fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5824 ]

[ SECRET POST #5824 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5824 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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03.

[Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special]

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04.

[A Plague Tale: Requiem]

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08. https://i.imgur.com/ZBRHwbN.png
[linked for NSFW (Mansfield Park 1999)]

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09. [SPOILERS for The Occupation Saga]
[WARNING for discussion of rape]

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10. [WARNING for discussion of transphobia]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #833.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

07. https://i.imgur.com/12YO3sp.png

What?

Dude. If you're blaming the rise of fascism on Christmas, I'd say you're not digging deep enough.

You're really going to have to walk me through how treating Christmas as a secular holiday leads to terrorism

Please show your work

"Please show your work."

I actually smiled when I read this line. I feel like this phrase needs to show up more often in online discussions.

I... think there might be a few more proximate causes. Just a few.

Anyway, those kinds of people don't feel empowered by secularized Christmas, they hate it and see it as a moral degradation of society. You're not going to stop right-wing terrorism by insisting on taking a holiday away from people who celebrate it non-religiously because they're not Christians.

THIS. Secularized Christmas with the tree and the gifts and Santa and all that is anathema to real Christofascists. It's also not a remotely new development, it's been a thing since the early 19th century.

Far right-wing Christian wannabe holy warriors absolutely despise what they see as a bastardization and a watering-down and an attempt to force them to practice tolerance.

........yeah, no.

Um, what on earth is the connection between Christmas and terrorism? I get the "War on Christmas" but I don't think there's a direct link to domestic terrorism.

FYI I'm a Satanist and I love Christmas. No, I will not expand on that.

ave satanas and hail yourself, fellow satanist! although I hate christmas so it really does take all kinds, doesn't it?

idk what's up with OP either. gettting mad about the "war on christmas" is a symptom, not the cause.

I'm not a Satanist, but I considered joining the Satanic Temple once or twice this year. (Yes, I know it has nothing to do with the devil.)

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(Anonymous) - 2022-12-17 02:51 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2022-12-17 05:10 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2022-12-17 06:17 (UTC) - Expand

DA
I have Satanic sympathies and like the imagery too (I have a Devil fetish).
It's okay to like Christmas. There are Satanists out there that enjoy the beauty of churches and hymns; it's okay to admit that.

That's a stretch.

But for anyone who isn't into Christmas for whatever reason, might I suggest instead celebrating Rod Serling's birthday ala an annual rewatch of The Twilight Zone?

Not OP.

OMG, that is a cool idea!

I could probably thread your needle here: secularization of religion in a culture allows other religious aspects, even the ones that suggest that there is one true (religious) moral perspective that should apply to everyone in the culture regardless of whether they follow that religion to be normalized, which means that religious fascists get away with their shit way more easily than fascists who espouse less normalized values. Is that what you mean OP?

for the record, while I agree there's a deep Christian aspect to a lot of US fascism, and that that is the core of the spread, religion is mostly a very useful tool rather than a real motivating principal/perspective. This can be seen particularly with Trump's specific cult of personlity. Nobody thinks that man is a christian or even believes in a god. He has a truly wild anti-religious vibe. His success has nothing to do with cultural religiosity, just regular strong-man credulousness (religion lives alongside this and probably allows for easy transition, but it exists in most cultures regardless of religiosity).

Anyway, the other side of cultural normalization of sub-cultures is that only the shared aspects of the cultural experience are normalized. This is just a winter festival and most people with winters have them regardless of religion. If people latched onto it, it was because there was something in the human condition that needed a reminder of joy in the winter, which can be very bleak. Take what you need and leave the rest.

"This can be seen particularly with Trump's specific cult of personlity. Nobody thinks that man is a christian or even believes in a god. He has a truly wild anti-religious vibe. His success has nothing to do with cultural religiosity, just regular strong-man credulousness (religion lives alongside this and probably allows for easy transition, but it exists in most cultures regardless of religiosity)."

I think you just said exactly why I hate him so much.

Yeah, removing the religious aspects of Christmas so non-Christians can celebrate it and spend money on it is definitely a Christian conspiracy to normalize Christianity. Not totally about another word that starts with a C.

About the only part of "Christmas" that I have any use for is the part where (most) people get a break from their job or their school. And can gather and eat and do as they please.

It's convenient to have some sort of bulwark against the notion of What Do The Poor Want With Holidays, They Should Work. But I'd be perfectly happy if we could come up with one that wasn't tied to a religion.

Since the church basically picked the date to coincide with winter solstice, and festivals for solstice had been celebrated for thousands of years before that, couldn't making it as big and non-Christian as possible be a form of taking it back?

Say you've literally never been outside of the US in your life without saying you've never been outside of the US in your life.

This secret is literally saying it's about things inside the US though? It's not saying or implying this happens everywhere in the world.

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(Anonymous) - 2022-12-17 06:33 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2022-12-17 06:44 (UTC) - Expand

Most of this secret confuses me, but I do share your love for Christmas movies and specials. They just make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Nah, Christmas appeals across religious boundaries because it's lights and greenery and spices and music in the depths of winter as the dark turns back towards the light. It's like wired into the human psyche.

Celebrations and light and good food in the midst of dark winters are human nature, sure. Christmas itself isn't.

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(Anonymous) - 2022-12-17 14:00 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2022-12-18 00:39 (UTC) - Expand

OP, I'm surprised by the way the comments are leaning because I feel similarly to you. (Except I don't like Christmas movies.) I am not a Christian and I resent the fact that it is assumed to be the default in America. Right-wing violence under the guise of godliness only makes me want to disassociate further from anything having to do with Christianity, including the secular aspects of Christmas.