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Termyn8or -> RE: Christmas display ramifications (12/19/2009 8:48:49 AM)
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FR
I think my point is I don't care. Not that I don't care, more like it is none of my business. He can put almost anything up in his yard that isn't pornographic. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with porn but it doesn't belong on the front lawn. Do we apply the same logic here ? I don't think it is quite the same thing.
Now I might as well tell you, I like the thing. I think it has much meaning, mostly a disdain on the part of the artist that Christmas has been so commercialized that is has pretty much been bastardised. In my opinion, the rampant gift buying and lavish expeditures teach the young to be materialistic, something no Parent would profess to want, yet they let it happen right under their noses. If I were the "displaying" type I would consider one like it or very similar.
And if your kids have questions just tell them it should teach them not to play with guns, or not to sneak into other peoples' houses. By the time that answer doesn't work, if you can't tell them the truth something is wrong. If you can't think on your feet well enough to come up with such an answer I don't know what to tellya.
That's my opinion, which should be irrelevant. So should those of the neighbors.
Another opinion of mine is about the media. It's obvious they make alot of money this time of year. They probably intended it to be a negative example, but by making news out of it they have given it national attention. If I were the guy who put it up I would be pretty smug about now.
Unfortunately there is no link to the story about the hillbilly cutting down the sign. That's from a short atory I read before the internet even existed, at least for regular folk. "Reading before the internet ?" you say ? Yes, people did read things before the internet. I have the advantage of having been able to recover most long term memory, know how I did it ? I shunned entertainment for about 2½ years. No fiction, no TV not even music. Now that my mind has regrouped so to speak, I brought back music, my taste in fiction is warped in the sense that I like things like The Onion. You still can't get me to sit in front of the boob tube for more than a couple of minutes.
However the hillbilly story, even though the details are scant, I think has relevance. One person's use of their own land interferes with another's. Who is right and who is wrong there ? In many places it is illegal and wrong to dam up or pollute a stream on one's own property, for obvious reasons. Do we now need a legal definition of the difference between the running of a stream and a ray of sunshine ?
I hate to bring up the chorus again but, I see this as yet another symptom of overpopulation. I think we are going to see more and more of this type of controversy in years to come, that is until something comes along and wipes out alot of lives. Suggestion : Let nature take care of it.
If every Citizen of that town voted to order the removal of the supposedly offensive display should it be removed ? I say no. While as Spock may have said "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few", that does not, or should not apply to rights, especially when it comes to self expression.
People need to be more objective. What this guy's message was is pretty clear, but what if the shoe was on another foot ?
Let's suppose I am a Black Man who celebrates Kwazaa. (personally I don't know much about it, it didn't become anything near mainstream until recently even if it has been around for centuries). I decide to make a Kwanzaa display. It is a Black Man standing there with a whip and a White Man in chains in front of him pulling a plow or something. The Black Man has a White wench at his side, presumably the White Man's Wife. (I suppose I would have to express that by her arms outstretched toward the White Man) A caption that reads
HA HA HA (crossed out)
HE HE HE (crossed out)
NO, HO HO HO !
The display is meant to illustrate the evils in how we got here, that we couldn't celebrate OUR holiday for a long time and the fact that I CAN put up such a display.
OK, now I am White again. I drive by on the street and see it. I'm sure many would find it racist, repugnant and all kinds of nasty things and try to claim all kinds of shit, like attempted insurrection and so forth. But that doesn't wash. Personally I think it would take alot of damn gall to put up such a display, and would like to meet the person who did it. I would probably knock on the door with a sixpack of Colt 45 :-). Even that could be taken as racist, or accomodating.
I find advertising repugnant, in fact it has the opposite effect on me. I tend not to buy what is advertised. In fact I want all billboards removed from the city. Wish me luck.
T
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