube]

And a longer debate on Religious Consumerism in December of 2007:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Es89zk-dk[/youtube]

You can click this for more info:
Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping

Personally I am trying to hand craft as many presents as I can this year. It amazes me to hear that there are folks that have applied for new credit cards just for spending on the holidays. I do not believe in using credit cards and have never had one. What Reverend Billy is preaching makes a compelling case for deconsumerizing the Christmas Spirit and supporting artisans in our own neighborhoods.

What do you think?
 
Well, judging by the fact that this was back in 2007, I guess they failed. :lol:

I stayed home on Black Friday, don't like crowds, plus there is nothing out there to buy. Well, nothing out there I want to buy. I'm surprised I didn't hear or read about any viciousness on Black Friday.

I never owned a credit card, and I've never shopped in Wal-Mart, though I had the misfortune of being dragged into one. I try to support small business when I can, especially now since it's really tough for small business in this economy.

All holidays are materialistic, and with holidays at the end of year, businesses are scrambling to get profits to meet their budget.
 
nothing wrong with bloody credit cards. they can be useful. it's the people using them that are doing stupid shit. i've got credit cards and i'm 100% debtfree. if people take credit for granted and think it's free, there's something wrong with your education...

and that we should work on seeing the 'real' cost of our cheap stuff is a given, but i've yet seen a system that is capable of this. sadly sometimes supposedly 'ecological' or 'fair trade' stuff can sometimes be more damaging than the normal stuff. problem is that it's not always obvious when that is.
 
I would stay home, but I needed some ingredients from making beer, now with midwinter coming up and all.
 
Kahgan said:
I would stay home, but I needed some ingredients from making beer, now with midwinter coming up and all.
Click to expand...

You're making your own beer? I always wanted to brew my own beer, so I wanted to ask if this is hard and if you could PM me your recipe?

[/gay off-topic]

I usually buy sweets for my family and cooking ingredients, since I'm a lot into mastering a Chef proffesion, but otherwise I don't buy things I don't need, Christmas or not.
 
UnidentifiedFlyingTard said:
if I was Jesus, I would buy porn, lots of porn.
Click to expand...

Joke unrelated to the topic but to this response


Jesus his mother has been concerned about her son for some time since he has reached his thirties.
So far he has shown no interest into girls from whatever sexual stand point and she is worried that her son might be into the other 'kind'.

So one day she asks Mary Magdalena if she could spend some time with Jesus and 'show' him one of the relationships between a man and a woman.
She is willing to do so and on one evening picks up Jesus from home and asks him if he would come with her.

Wanting to be sure that thing will turn out right, Jesus' mother secretly follows the couple to Mary's house.

For half an hour she sits outside the house, hearing conversation coming from inside, then suddenly Mary storms out naked and screaming and runs into the night.

Wondering what the heck is going on Jesus' mom enters the house and finds her son standing naked in the room.

Jesus 's mother "Jesus my son, what just happened? Why did Mary run out screaming?"

Jesus "Well it happened like this. Mary and I were sharing a drink when she told me that she wanted to show me something and that I had to follow her example.
So she undressed and showed me her body, then she asked me to undress too which I did.
Then she put her hand on my chest and asked me to put my hand on her breasts which I did.
Then she put her hand on my crotch and asked me to do the same.
When I did I suddenly discovered that she had been horribly mutilated, so I heal her on the spot.
Next thing I know she runs out screaming."
 
I always wanted to brew my own root beer. I would be a blend of birch and acacia. Mmm...
 
I rather like Reverend Billy. Also, in Canada, there is no "Black Friday" so I had to look up exactly what that meant.

American's are an odd ilk.
 
This is another example of how regional culture can interfere with religious traditions. There's absolutely nothing related to the religious aspect of the holiday that demands the giving and receiving of gifts. There is a remembrance of it's ideals one of which is giving to the poor. However in that example I doubt you'd get anything in return and certainly what's given is shouldn't be any expensive toy.

I've always bought gifts, but only due to having to repay people who are buying them for me. I'd make a stand for not giving/receiving things, but since I'd be the only person in my family to do so it would just end up being a point of conflict.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
TVD, I see what you are saying about feeling obligated to share presents with your family. What if you started making crafts for them instead of buying stuff? I think that these types of presents can be more heartfelt and thoughtful because of the time and effort you have placed into creating them (especially if it is actually useful to them!). If nothing else, try making [insert religous preference] ornaments to connect the present with the meaning of the tradition.
 
The hippie speaks truth.

To fuck all with out consumerist culture and leanings. Christmas is about giving items and ideas that are useful and heartfelt. A Christmas tree bursting at the seems with crap that people don't really want to receive, done only to appease the neurotic social imperative of equity and repayment is crap.

Make something. Give photo albums. Think hard and long about what people really want, not what they think they want. Theatre tickets. An hour of Joey Love.


Defy convention! Make a new convention! Screw the consumerist bourgeoisie! Eviscerate the Proletariat!
 
The Vault Dweller said:
There's absolutely nothing related to the religious aspect of the holiday that demands the giving and receiving of gifts.
Click to expand...
You mean the religious aspect of a holiday that was originally a pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice? Only children and the uninformed will even try to tell you Christ was actually born on December 25th. You'll have to excuse me if I'm not terribly concerned with the "Christ" in Christmas.

Yeah, the capitalist aspect of it is kinda avoidable in the capitalist society which we've crafted for ourselves. However, the idea of giving and receiving gifts was hardly created by marketers for the purpose of making money (although they've certainly abused it for that purpose). Exchanging gifts is a pleasant social activity as long as everyone isn't overly concerned with the monetary value of said gift. I always very much enjoyed my get-togethers with my extended family and the exchanging of gifts, and rather miss it.

It's a tradition I'd like to try to bring back when I start a family of my own.
 
Kyuu said:
The Vault Dweller said:
There's absolutely nothing related to the religious aspect of the holiday that demands the giving and receiving of gifts.
Click to expand...
You mean the religious aspect of a holiday that was originally a pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice? Only children and the uninformed will even try to tell you Christ was actually born on December 25th. You'll have to excuse me if I'm not terribly concerned with the "Christ" in Christmas.
Click to expand...

Because naturally the holiday would have become just as wide-spread as it is today if the birth of Christ wasn't celebrated on it and it stayed a pagan festival, right?
 
Mikey said:
Kyuu said:
The Vault Dweller said:
There's absolutely nothing related to the religious aspect of the holiday that demands the giving and receiving of gifts.
Click to expand...
You mean the religious aspect of a holiday that was originally a pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice? Only children and the uninformed will even try to tell you Christ was actually born on December 25th. You'll have to excuse me if I'm not terribly concerned with the "Christ" in Christmas.
Click to expand...

Because naturally the holiday would have become just as wide-spread as it is today if the birth of Christ wasn't celebrated on it and it stayed a pagan festival, right?
Click to expand...

Well, that is not entirely impossible, Mikey. Halloween was extinct over here for ages (iirc it used to be a pagan festival over here) and then consumerism and americanism brought it back to the continent and it is becoming more popular with each passing year - virtually sans the religious connection it undoubtedly has (had).

I'm keeping it lo-fi this coming Christmas+New Year. My gf is getting a nice present and then I'll be buying some flowers for her mom and my grandmother and that's it.
I make my cards myself, though.
 
Jesus hisownself would buy a Xbox360 Elite with Borderlands. But Jesus is a capitalist pig after the Catholic church came into power, so he's unreliable...
 
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