Oh, For Fuck's Sake!
Dec. 2nd, 2010 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
logansrogueThis Government Offical is NOT a Grinch.
It's the Holiday Season and New Year. He said not to put religious icons up in the Centrelink buildings, he wasn't banning Christmas celebrations all together. I think having tinsel, stars and greenery is enough to get the message across that they're celebrating a holiday. Shoving religious icons in people's faces that don't want them isn't professional.
Having Nativity scenes in your house is one think, Plibersek, but you don't do it somewhere where people of all religious beliefs (and of course those without religious beliefs) have to conduct their daily business.
And no, I have never, ever seen decorations for other religious celebrations up in my local Centrelinks. Granted I haven't been into a Centrelink building for years (THANK FUCK) but in my time having to go there, no, no I did not see anything but Christmas decorations at Christmas time.
It's the Holiday Season and New Year. He said not to put religious icons up in the Centrelink buildings, he wasn't banning Christmas celebrations all together. I think having tinsel, stars and greenery is enough to get the message across that they're celebrating a holiday. Shoving religious icons in people's faces that don't want them isn't professional.
Having Nativity scenes in your house is one think, Plibersek, but you don't do it somewhere where people of all religious beliefs (and of course those without religious beliefs) have to conduct their daily business.
And no, I have never, ever seen decorations for other religious celebrations up in my local Centrelinks. Granted I haven't been into a Centrelink building for years (THANK FUCK) but in my time having to go there, no, no I did not see anything but Christmas decorations at Christmas time.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-02 02:26 pm (UTC)Yup. We have big problems in the USA with people who insist that local governments should put up nativity scenes, etc.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-02 06:51 pm (UTC)Interestingly, Nativity scenes are about one of very few Christmas decorations I can imagine as Christian. The only other ones are candles and window-stars (don't know how common it is outside of Sweden, but here we have paper/wodden/tin stars with lamps in them hanging from the window, which I've always assumed was about the star the Three Wise Men followed). Otherwise it's mostly pagan representations of the light's victory over the darkness and the spring to come. Like trees filled with colorful things among which some are edible, straw goats, holly and mistletoe, e.t.c.
Although the straw goats are maybe only Scandinavian now that I think about it. But they're awsome Christmas decorations regardless, makes me wish I had bought one for the apartment while I was anyway buying a new electric Advent candleholder (has no idea how to translate, obviously, so hopefully the picture give you the thousand words on it)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-02 11:35 pm (UTC)There was a story in customers_suck where a Jewish woman couldn't get a night of Hanukkah off and brought her menorah to work. Someone came up to her, yelled "Jesus is the reason for the season!" and BLEW THE CANDLES OUT*. That put me firmly on whatever side is not committing such douchebaggery, for life. If all the Privilege Denying Dudes complaining about how not saying Christmas is a sign of PC Gone Mad or Christian persecution (the use of "Happy Holidays" dates back to the 50s, hardly a bad time in Christian American history, and first referred to the Christmas season and the New Year before it referred to including other religions' holidays) wasn't enough to do that.
*It was really the perfect time for a "Jesus was Jewish," and I hope that's what that horrible customer got, but I don't remember the story mentioning it.