21. Christmas

Hi, I am Greg and I want to grumble about – well, Christmas, of course. What else could one grumble about in this season of peace and goodwill to all men.

Where to begin? Maybe with a simple bah-humbug, but it is such a cliché - and Dickens sold Scrooge out with a change of heart.

So, where to begin? The enforced Christianity, the social assertion of the supremacy of the biological family, or just the crass commercialisation? Or maybe that our society degenerates into a gaudy, wasteful festival of greed and over-consumption. The simple and good notions of a holiday and getting together with family and friends get commodified and polluted, while those who do not fit this happy Christmas picture are pushed to the edge.

Of course there are many acts of generosity at Christmas time, sometimes in thoughtful present-giving, and sometimes in acts of charity and support for those who are not doing so well – but just maybe, at least some of those people are not doing so well because of the pressure and social exclusion that is the inevitable outcome of the Santa Clause culture. And let’s not forget that Christmas is not just an occasion of mirth and giving, it is also an occasion of increases in offensive drunkenness, domestic violence, road carnage and suicide.

There are many Christians in our society who have a right to celebrate their days of religious significance. Ok, yes, I know it was originally a pagan festival that was taken over by western Christian churches in a colonial process which pre-figured the more recent colonisation by a fat man in a coca-cola-sponsored red suit. But if I have to hear one more banal Christmas carol, I don’t know what I’ll do. It is why I usually try to head to a mountain somewhere at this time of year. I am sure that if there is a god – singular or plural, of whatever description, they are more likely to found in the glory of nature and the call of the wild than in artificial religious ceremonies or in Department stores selling useless objects as meaningless gifts.

So, I hope listeners have a good break and get to share time and themselves with friends and families. But personally, I want to imagine a day when our society’s main festival isn’t a celebration of religions of either the theological or commercial kind. But until then, I am Greg and I am grumbling.

This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast at https://radio.adelaide.edu.au/gregs-grumbles-21/ 

First Broadcast: 24 December 2013