A University Tried to Ban Christmas Parties Because They Aren't Inclusive

War on Christmas? Not exactly, but...

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Halloween is not the only holiday that launches university administrators into a joyless, censorious rage: Christmas inspires a great deal of handwringing over non-inclusive celebrations as well.

Consider what took place recently at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. From my latest Daily Beast column:

Last week, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville issued a breathtakingly Scrooge-ish (Scrooge-ian? Scrooge-esque?) piece of advice: "Ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise."

The diversity officers who wrote this instruction must have a lot of extra time on their hands, because eradicating secret Yuletide gatherings doesn't exactly seem like a pressing higher education issue.

The university, thankfully, has since re-discovered its Christmas spirit, but not before inspiring bewilderment and anger among some students, as well as quite a few Republican politicians who hysterically interpret any slight against Christmas as an attack on Christianity itself.

Read the whole thing here.

It's good to be "inclusive," but campus bureaucrats shouldn't need to be reminded that they lack the power to actually restrict kinds of speech they don't like—including and especially expression as inoffensive as holiday parties.

Related: Reason TV asks college students whether they hate free speech.

Comments

[AlmightyJB]

Why do they hate Mithra?

[MSimon]

Zoroaster out on a date.

[Dangerous Buffoon]

Because those two midget chicks creep them out?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Who wants a giant moth flapping around and knocking over all the booze?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Oh, nm, I got my tokusatsu confused with my tauroctony.

[Agammamon]

"Ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise."
politicians who hysterically interpret any slight against Christmas as an attack on Christianity itself.

You know, when you tell people to no have 'Christmas parties' - yeah, that kinda *is* an attack on Christianity.

Doubly so since you certainly wouldn't see them telling Jews or Muslims the same thing.

I'm not down with the 'war on Christmas' shit - almost all of that is simply hysterical hyperbole. *Almost* all of it though - shit like this falls squarely into the WoC camp.

[Agammamon]

'a similar thing', not 'the same thing'. That would just confuse the Jews and Muslims.

[Trshmnstr, terror of the trash]

I agree. I think a lot of the "war on Christmas" bullshit is just "KRISHTUN NASHUN" crap from insecure culture warriors. However, this is truly war on Christmas.

[CE]

No one is forced to attend a Christmas party. College students should be old enough to handle being excluded once in a while.

[hpearce]

And by banning xmas parties the university itself isn't inclusive and should be banned as a university.

[Ken Shultz]

Banning Christmas isn't wrong because Christians have been the beneficiaries of 400 years of institutional bigotry.

Banning Kwanzaa is racist.

[hpearce]

Perhaps, but banning groups/people because they aren't inclusive seems contradictory to me. 🙂

[Sevens]

Yeah, and they were all reborn to enjoy it. No wait, that's some other religion. Institutionally, Christians should get more privileges. To make up for the internal perks other religions offer. The devil seems like a fairly bad thing, too. A redistributionist devil tax seems to be in order. Is original sin inflicted? Then there should be compensation.

[Ken Shultz]

I was just applying the logic of the pro-affirmative action people I've read.

They say that it's impossible for blacks to be racist because whites have enjoyed the benefits of 400 years of institutional racism.

They racism is about power--not about someone's arbitrary construction of consistency.

If we go by that standard, then Christians have benefited from . . . how long has it been since Constantine marched his troops through a river and declared them baptized?

1600 years! Christians have enjoyed 1600 years of institutional bigotry, so they can't be discriminated against, doncha know.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Principals over principles.

Also, this happened in Tennessee?? Wow, man, there really has been a full Prog takeover of higher education.

[GILMORE?]

"This Holiday Season, Consider Abandoning Your Cultural Heritage"

[Sevens]

Yeah. Have an inclusive party by appropriating from all cultures.

[GILMORE?]

Celebrate The Diversity of World Cultures That Would Probably Be Extinct Had Christendom Not Provided Them Antibiotics.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Lol, yeah I don't think Fleming was praying in a church when he stumbled upon the wonderful properties of mold juice.

[GamerFromJump]

Every fucking year we have to listen to the same ginned-up "War on Christmas" narrative.

STOP HELPING THEM with that!

[Professor Woland]

Exactly. I don't want to sound like one of those people whose first thought after the Paris attacks was that they would empower the far right, but I'm going to anyway when I say that this is just fodder for people like Bill O'Reilly to shit all over everything with their argumentative diarrhea.

[Brian]

So, this is Christmas?

[C. Anacreon]

Talk about cultural appropriation -- I think the Jamaican tourism board stole that song and turned it into "Come Back to Jamaica".

[CE]

With no Christmas party, do they know it's Christmas time at all?

[Suthenboy]

As already noted this is an actual attack on Christmas and Christianity.

Personally I think proggies have disdain for Christianity because some of its core ideas and tenants that it popularized evolved into the Enlightenment. One could argue that it is the root of the civilized west.

[Cytotoxic]

"Christianity because some of its core ideas and tenants that it popularized evolved into the Enlightenment."

Pfffft The Enlightenment was in large part Europe leaving Christianity.

[Suthenboy]

Wow. You really are clueless.

[Trshmnstr, terror of the trash]

Cytotoxic has said some pretty ridiculous things, but this has to take the cake. Cyto, you do realize that half of Europe's "leaving Christianity" was due to the French Revolution and the subsequent socialism that spread across Western Europe, right? The other half was because of the Soviet Union's disdain for the Orthodox Church.

[The Hyperbole]

I hate Christmas with an intensity normally reserved for card-cheats and child abusers, but what I despise more is anyone who gives the "War On Christmas Crowd" any reason to beat their chest and cry "help,help I'm being repressed!" I'll gleefully bah-humbug my way through a month of fake 'good-will to all men' and the crappiest music known to man, but giving the people who shove this shit down my throat a justifiable bitch about how they can't do so entirely unfettered, just burns my ass.

[GILMORE?]

"I hate Christmas with an intensity normally reserved for card-cheats and child abusers"

.... well, ok then, Uncle Grumpypants.

" the crappiest music known to man,"

True, you can't dance to it... but its still more pleasant than a hippy drum-circle.

[Suicidy]

I am against the war on Christmas, but I hate Christmas music. It would be ok if it were limited to one week, but I have to listen to that shit for about six weeks every year. The same shit over and over and over again. It gets old.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Hate brings us together. I would rather listen to raccoons raping each other all night long then to those shitty Christmas songs.

[Foo_dd]

and they never play the hippopotamus song any more.

[Sylvie1]

These, also . . . http://www.allmusic.com/album/.....0001024381

[pogi chips for liberty]

"crappiest music known to man"

Yoko Ono put out a Christmas album?

[lawnerd]

Crappiest music known to man, hands down, is rap. I will take Sinatra singing White Christmas any day than hearing about hos and n&%gaz.

[lawnerd]

Crappiest music known to man, hands down, is rap. I will take Sinatra singing White Christmas any day than hearing about hos and n&%gaz.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Interestingly enough, these same complaints are never levied against Santa and the reindeer -- a much more culturally-exclusivist set of traditions than the nativity for a holiday celebrated by a third of the world's population, in a country which is 4/5th's Christian (at least, nominally).

[CE]

Oh yes they are.

Principal bans Santa Claus..

[Almanian's Rusty Woodchipper]

If you like your religious parties, you can keep your religious parties.

[Crusty Juggler]

You're a foul one, Almanian.
You're a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks.
Your soul is full of gunk,
Almanian.

[Crusty Juggler]

Our future Ruler and Overlord Donald Trump should declare war on the War on Christmas so that he can definitely become the Republican nominee.

I do not know which part of that article was worse: the nimrods from the university, or the nincompoop politicians standing up for the baby Jesus.

[Suicidy]

Jesus was a full grown man when he arrived on earth two thousand years ago. Not sure where that 'baby Jesus' stuff comes from.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Lol.

[CE]

He already said he would bring Christmas back to the White House.

[Chowder]

In Soviet Florida, car locks you up.

Car calls 911 after alleged hit-and-run, driver arrested

57-year-old woman Cathy Bernstein allegedly hit a truck before ploughing into a van on Prima Vista Boulevard, fleeing the scene after each collision. While Bernstein allegedly ran for the hills, her car had already recorded the crash and automatically contacted 911 after recording the time and date of the collision.

[GILMORE?]

"Bernstein allegedly ran for the hills"

This is how i know this story is false = Florida has no hills.

[CE]

It does have alligators lurking for wrong-doers trying to hide though:

Gator eats burglar

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The university, thankfully, has since re-discovered its Christmas spirit, but not before inspiring bewilderment and anger among some students, as well as quite a few Republican politicians who hysterically interpret any slight against Christmas as an attack on Christianity itself.

Yeah that's really the worst part of this affair: giving Christians reason to suspect that hostility to the cultural dominance of their religion is a motivating factor in a lot of diversity kerfuffles.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

giving Christians reason to suspect that hostility to the cultural dominance of their religion is a motivating factor in a lot of diversity kerfuffles

This "suspicion" is much like the libertarian "suspicion" that politicians and bureaucrats might be just a bit hostile to classical liberalism.

Whether the hostility exists thanks to the reason many Christians ascribe is very debatable, but there's no real question that many leftists and secular humanists see Christianity as a competitor in the marketplace of values and treat it accordingly in the spheres under their control.

[GILMORE?]

There is a large segment of the Left that wants to convince the public that the 'true spirit' of Separation of Church & State is "Freedom FROM Religion"... not "Freedom of Religion".

They will endlessly snipe at the margins of religious expression to try and banish it from any public place... or even (as noted here) private functions that may occur in places they hold the most control.

[Notorious UGCC]

A Very Cromwell Christmas!

From John Evelyn's diary for Christmas 1657, during Oliver Cromwell's rule:

"I went to London with my wife to celebrate Christmas-day, Mr. Gunning preaching in Exeter Chapel, on Micah VVII:2. Sermon ended, as he was giving us the Holy Sacrament, the [Anglican] chapel was surrounded with soldiers, and assembly surprised and kept prisoners by them, some in the house, others carried away....

"When I came before them, they took my name and abode, examined me why, contrary to the ordinance made, that none should any longer observe the superstitious time of the Nativity (so esteemed by them), I durst offend, and particularly be at Common Prayers, which they told me was but the Mass in English, and particularly pray for Charles Stuart....

"These were men of high flight and above ordinance, and spoke spiteful things of our Lord's Nativity. As we went up to receive the Sacrament, the miscreants held their muskets against us, as if they would have shot us at the alter, but yet suffering us to finish the office of Communion, as perhaps not having instructions what to do, in case they found us in that action.

"So I got home late the next day, blessed be God!"

[straffinrun]

Probably been mentioned, but Robby has a doppleganger?

[Crusty Juggler]

Robbie's does not have such a vast chin cleft.

[GILMORE?]

Yes, but that's how you know its the evil-twin.

[Notorious UGCC]

Another slapping, hair-pulling fight among atheists

[GILMORE?]

The nut of the extended whine =

"You can proclaim you're an atheist, a freethinker, a devotee of the enlightenment ? and yet somehow still end up backing rightwing [insert bog-standard BOOOOOOSHism and anything the left thinks is great which everyone must agree about... like Ahmed the fake-clock kid]........"

its not about "athiesm". Its about TEAM. They seem upset that certain prominent Athiests aren't good goose-stepping party-people.

[Suthenboy]

A good portion of the left is openly hostile to the values of the Enlightenment and are becoming more bold about saying so.

Again, progressives are the most self-aware people on the planet.

[JeremyR]

That mostly seems to be an article complaining that some atheists dare to criticize Islam and not just Christianity...

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Why does Harris prefer Carson's know-nothing bluster on foreign policy to the opinions of Chomsky, one of the most influential scholars in the world?

Gotta love that atheist freethinking in action:
"Why won't Harris uncritically accept this TOP MAN's opinion instead of critically and reservedly agreeing with someone outside his tribe? Burn the heretic!"

[straffinrun]

If we're to save the good name of atheism, we need to popularise a fundamentally different approach, one that seeks to understand religion rather than simply sneering at it.

I like a good sneer at times, but how can your editor let this line wrap up the end of this article? Self awareness has left the building.

[SIV]

So it's more like a police action on Christmas.

[Notorious UGCC]

Hey, anyone want to do some jokes about Freddie Mercury being a Zoroastrian?

[d3x / dt3]

I didn't know he was with Zorro.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Bohemian Rhapsody is a secret ode to Zoroastrian Economics.

[MSimon]

Saturnalia is more age appropriate.

[Rich]

"Ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise."

"Instead, ensure it's a Progressive party in disguise."

[straffinrun]

I always wind up standing up against the wall at those parties.

[Rich]

Holding a Molotov cocktail?

[Suthenboy]

No, wearing a blindfold.

[Dangerous Buffoon]

No cigarette though, it's unhealthy.

[Notorious UGCC]

Washington ? A A Chaldean Catholic bishop from Southfield was among a panel of experts testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday about the persecution and expulsion of religious minorities in Syria and Iraq, and urging the Obama administration to recognize it as genocide.

"The U.S. government should not turn a blind eye to the genocidal atrocities. Proclaim it for what it is," said Francis Kalabat, bishop of the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle, a diocese covering the eastern United States.

[Brian]

I'm so tired of this inclusive bullshit.

Should they just demand that everyone's invited to every party anywhere so that its inclusive?

Should they ban friends and girlfriend/boyfriend relationships because pairing up in some way isn't inclusive?

Are all classes open to everyone who can find a place to sit on the floor so that it can be inclusive?

Does everyone get a spot on the football team?

Inclusivity is a fucking made up virtue that's always selectively enforced on particular people, while ignoring others, because obviously practicing it is ridiculous. They want certain other people to take the inclusive cock in the ass, never themselves or their own cherished exclusiveness.

[hurts_donut]

Yes! All of those so they can have the worst Christmas (oops) party ever.

[Akira]

Progressives do seem to have an odd fixation on sameness. They want society to be one big undifferentiated mass of unthinking serfs. Any sub-groups must be eliminated; nobody should be allowed to be distinct from the collective.

[lawnerd]

Freedom of Association. This inclusivity bullshit goes directly counter to my right of association. The crybullies might get their feeling hurt if they don't belong. And God forbid that someones feelings get hurt. This is soon becoming a capital crime.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

OT: "Mayor Swears In, But Not On the Bible"

Is this guy a libertarian???

[The Immaculate Trouser]

He's absolutely right. In a certain era, an oath on the Bible was effective insofar as one expected God to hold the oathtaker responsible for his actions. I would be loath to point to even one person in government who I could say absolutely considers themselves accountable to God in their actions -- and if any such person exists, he doesn't need to swear any oaths in the presence of any man, anyways. The Constitution is the guide to legal government in this country -- and if we need an oath, it should be on the basis of continued observance of the law of the land rather than a book your grandma gave you when you were little and that you never bothered finishing.

[Brian]

If we need an oath.

Let's be honest, though: the oath doesn't matter. It's theater.

If he doesn't violate any laws, he'll probably be able to keep office.

If he does violate laws, he *might* lose his office, and under those circumstances, no one really cares about the oath, other than people who enjoy wagging fingers.

[Rich]

If we need an oath

let it be a *minced* oath, 'slid!

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Generally agree. We are a contract-based society; oaths are worth very little in the eyes of society and generally worth little between strangers. Hell, they're often not worth much between people who love each other and have a ceremony dedicated to looking each other in the eye and earnestly vowing to be faithful to one another.

Don't necessarily think that was a good change, but it is what it is and pretending it's something else is a fool's game.

[Suthenboy]

If you look at honor societies you will find that it is a good change. I still believe in honorable men because it is possible to be one in a civil society, in fact, a civil society can't exist without a good proportion of the population being honorable.

Most of the honor societies I have had contact with were populated mostly by dishonorable men.

You can work out the chicken/egg problem there.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Most of the honor societies I have had contact with were populated mostly by dishonorable men.

Ok, recruitment into the Order of the Arrow can be a bit of a popularity contest, yes, but isn't that a bit hyperbolic?

[Suthenboy]

I am not against oaths, per se. I was raised to believe that a man is only as good as his word. I find that that is true. When I was younger I was not as true to my word as I should have been and found that it often doesnt end well.

These days I am extremely conscientious about keeping my word, about being careful not to promise what I can't deliver. Yeah, a swearing in ceremony is theater, but it does matter.

[Rich]

"If I have ever lusted in my heart, may God cause my tongue to cleave to the waff o mah moos!"

[Suthenboy]

"...considers themselves accountable to God in their actions -- and if any such person exists..."

I find that the people who say they are one of those people are people to whom you do not want to turn your back.

[Limpee Wiltstock]

"He's absolutely right. In a certain era, an oath on the Bible was effective insofar as one expected God to hold the oathtaker responsible for his actions."

No. At any time that such oaths may've carried any weight, an oath would not be needed for a just man to keep his word, whilst the dishonest man would readily swear any oath and be unobliged to honour it. The absurdity of demanding on oath on this or that for vouchsafing that one will honour his obligations is an absurdity that was pointed out by various philosophers for centuries.

[CE]

Oaths to uphold the Constitution don't seem to carry much weight either these days.

[Akira]

John Stuart Mill pointed out that the bible oath is particularly silly because it admits the atheists who are willing to lie and say that they're Christians, but it excludes the atheists who would be up-front about their religious beliefs when asked to swear on a bible.

In other words, it keeps out the people you DO want testifying in court while simultaneously allowing the dishonest people whom you DON'T want testifying in court.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

But by all means, let's ask everyone coming into the country if they are a Muslim.

[Cyto]

That's an interesting thought. If you were to take and Islamist zealot bent on martyrdom and have him swear on the Koran, would there be a tell? I know they have the clerics ruling that they may partake in all manner of forbidden debauchery as part of the ruse to fit in, but would a real believer be able to blaspheme with a straight face?

[SIV]

MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU GODLESS COSMOTARIAN FUCKS

[Rich]

Is that one of those "compliments of the season" to which some allude?

[Swiss Servator]

Edmund: Ah, Melchett! Greetings! I trust that Christmas brings you its traditional mix of good food and violent stomach cramps.

Melchett: ...and compliments of the season to you, Blackadder. May the yuletide log slip from your fire and burn your house down.

[Suthenboy]

From university diversity officers: "Ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise."

Reply: "It isnt. It is a Christmas party, straight up. You aren't invited."

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

LOL, that was pretty close to my first thought when I read that. "Disguise? What disguise? Merry Christmas to you wankers."

[hurts_donut]

"Ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise."

-Santa with sunglasses and a trench coat on. Candy canes sticking out of his pocket.

[Limpee Wiltstock]

I think I had a run-in with that guy a while back. I'm still struggling from the tragic sequel? of candycane addiction.

[straffinrun]

Read a few of the arguments made in the UT affirmative action case. They seem to be about whether AA is a practical or unfair way of achieving diversity. Do they ever question whether diversity is a worthwhile goal itself? Maybe I missed it.

[Suthenboy]

I think Scalia is taking heat for alluding to the fact that it is not only unfair, but does not achieve its goal.

[pogi chips for liberty]

Taking heat? The proggies have pushed the throttle through the Full Retard gate and into Emergency Retard with their sure knowledge that Scalia is a racist right-wing monster who thinks that blacks and Hispanics are not smart enough to attend college. The most damning evidence of that? He was appointed by BOOOOOSH!!

Apparently reading comprehension is not a prerequisite to having an opinion in lefty land since Scalia said nothing of the sort but that hasn't stopped the hue and cry for his impeachment from going up on proggy comment sections everywhere.

How do those people scrape together enough functioning brain cells to manage to reproduce?

[Limpee Wiltstock]

It's also absurd because one can only criticise Scalia's characterisation of affirmative action as being a disservice to minorities students as racist if one first accepts the premise that coloureds are in fact too stupid to make it on their merits. So only racists should be capable of seeing Scalia's comments as racist.

On the other matter, diversity is definitely a desirable character, because of the advantage it gives on fitness of a population over time. As such, artificial contingencies that serve to temporarily counteract or delay the real contingencies that would select minority cultural variants for propagation would also thereby eliminate the benefits that diversity offers a population. I am here thinking of Skinner's selection by consequences of cultural artefacts, such as archetypes and techniques, rather than of hereditary accidents of biology. A culturally diverse population has a larger pool of different ways of doing things and thinking about things and so is more likely to get through any real problems with more efficient solutions. A larger number of techniques to draw from improves the likelihood of hitting on a viable solution, but if one suppresses the contingencies that serve to weed out the useful approaches from the stupid ones, diversity just floods a culture with a larger proportion of inferior strategies, as there tends to be only a few right ways to approach any problem and an infinite number of wrong ones.

[Aloysious]

You don't need a brain to reproduce. Just look at clams.

[CE]

It's instinctive.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm with the Ayn Rand Institute, it's about bloody time to take the Christ out of Christmas:

All the best customs of Christmas, from carols to trees to spectacular decorations, have their root in pagan ideas and practices. These customs were greatly amplified by American culture, as the product of reason, science, business, worldliness, and egoism, i.e., the pursuit of happiness.

America's tragedy is that its intellectual leaders have typically tried to replace happiness with guilt by insisting that the spiritual meaning of Christmas is religion and self-sacrifice for Tiny Tim or his equivalent. But the spiritual must start with recognizing reality. Life requires reason, selfishness, capitalism; that is what Christmas should celebrate ? and really, underneath all the pretense, that is what it does celebrate. It is time to take the Christ out of Christmas, and turn the holiday into a guiltlessly egoistic, pro-reason, this-worldly, commercial celebration.

[Suthenboy]

I just can't understand why so many people find objectivists objectionable. It's a mystery.

[Cytotoxic]

Because those people are stupid.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

This is why:

https://youtu.be/JoAWCwm-UXw

[hurts_donut]

" It is time to take the Christ out of Christmas, and turn the holiday into a guiltlessly egoistic, pro-reason, this-worldly, commercial celebration.
reply to this"

-I'm pretty sure that that has happened already.

[C. Anacreon]

-I'm pretty sure that that has happened already.

Wasn't that the theme of "A Charlie Brown Christmas"? Or "Miracle on 34th Street"? Or a million other Xmas shows?

[GILMORE?]

"America's tragedy is that its intellectual leaders have typically tried to replace happiness with guilt by insisting that the spiritual meaning of Christmas is religion and self-sacrifice for Tiny Tim or his equivalent'

Oreo, please. Tiny Tim aint no Yankee.

And its not like its been some big secret for 1000 years that the Christmas date & symbolism was all ganked from pagans. Cultural appropriation FTW. And its also not like Christian-Christmas has been entirely about about swapping hairshirts, freshing up the blood on bleeding-jesus, sober-attendance at Midnight Mass and homilies and guilt-ridden paens to chastity and frugality.

For fuck's sake, Christmas is a gluttonous, hedonistic celebration of capitalism and always has been. Only some pinhead Objectivist could possibly mistake the "Christ-Icing" on the cake as the thing itself. It seems to pretend that all of Christianity is just one big version of the dour No-Dancing-Daddy-Preacher from Footloose

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Everyone knows theists never had fun or knew debauchery until Ayn Rand patiently explained it to them. America was a theocratic slave to asceticism until all those fun-loving Objectivists came along and shook things up.

[Cytotoxic]

Your welcome!

[Suthenboy]

this explains much.

You missed some pretty good discussion on immigration.

[Cytotoxic]

I'm sure it was stupid.

Yokel: "No go zones! Invasion! GOAT SAMMICHES'

Could-be-me: "Yeah that's stupid because this and this excellent argument"

Yokel: "OMG WHYCOME FAGGOTS WANT 2 DESTROY MERIKA??"

[Suthenboy]

It is a pretty good blend of giving, which most people find pleasurable in and of itself, and receiving which is also pleasurable. There is also a lot of gluttony and screwing. Those are pretty pleasurable too.

I like Christmas.

[Cyto]

Wait, what? There's screwing in Christmas? When does this happen? When the extended family gets together on Christmas eve for a fine roast turkey? Do we keep it exclusive to the in-laws and second cousins, or is there a Christmas exception for incest?

Christmas at the Suthenboy house must be a wild and disturbing thing!

[Cytotoxic]

"For fuck's sake, Christmas is a gluttonous, hedonistic celebration of capitalism and always has been. Only some pinhead Objectivist could possibly mistake the "Christ-Icing" on the cake as the thing itself. "

I think you are pushing your Christmas as everyone's. There are many who are serious about the whole 'religion' aspect. It's these people Objectivists want to non-violently crush.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Objectivists will not rest until the elderly Catholic woman collecting cans for a homeless shelter is chief gyrator on the candy cane strip pole. Because freedom

[Cytotoxic]

It's a glorious vision. JOIN US

[GILMORE?]

"Objectivists will not rest until the elderly Catholic woman collecting cans for a homeless shelter is chief gyrator on the candy cane strip pole. Because freedom"

At least they'll ensure to mock and insult the old woman for her silly beliefs. Because superior intellects, or something.

[Cytotoxic]

We'll do it classily, but condescendingly.

[GILMORE?]

And you shall surely inherit the earth

[Cytotoxic]

If there is ANY justice. Dar-Al Objectivism uber alles.

[hurts_donut]

"All the best customs of Christmas, from carols to trees to spectacular decorations, have their root in pagan ideas and practices."

-Yeah we get it. I'm tired of the smug, "this is a pagan ritual". Who cares.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Who cares.

Nova Roma.

[hurts_donut]

Not sure what a dog feeding black toddlers has to do with this but I'm going to take your word for it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Lupus in fabula!

[Suthenboy]

Pop on over to pharyngula.com sometime and try talking to those insufferable pricks just for fun. I bet you can't get banned as fast as I did.

[hurts_donut]

I'll try. I got the record time getting banned from beer advocate in my group. I'm up to the challenge

[Suthenboy]

They banned me after only one post. They were talking about winning people over to atheism by insulting and demeaning them; making them feel stupid for having irrational beliefs.

I wrote a lengthy post suggesting that perhaps being an asshole was probably not the best way to win people over and gave a couple of anecdotal stories about religious debates I had had and that they went rather well.

When I checked back to see what they had to say I found my comment had been deleted and I was banned from logging in. I emailed for an explanation. The dickhead that runs the site told me I was completely wrong about everything so I should just fuck off. Spirit of the enlightenment indeed.

I got a laugh out of that.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The irony being that the phrase castigat ridendo mores was first written by a French monk.

[straffinrun]

What does it take to get tossed from reason comments?

[Suthenboy]

You weren't around for White Indian, were you? Does the name Mary ring a bell?

[straffinrun]

*flips through Rolodex*
Hmmm, STEVESMITH, Alice, Lucy, Ah! Mary. You fuckers and your in group references.

[Akira]

Is there any way that you can communicate to me the details of this "Mary" incident without getting banned yourself? It must have happened before I started visiting this site.

[GILMORE?]

Attempt at shortest possible xplain =

Troll attempts to destroy H&R by bomb-posting gibberish. Gets doxxed. freaks out. Reason is forced to implement character limits & registration to keep crazy person away. Now lurks, seething, possessed by hatred and psychopathic obsession. Probably still appears from time to time but fleetingly, as has probably received Cease-n-Desist requests. Rumors is all.

[d3x / dt3]

Well, first you have t

[Heroic Mulatto]

Slappy! gets banned every other week. Ask him.

[Suthenboy]

Indeed.

[d3x / dt3]

Just begin gamboling.

[hurts_donut]

Being a cunt now....

[hurts_donut]

http://freethoughtblogs.com/ph.....p/#respond

Post: Not sure if this is conductive to the overall mission, but I can tie a knot around a cunts throat to keep him from screaming while you shove that piece of chewed bubble gum you call a penis into his brown eye. I think it would help with warmth survival when you are sailing the Atlantic. From what I understand, this is how some of the first pirates survived the treacherous, choppy seas.

-That should do it haha

[Suthenboy]

I would think so. Yep.

I looked over there just now. Holy shit, Myers has become much worse than he was when I got banned. That has been a few years back. I guess all of the proggies have thrown off the mask.

[JPyrate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxnsL52Masw

[JPyrate]

I gotts a good Crew !!!

[Entelechy]

Here's wishing you, and everyone at Yale , a merry Christakatis and a freer new year

[Cytotoxic]

I really wish Christmas did not come around so often. How about only every three years or so?

[hurts_donut]

-I hate being around the old lady's family too.

[Dark Lord of the cis]

I really wish you did not come around quite so often, but I guess life sucks all over.

[Cytotoxic]

This place badly needs me. I feel obligated.

[d3x / dt3]

Thanks for stamping out all the Peacenazis and Christians.

Are all Objectivists short and war-loving?

[Cytotoxic]

Any Objectivist that is war-loving is not an Objectivist. There is none so dedicated to peace as Objectivists.

Also, short people suck which is why I'm tall.

[GILMORE?]

"Any Objectivist that is war-loving is not an Objectivist. There is none so dedicated to peace as Objectivists."

Following 9/11, the policy recommendation of Dr Leonard Peikoff, head of the Ayn Rand Institute and Objectivist-in-Chief, was, "Nuke Iran Immediately", and massacre as many Muslim civilians *as possible*.

He was so politically sophisticated that he thought hurting Iran was supposed to really upset Osama somehow.

When Bill O'Reilly is less hysterical than you, you've got issues.

[Seamus]

Well, no *true* Objectivist is war-loving.

[Suthenboy]

I checked. Just as I thought, Cytotoxic is humping an immigrant corpse.

[d3x / dt3]

So does it go like: bomb all of the other countries, then let their aggrieved citizens freely enter?

[hurts_donut]

That's right. Once they come in they love us. No hard feelings.

[Cytotoxic]

"Feelings" are neither here nor there.

[d3x / dt3]

But war is awesome, right?

[Suthenboy]

With regards to the rape epidemic in Sweden:

We showed official government stats. Personal accounts. Interviews with immigrants who confirm it. Even that cunt Margaret Wallstrom, the swedish minister admits to it but she hand waves it away.

Sweden is considered the rape capital of Europe and only behind three or four third world hell holes in rape numbers.

Cytotoxic doesnt believe it. Immigration is only ever a good thing because people's nature and culture change magically when they stand on one spot instead of another. He never gives any rational explanation for his position, I guess because it isnt rational.

I think he is just trolling. Either that or he is incapable of admitting he is wrong, and he is wildly, spectacularly wrong.

[Cytotoxic]

I've already explained to you that the government statistics are unhelpful and basically worthless.

There have been several international comparisons made, placing Sweden at the top end of the number of reported rapes. However, police procedures and legal definitions vary widely across countries, which makes it difficult to compare rape statistics.[10][11][12][13] For example, Sweden reformed its sex crime legislation and made the legal definition of rape much wider in 2005,[3][4][10][14] which largely explains a significant increase in the number of reported rapes in the ten-year period of 2004-2013.[15][16] The Swedish police also record each instance of sexual violence in every case separately, leading to an inflated number of cases compared to other countries.[10][13][17] Additionally, the Swedish police have improved the handling of rape cases, in an effort to increase the number of crimes reported.[10][16][18][19]

From the Wikipedia article.

It is actually you that is incapable of admitting that you are wrong. Funny how the skepticism directed at the campus rape epidemic evaporates when it can be used against a different target.

[Limpee Wiltstock]

"Sweden reformed its sex crime legislation and made the legal definition of rape much wider in 2005,[3][4][10][14] which largely explains a significant increase in the number of reported rapes in the ten-year period of 2004-2013.[15][16] "

Or that the Swedes are fucking retarded.

[Cytotoxic]

BTW the thread Suthenboy is talking about has just culminated in a smack-down by MWG of the area pants-shitters. Hilarious that you went out of your way to point out your side getting pwnd.

[Suthenboy]

Hey Cytotoxic, what do you think about the phenomena known as 'white flight'?

[Cytotoxic]

Um...it sucks? Unfortunate choice of name. Inner city dysfunction drives out all those who can leave and want better.

[d3x / dt3]

What does your middle school think about it?

[Limpee Wiltstock]

Or that whitey is the only one bright enough to know he's got two legs and is capable of movement through space.

[hurts_donut]

This happened in Knoxville but don't worry this only happens in progressive hives like New York and California. This is nothing more than a trend. It will never affect us. If we ignore this behavior it will go away.

[cavalier973]

It's good to be "inclusive," but campus bureaucrats shouldn't need to be reminded that they lack the power to actually restrict kinds of speech they don't like?including and especially expression as inoffensive as holiday parties.

"Holiday" parties? Really?

[Cytotoxic]

Another narrative bites the dust: France's far-right National Front (FN) has failed to win a single region in the second round of municipal elections, preliminary results show.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35088276

[d3x / dt3]

Did you read about it in your school newspaper?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Did I not say robbiespent his weekends reading campus circulars?

[Winston]

Time to try again?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Lane

In July 2006, a Liverpool Councillor proposed renaming certain streets because their names were linked to the slave trade. It was soon discovered that Penny Lane, named after James Penny, a wealthy 18th-century slave ship owner and strong opponent of abolitionism, was one of these streets. Ultimately, city officials decided to forgo the name change and re-evaluate the entire renaming process. On 10 July 2006, it was revealed that Liverpool officials said they would modify the proposal to exclude Penny Lane

[Winston]

Soave also writes for the Daily Beast. Why am I not surprised?

[John Galt]

"Ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise."

So a Christmas party is bad, but a "holiday" "holy day" party is just fine?

[CE]

And shouldn't all these universities be banning Wodin's Day (Wednesday) and Thor's Day (Thursday) too? It's cultural appropriation AND forcing us to recognize mythical not-so-nice people/deities.

[Winston]

So is a "socially tolerant society" a contradiction in terms? Ostracizing people for holding socially unacceptable views is by definition intolerant and is what the Bad Old Intolerant Victorian Fifties Puritans used to do.

Also the Victorians used to be attacked for thinking that saying the right things is more important than actually following those things. Thank goodness modern society is not like that at all!

[Glide]

It's not a contradiction, but it is more or less impossible as it would involve every member of the society being independently tolerant without compulsion or ostracizing. As the current tolerance mafia uses it, though, you're correct that it's contradictory.

[ant1sthenes]

Tolerance is fine so long as it is a libertarian term for "things or attributes that will not provoke me to coercion". In which case refusing to tolerate intolerance is just part of the NAP.

[Winston]

All the Star Wars posts and no reference to this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwyjSD3195o

Really Reason?

[buybuydandavis]

Oh, please. This is the usual stupidity squared.

An attack on your standard Christmas party has nothing at all to do with an attack on Christianity, as Christmas parties have nothing to do with Christianity.

Santa, Rudolph, Christmas trees, presents, gluttony, and booze really have nothing to do with the birth of anyone's savior.

An attack on Christmas parties is an attack on good time materialist atheism, and I for one and offended!

[Zeb]

"Ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise."

All "holiday parties" are Christmas parties in disguise. Christmas is the sole reason why this is the "holiday season". No one would give a shit about Hanukah or Kwanzaa and New Years wouldn't be when it is if it weren't for Christmas.

[4thaugust1932]

"Diverse society will fail" --Putnam;
Let black Police deal with black Suspects;
http://www.boston.com/news/glo.....diversity/