My 'bah Humbug' Rant

[jaideeguy]

I'm sure that I'm not alone in my dislike, distaste, discomfort, disruption and disgust that overwhelms me at this time of year and I hope that I don't offend anyone out there that that enjoys all the chaos and offensiveness of this 'mad season'.

I used to enjoy visiting this Buddhist country to escape the madness of the Xmas season in the west, but more and more, the Thai's have surrendered to the insane, greed of commercialism thrown at them by the superstores and other evil western influences.

The xmas holiday is just another reason to sanook and extend the non productive and wasteful holidays a week longer.

Some of the things that disturb me the most about the holidays [and this extends to new years] are.........

The cheap [off key] Chinese Xmas carols blasting in public places [malls, superstores etc]

The cheap Chinese plastic toys given that last a day, then get discarded.

The over indulgence of Idiots on alcohol and vehicles.

The noise pollution of fireworks.

The total disruption of any serious business with the government, postal, banks.

The crowds of rude idiots in the superstores.

The cheap Chinese Xmas ornaments.

Holiday traffic.

Too many parties....especially new years parties that last way too long and make way too much noise and cause way too many accidents.

Social pressure to give cheap Chinese gifts and sweets and receiving same.

And the worst is the invasion of Buddhist culture by Christian culture [benefiting Chinese merchants].

These are just a few of the things........

It's no wonder that the sucide, accident and divorce rates increase during this time of year!!!

I'm sure that others can add more.

[popshirt]

I could not agree more with EVERYTHING you have said or listed.

One possibly good outcome of the world wide recession/depression is a reduction in the commercial activity around this time of year.

Yes I do hope all the plastic toymakers go belly up!

As for those youngsters screeching Xmas songs off-key at Central and Tops, I wish them bronchitis in the new year.

How's that for bah humbug?!

[stiggy]

I will be having a Christmas dinner with my Thai Staff and sharing my culture with them for a change.We all have two days off and have a giggle.

I must admit the cheap plastic crap and annoying carols grind .

Merry christmas Jaidee or should it be Jaimiserable at others having a bit of fun...

[garyh]

I agree tatally, is any western country any different though? It is just a way for the shops to make more money (40% of annual sales mentioned by media today), even the fat Santa Clause is an invention of Coke Cola.

[jaideeguy]

Stiggy, Please don't "merry Christmas' me.....I'm not a Christian [not sure what I am??] and don't need any religious greetings.......but thanks for your good wishes.

and garyh.....that's exactly my point and Buddhist Thailand should not fall prey to our worst western evil influences.

Bah humbug....

[cocopops]

I agree tatally, is any western country any different though? It is just a way for the shops to make more money (40% of annual sales mentioned by media today), even the fat Santa Clause is an invention of Coke Cola.

An urban myth. It's impossible to prove that coca cola advertisements had nothing to do with cementing the now canonical image of Santa Clause in peoples minds, but they certainly didn't invent it. The image of Santa was already standardized in North America (at least) years before 1931, when the first such coca cola ad appeared.

Edited December 22, 2008 by cocopops

[britmaveric]

Merry Christmas All

[stiggy]

So Christmas is evil ? as are other western Influences.

You seem to be enjoying the EVIL western internet stuff.

Maybe Iran or south Korea would be a great place to be this time of year ..They hate western evil things to.

As I said I to hate the commercial side but to get together for a dinner is not to evil is it ?

Are buddhists not accepting to all religion ?

[Rimmer]

"Merry Christmas" signs that have been hanging there all year waiting for next years event.

[Ulysses G.]

I hardly notice Christmas here. It is just a good excuse to eat a good meal with my best buddies as far as I'm concerned!

[jaideeguy]

OK, I will admit that the one good thing about xmas is the xmas dinner....but us Americans just had a good dinner for thanksgiving [which is a much less commercial holiday].

[Geekfreaklover]

Christmas is a goood excuse to get very, very, drunk (as if I need one).

Once drunk you can vent out against Chinese toymakers and poorly sung Christmas carols.

All part of the fun.

Why knock it?

[Geekfreaklover]

"Merry Christmas" signs that have been hanging there all year waiting for next years event.

Thats a good one!

Gold and red sign - "Sabai dee bee mai 2005" - Still hanging up fom across the road!!

Why put it down if you will need it again next year,

[Ulysses G.]

OK, I will admit that the one good thing about xmas is the xmas dinner....but us Americans just had a good dinner for thanksgiving [which is a much less commercial holiday].

Two good dinners is always better than one!

[Crushdepth]

Just get rid of the endless bloody Christmas carol/elevator music. I can live with the rest of the stuff.

[Martin]

It passes unnoticed here in Ban Nork.

But I was greatly amused in Singapore about twenty years ago, when one of the big Orchard Road hotels had a huge polystyrene sculpture of a sleigh and reindeer outside. In January, the sleigh was taken away, and the reindeers' antlers were removed in order to celebrate the Year of the Goat!

[Ricardo]

OK, I will admit that the one good thing about xmas is the xmas dinner....but us Americans just had a good dinner for thanksgiving [which is a much less commercial holiday].

Two good dinners is always better than one!

Two good diners also usually enjoy themselves !

[Ricardo]

Just get rid of the endless bloody Christmas carol/elevator music.

But this is our chance, to drone along drunkenly/mindlessly out-of-tune with half the words wrong, an annual festival of revenge for Karaoke and all its evils, throughout the rest of the year !

[quiksilva]

The worse thing about this time of year is all the scrooges that moan on and on about how much they hate Christmas...

[britmaveric]

[Roadman]

Play the video then click on the line of chicks icon at the end

[OlRedEyes]

Holidays and sport keep the great unwashed prepared to carry on grinding themselves to death for the benefit of the few. Give them their little mindless 'joy'.

As long as I can duck the obscene xmas machine, I'm happy. It's a lot easier to do that here, especially as I am not in Bkk.

Would be nice to be rid of the mad season though. One can dream.

[snuggzzz]

.............................OH NO IT ISN'T...........................................

[Bangyai]

Play the video then click on the line of chicks icon at the end

Absolutely

[BeauKarl]

OK, I will admit that the one good thing about xmas is the xmas dinner....but us Americans just had a good dinner for thanksgiving [which is a much less commercial holiday].

So because YOU Americans had a dinner for thanksgiving, the whole world needs to give up on xmas?

Tell that to the many orphants who will get a nice dinner or toys for xmas from charities.

Tell that to the many children in UK schools who are not allowed to sing some songs or even celebrate it because some religions are insulted by it, tell that to the Chinese factory workers who work hard on (crap)toys to have some food on the table, I guess western influences are only good if it suits you.

And no I don't celebrate it either becuase I couldn't care less about the parties and the howling of the carols or the santas in the stores a month before x mas, but that doesn't mean I have to take the joy away from people who do like to celebrate it because I coulda had a thanksgiving dinner

[Jingthing]

As the Chicago machine politicians say: Merry BLEEPING Christmas!

Christmas? Another good reason to eat Chinese food.

Edited December 22, 2008 by Jingthing