Althouse: "It went over well except for one person who thought it was blasphemous and tried to knock over our Festivus pole."

December 23, 2009

"It went over well except for one person who thought it was blasphemous and tried to knock over our Festivus pole."

"He refused to come to the potluck, was forced to, came, ate all the food and left without saying thank you. Grievances were aired about him."

Are you participating in the feats of strength and airing of the grievances?

38 comments:

former law student said...: This page made me very happy. Buy one, and support a Wisconsin manufacturer:

http://festivuspoles.com; 12/23/09, 10:06 AM
David said...: Where's Titus?; 12/23/09, 10:11 AM
Anonymous said...: This sentence, by a F_____ supporter, no less, sums up the whole thing:

"People want something that's nothing."

And then they wonder why their lives feel empty.; 12/23/09, 10:15 AM
muddimo said...: Airing of grievances for sure--which in wife's case might actually be a feat of strength.; 12/23/09, 10:20 AM
Shanna said...: It's weird that people are clinging to a tradition started (in this country) by a sitcom that ended years and years ago. Weird.

I'm going to start a holiday based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and force my coworkers to come to that party instead of christmas.; 12/23/09, 10:22 AM
Anonymous said...: That CNN article is just digging for something nonsensical to write about. All the trendy people know that Festivus is for slacker-wannabes who are behind the time. Saturnalia is the exciting new old thing!

Io, Saturnalia! And a happy 2763!; 12/23/09, 10:28 AM
Unknown said...: t-man, that's Larry David in a nutshell, something that's nothing.

WV "mementa" What Tonto said when the Lone Ranger asked him why he didn't tie up the horses.; 12/23/09, 10:29 AM
Shanna said...: Saturnalia is the exciting new old thing!

Heh, that was mentioned on the Big Bang Theory rerun this week.

Christmas is a mix of a bunch of traditions anyway, pagan and christian.; 12/23/09, 10:32 AM
Scott M said...: I love the fact that something like this has occurred in my lifetime. We do indeed celebrate the completely contrived holiday of Festivus at our house alongside Christmas.

If I had been born a generation earlier, I suppose we would also celebrate that other equally contrived, but much less fun, Kwanzaa.

I suppose the main difference being that Festivus is a fun event that is supposed to bring people, all people, together, while the other is an attempt to drive a bigger wedge between us.; 12/23/09, 10:33 AM
ricpic said...: I guess Festivus is for Jews who are so deracinated they can't even fall back on Chanukah at this time of year; 12/23/09, 10:47 AM
Ron said...: I'm going to start a holiday based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and force my coworkers to come to that party instead of christmas

Dru's Day!

or Willowmas if you prefer; 12/23/09, 10:51 AM
Unknown said...: That quote from the article says a lot about what "inclusiveness" means to some people: Force the fundamentalists to participate in something they believe is wrong. Then take umbrage when they aren't grateful for it.; 12/23/09, 10:57 AM
X said...: ABC's Cavemen had an unaired episode called Caveman Holiday. It celebrated Long Night, the longest coldest night in history, when all the cavemen almost died, but didn't. It's celebrated by eating copious amounts of meat, rotten fruit, and drinking grain alcohol. We celebrated it Monday night.

Available on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqtbPiIMQ2g; 12/23/09, 10:59 AM
Anonymous said...: It's sad that CNN is so bereft of purpose that they need to report on such insecure, snarky people.

And what exactly is "more inclusive"? Are we not allowed to acknowledge any holiday unless every person in the office is of the faith or belief that originates it? If so, I guess I should turn down any future invitation to a bar mitzvah or quinciniera on the theory that those celebrations are not inclusive of my culture. If so, I guess we should not invite leftists to July 4th parties. Gosh, I'm so offended.; 12/23/09, 11:05 AM
former law student said...: I guess we should not invite leftists to July 4th parties.

Realize that were it not for the Revolutionary War, we'd all be speaking English today.

Or we'd be between the Scylla of Australia and the Charybdis of Canada.; 12/23/09, 11:10 AM
jeff said...: Insecure? I hereby air my grievances.......not enough people have a sense of humor. Ok, got to go participate in the feats of strength now.; 12/23/09, 11:11 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: "People want something that's nothing."

I thought they got that in the last presidential election,...

wv: "guntan" - when your pistol explodes and leaves your face covered in gunpowder; 12/23/09, 11:32 AM
Sofa King said...: That quote from the article says a lot about what "inclusiveness" means to some people: Force the fundamentalists to participate in something they believe is wrong. Then take umbrage when they aren't grateful for it.

I'd take umbrage too. It's essentially a party simply for the sake of having a party in the most depressing time of the year. If you're such a fundamentalist that you can't enjoy a party without everybody else observing your beliefs, you are a bad person, and you should stay home.

It's not like they were asking him to renounce his beliefs or NOT celebrate Christmas, or even observe anyone else's beliefs.; 12/23/09, 12:01 PM
Shanna said...: or Willowmas if you prefer

Willowmas actually sounds kind of cool.

Seriously, I'm with the guy who was pissed. They subbed in this stupid holiday for the traditional one, and then complained about him to the national media because he thought it was stupid.; 12/23/09, 12:31 PM
Sigivald said...: I am not, because I never liked Seinfeld (the show). And I don't need a dumb invented holiday as an excuse for parties - we already have one, and it's called Christmas.

And I think the guy who didn't like it was justified, in that they forced him to participate against his will.

What does one expect, when one forces someone to do something they deeply oppose?

(Full disclosure: I'm a life-long atheist. So I'm not pro-Christmas because of Jesus.

Get over it, people. It's a tree and some presents. It doesn't need to be about Jeebus if you don't want it to be. Honest.); 12/23/09, 12:46 PM
dhagood said...: i'm down with willowmas.

grrrr! aaargh!; 12/23/09, 12:54 PM
Sofa King said...: Seriously, I'm with the guy who was pissed. They subbed in this stupid holiday for the traditional one, and then complained about him to the national media because he thought it was stupid.

Yes, well, let's not forget it wasn't so long ago that Christmas itself was the holdiay being subbed in for the traditional one.

Besides, Festivus is not a holiday. It is an pretense to have a party. If this guy is so uptight that he refuses to attend any party that dares not worship the One True Holiday then fuck him. He's an asshole.; 12/23/09, 12:55 PM
Unknown said...: If anyone wanted evidence that the PC movement has nothing to do with inclusion and everything to do with the Lefties destroying any traditions that don't worship Karl Marx and John Dewey, the written effluvia of our little trolls in this thread is pretty much it.

WV "cabluero" A taxi driver in San Fran wearing azure.; 12/23/09, 12:57 PM
Anonymous said...: I sent out a Happy Festivus message to my facebook friends today, thinking that it was funny because it was ironic, in that people don't actually celebrate Festivus (shoot, now I'm even capitalizing it), it's just a joke from an old TV show.

Now, I learn that people actually make a big deal out of it, hereby completely ruining my joke. Sigh.

OK, the costumed thumb wrestling and exchanging gifts that you have received but don't want did sound kind of fun.; 12/23/09, 1:16 PM
Shanna said...: Besides, Festivus is not a holiday. It is an pretense to have a party. If this guy is so uptight that he refuses to attend any party that dares not worship the One True Holiday then fuck him. He's an asshole.

They MADE HIM go and cancelled the Christmas party in favor of it (at his work) if I’m understanding the story correctly. He probably would have gone to a random party, or maybe he wouldn’t, but who would have cared? Who would have complained?

I would go to a happy birthday mithra party, or a happy solstice party, or willowmas, or saturnalia, before I would go to festivus and if someone FORCED me to go I might kick down the stupid pole as well (not really, stupid manners). Maybe this guy just hates Seinfeld.; 12/23/09, 1:50 PM
Dark Eden said...: Does an atheist complaining about someone crapping all over their holiday festivities count as irony?

I'm sure a lot of people who made the mistake of saying Merry Christmas to the wrong pissed off atheist for years feel your Festivus pain.; 12/23/09, 2:00 PM
XWL said...: "Are you participating in the feats of strength and airing of the grievances?"

For me, the feats of stregth are a private affair, but grievances, those are for the entire world to enjoy.

And the polekicker from the CNN story has the right of it. Compulsory company holiday parties are a horrid tradition, regardless of what they intend to celebrate.; 12/23/09, 2:08 PM
Sofa King said...: Look, I doubt they literally forced him to go. If so, he should sue them for false imprisonment at least.

I simply got the impression that he was being a dick just because they didn't have a "Christmas" party, which is a stupid reason to be a dick.; 12/23/09, 2:08 PM
Penny said...: "Are you participating in the feats of strength and airing of the grievances?"

Exactly like the man in the story, I was airing my grievances through body language instead of words.

It's a testament to those gathered here that you took it in stride without whining about me.

Thank you, and Happy Festivus!; 12/23/09, 3:36 PM
J said...: "It went over well except for one person who thought it was blasphemous and tried to knock over our Festivus pole," she said"

Given that knocking the pole over is both a feat of strength AND an airing of grievance, this sounds like another Festivus miracle to me. Maybe she doesn't understand the holiday.; 12/23/09, 4:52 PM
Beth said...: the written effluvia of our little trolls in this thread is pretty much it.

Once again, a conservative believes "People who don't agree with me" are "trolls."

Wrongo, boyo.; 12/23/09, 5:41 PM
DaddyO said...: Hey Beth, hiya girlo.; 12/23/09, 5:57 PM
DaddyO said...: Festivus is just Kwaanza for caucasians.; 12/23/09, 5:58 PM
Synova said...: Sofa... "made him go" in the context of a work related event doesn't require kidnapping or imprisonment in order to count as "made him go."

(I think a Festivus office party sounds like fun except for airing grievances, which probably isn't a really good idea. There is always going to be someone who doesn't understand that it's supposed to be unhurtful and always someone who is going to be hurt, but laugh, and pretend they are not. This is why I hate "roasts". If they are good and funny, they are good and funny, but more often than not it just gets mean. Maybe if there is a strict rule that no *personal* grievances may be aired... that might work.); 12/23/09, 9:38 PM
Chris Arabia said...: i have a grievance to air: sofa king is a douchenozzle.

i see no harm in festivus, but it's true that leftists DO want to destroy traditional American values. if they ever extricate their heads from their arselands, they might realize that there aren't better values out there.

meanwhile, compassionate lefty joe stalin turned 130 on monday.; 12/24/09, 1:45 AM
lonetown said...: I think it really shows how weak the dominant Christian religions have become. People are simply losing their religious fervor.

and why not have fun, it is a holiday after all. Why not festivus or Kwaanza or x-mas or Celtic tree worship?

Its about you, really!; 12/24/09, 7:22 AM
Shanna said...: x-mas or Celtic tree worship

These aren't the same thing? I've seen that history channel special on christmas WAY too many times.; 12/24/09, 8:29 AM
vbspurs said...: Festivus is just Kwaanza for caucasians.

Pretty much.

Cheers,
Victoria; 12/24/09, 9:19 AM