tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764506766343254616.post1302423107195781245..comments2024-03-26T14:20:38.103-04:00Comments on The Thought Criminal: " the dangerous principle was promulgated that men are to be looked upon as means and not as ends "Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764506766343254616.post-68819047035821571752015-12-08T21:22:10.094-05:002015-12-08T21:22:10.094-05:00I missed the "Sinter Klass" discussion e...I missed the "Sinter Klass" discussion entirely. Good grief. When you don't know, make up what fits your presumptions, how can you go wrong?<br /><br />Good grief.Rmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06811456254443706479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764506766343254616.post-82263056393194971312015-12-08T19:11:33.004-05:002015-12-08T19:11:33.004-05:00I still think JR claiming that Santa Claus isn'...I still think JR claiming that Santa Claus isn't a corruption of St. Nicholas because everyone knew that Santa Claus was derived form SinterKlas takes the Christmas cake. <br /><br />I've come to the conclusion that along with secularism comes the belief that any line that gets you want you want or allows you to pretend that it does as as good as documented fact. <br /><br />Wikipedia, the proof that while you might not get what you pay for you will be more likely to not get what you don't pay for.<br /><br />I remember back when I was in about the second grade and hearing the National Enquirer reading class children repeating what their parents read in it. "It was in the paper so it has to be true," was their pious declaration in the face of skepticism. Little did I know that when I was at the other end of life that I'd read people with advanced degrees adopting those same standards.The Thought Criminalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01381376556757084468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764506766343254616.post-11762311442319677672015-12-08T18:53:58.619-05:002015-12-08T18:53:58.619-05:00I was looking at Wikipedia for info on the "W...I was looking at Wikipedia for info on the "War on Christmas" (actually the name of the ex-FoxNews guy who coined the term way back when), and came across the usual blather about how Christmas was stolen from the pagans, because many Scandinavian and German customs are "transparently present" in Christmas traditions, like "Yule", originally "Jule," which is first mentioned, per Wiki, in 900 C.E.<br /><br />Or, as we like to call it, the early middle ages. Ancient, donchaknow!<br /><br />The whole argument for "transparently present" is just Puritan-lite talk, strained from the original brew of the Puritans who were notably better informed than we are on many things, but not up to the standards set by scholarship in the 19th and 20th centuries. Nor is Wiki, for that matter. So you get a lot of nonsense on "origins" around this topic. You also get a lot of "theft" of traditions because the people practicing them became Christians and kept living pretty much as they had, with the Church's blessing. Because, again, they weren't Puritans.<br /><br />So much of what we say are "Christmas" traditions, and pagan, are just traditions. There's nothing "Christian" about Christmas except church hymns, nativity scenes, and Christmas Eve worship. Everything else is secular, and as secular and religious have separated since the late 18th century, we've decided like good little descendants of the Puritans that our Christmas must be pure! Except now it can't be mixed with Christianity.<br /><br />Same song, second verse. The irony is, the people making it think they stand apart from the culture they critique; when in fact they are firmly aligned with the people who left the deepest mark on the culture: the Pilgrims.<br /><br />Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?Rmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06811456254443706479noreply@blogger.com