putting the “christ” back in your life, at least where it belongs

i had a discussion about “xmas” the other day with somebody near and dear to me…

…but she prefers to call “xmas” under the name “christmas”. sure, they’re pronounced the same – but in her words, “it’s a respect thing”.

i can see that.

never mind the fact that it’s been all but proven that the actual day christ was born was in april, and was moved to december to help “take over” a pagan festival in yet another attempt by the church to make all things non-christian christian. what can you say – they have a HELL of a marketing strategy (pun intended) and on a personal note, with christmas being in december and my birthday being in june it means people give me shit every six months – it’s PERFECTLY spaced. i can’t bitch about that…and so what if he was born on one day but we now celebrate it on another day? hell, last year juneteenth was on a saturday, but we celebrated the day on sunday with the bar-b-que – don’t recall even my most anti-religious friends bitching when they came out for fajitas…if i can do it, he can do it – lord knows he has more pull in the world than i do.

reasons for the abbreviation vary, from it actually stemming back to ancient greek or latin (both of which would pre-date the man and thus the holiday it should be quickly pointed out) and yet another online rumor has it being used so non-christians would be non-offended before the standard p.c. “happy holidays” was adopted. here’s the bottom line – if you get offended because somebody says “merry christmas” instead of “happy hanukkah” or “joyous kwanza” (now THERE’S some made up shit) than do yourself a favor and have a drink…regardless of what “step” you’re on. they’re telling you to have a good time. they’re wishing you could cheer. what deity they ascribe to doesn’t matter – the feeling is there, just reciprocate and stop being an uptight dick.

what’s sad is this DIDN’T actually start getting written because of said discussion (and, as i pointed out to her, i don’t abbreviate for any lack of god in my life or any of that crap – it is, quite simply, easier to text or type “xmas” over “christmas” while driving. but i see her point about the respect thing – if “juneteenth” is ever renamed “seanteenth” you better believe you better ALL call it that out of respect) – it rather came from john lennon’s imagine. not the song, but the documentary from 1988. i remember seeing in theaters and since on tv several times (always get a chill with the slow motion scene where the glasses hit the concrete and the lens breaks)

in an early scene they’re playing “the ballad of john and yoko” and an earlier segment of lyrics goes:

christ you know it ain’t easy…
you know how hard it can be…
the way things are going
they’re gonna crucify me…

but on the version i saw (aired late at night, on vh1 classic, a strictly cable channel like comedy central, who at the exact same moment was airing a katt williams special with all the “shit”, “fuck”, and “nigger” lines unedited) they censored the “christ” at the beginning of those lyrics, which being the chorus, comes up quite a bit throughout the song. EVERY time “(silence) you know it ain’t easy….” – even when he’s just quoting his own lyrics in an interview…

…seriously?

what i found myself wondering – did they do this for the ANTI-religious people, or for the RELIGIOUS people? i mean, during the earlier segments about his time in the beatles they happily quoted his “we’re more popular than jesus christ” quote, complete with the rebuttle “i wasn’t talking about jesus christ as a person, or god as a thing, or whatever it is…” with no issue. seems like that would be more offensive to both groups than the damn song lyrics. i think everything should just be aired, with all the shits and fucks in tact, as the artist recorded it. the government doesn’t need to “protect” us from language – we hear it in the schools, the office, the public places like grocery stores and even the holier-than-thou ailes of wal-mart. let it go – and let people choose for themselves…even the oldest of radios and tv’s have two knobs – one that will let you CHANGE the fucking channel so you can find something that doesn’t tarnish your delicate sensibilities – and the other so you can turn down the volume and not have to hear it…there’s even a button where you can turn the radio or tv off and actually SPEAK to people in your household. try that for a fucking change.

christ you know it ain’t easy to please all of the people all of the time…so stop fucking trying.