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readherring.livejournal.comThere's nothing quite like reading a good downer while sitting by the fire on Christmas morning. Sorry about that, folks. I hope you've at least had a chance to hit the egg nog today, so this post won't be too depressing. But this is kinda poignant, so I thought I'd share.
Yesterday, I was having lunch with some of the Russians, Indians, and Ethiopians in my lab. The discussion came up about the American trait of secretly dreading Christmas, and what caused it. Oh, we do give it a huge amount of fanfare - perhaps too much - which I'm sure contributes to the annual anticlimax. But I think there's more to it than that.
My theory: America's pattern of transient lifestyle is fairly unique. Many of our families scatter across our rather large nation to pursue jobs. Since the industrial revolution, migration for employment has been commonplace here. Our migration patterns became more complicated after the post WWII land boom. The concept of the Nuclear Family was born, and our idealized living situation became: Mom, Dad, Kids, Pets. (and car and TV) As a result, ties to large, extended families are weaker here than most other countries. (Canada might have something similar, and I'd be interested to hear about it)
The only time many of us spend with our extended families is on major holidays. Hence, there are horrible and twisted repercussions. (Here's where I tie this post in with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
talk_politics in the most bizarre manner possible) Those repercussions are named 'Keith Olberman' and 'Glenn Beck'.
See, it is our human nature to befriend like-minded individuals. The internet has recently made it easier to associate with an even narrower band of like-mindedness. But through luck, chance, or divine providence, families contain a good scramble of individuality. Cultures with strong family ties are much better at dealing with the differently-minded people in their family. Not that it's a 24-hour love-fest, but I believe that they are better at achieving an equilibrium and a bit more compassion for those of a different political stripe.
Not so here. Here, we only have to deal with our Creationist/Socialist/Birther/Bush-Basher/Global Warming Denier/Atheist brother/aunt/niece/cousin/grandfather every Thanksgiving/Easter/Christmas. We aren't forced to confront opposition all year round, so our beliefs splinter more. Hence, we have created a market for superstars of polarization. And every year for the holidays, those super-polarizers provide us with handy guides on how to argue with Creationists/Socialists/Birthers/Bush-Bashers/Global Warming Deniers/Atheists, so we don't have to deal with the annoyance of trying to find common grounds. But it's still a pain in the butt to deal with these mutants that we are related to, so we semi-secretly hate the holidays.
Just a thought. Merry Christmas.
Yesterday, I was having lunch with some of the Russians, Indians, and Ethiopians in my lab. The discussion came up about the American trait of secretly dreading Christmas, and what caused it. Oh, we do give it a huge amount of fanfare - perhaps too much - which I'm sure contributes to the annual anticlimax. But I think there's more to it than that.
My theory: America's pattern of transient lifestyle is fairly unique. Many of our families scatter across our rather large nation to pursue jobs. Since the industrial revolution, migration for employment has been commonplace here. Our migration patterns became more complicated after the post WWII land boom. The concept of the Nuclear Family was born, and our idealized living situation became: Mom, Dad, Kids, Pets. (and car and TV) As a result, ties to large, extended families are weaker here than most other countries. (Canada might have something similar, and I'd be interested to hear about it)
The only time many of us spend with our extended families is on major holidays. Hence, there are horrible and twisted repercussions. (Here's where I tie this post in with
talk_politics in the most bizarre manner possible) Those repercussions are named 'Keith Olberman' and 'Glenn Beck'.See, it is our human nature to befriend like-minded individuals. The internet has recently made it easier to associate with an even narrower band of like-mindedness. But through luck, chance, or divine providence, families contain a good scramble of individuality. Cultures with strong family ties are much better at dealing with the differently-minded people in their family. Not that it's a 24-hour love-fest, but I believe that they are better at achieving an equilibrium and a bit more compassion for those of a different political stripe.
Not so here. Here, we only have to deal with our Creationist/Socialist/Birther/Bush-Basher/Global Warming Denier/Atheist brother/aunt/niece/cousin/grandfather every Thanksgiving/Easter/Christmas. We aren't forced to confront opposition all year round, so our beliefs splinter more. Hence, we have created a market for superstars of polarization. And every year for the holidays, those super-polarizers provide us with handy guides on how to argue with Creationists/Socialists/Birthers/Bush-Bashers/Global Warming Deniers/Atheists, so we don't have to deal with the annoyance of trying to find common grounds. But it's still a pain in the butt to deal with these mutants that we are related to, so we semi-secretly hate the holidays.
Just a thought. Merry Christmas.
