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[MBTI General] Holiday Apathy

onemoretime

Dreaming the life
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
4,455
MBTI Type
3h50
I don't understand why people keep saying that they hate the holidays because of commercialism and hype. Two reasons:

1. I suspect many of these people would hate them for the real meaning, if that were the dominant way to celebrate.

2. Why should the way anyone else chooses to observe a day affect the way you do it? It's like hating a cereal you'd otherwise find delicious because most people use it as a packing material instead of eating it. Does that make you enjoy eating it any less?

Fi = commercialism violates the standards of truth that I have set up as the meaning of a holiday (community, family and warmth).

Fe = commercialism damages the bonds of tradition and deep obligation that keep people together, replacing them with the more shallow obligatory bonds of thoughtless gift giving

Si = commercialism is highly untraditional, a new development that just isn't right

Ni = commercialism is utterly meaningless

Whereas:

Se = Cool, look at the newest stuff they're selling! Gotta get it before it's gone!

Ne = Heh, there's a ton of money to be made off of that idiot, even if it is somewhat wrong...

Te = Well, this will be a good opportunity to finally get some of those things I've needed, but haven't had the time to go out and buy, not to mention help my friends and family get some order in their life.

Ti = Commercialism in holidays is the confluence of many factors, such as the post-war economic prosperity combined with the development of advertising in the 1950s and 1960s (goes on for 10 pages)...
 

lunalum

Super Senior Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2008
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2,706
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ZNTP
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7w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
I used to love holidays! An excuse to be happy for no reason. Especially Christmas. Something about it was just so... magical (not just the presents hehe). But somehow... things just aren't the same any more. It makes me feel awful that it doesn't have that magical feeling anymore. It's just another day. D: I think most everyone feels this way when they get older.

I have felt the magic go away from holidays, but this does not make me feel awful at all. I am glad to be able to see things with a more objective view than ever before. The excuse to be happy hasn't gone away, and that is precisely how I view the significance of holidays, and I can't understand how any excuse to be happy could be a bad thing. Where's all this pessimism coming from? Holidays are like a big party :banana2:
 

/DG/

silentigata ano (profile)
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
4,602
I have felt the magic go away from holidays, but this does not make me feel awful at all. I am glad to be able to see things with a more objective view than ever before. The excuse to be happy hasn't gone away, and that is precisely how I view the significance of holidays, and I can't understand how any excuse to be happy could be a bad thing. Where's all this pessimism coming from? Holidays are like a big party :banana2:

That's how I try to view holidays now. Partaay! :D
 

CJ99

Is Willard in Footloose!!
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
582
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ENTP
I've never really gotten holidays. Always seemed a bit wasteful.

Christmas was cool cause I got pressies. But now I'm about to start a full time job and since i'm still living at home :)() with 4 little sisters I think my ESJ parents will expect me to get everyone pressies. Also someone always argues. Normally me and my Dad when he suggests I go to mass and then when i refuse thrys to prove its good to me at which point I spent an enjoyable morning telling him why religions wrong.

Haloween was never really embraced in my house. Neither were any holidays really. At birthdays my mum makes a birthday dinner of whatever the birthday person wants.

News Years is quite a big deal in Scotland, Edinburgh being the hogsmany capital of the world or something like that. But my parents never made any deal out of it as there not the partying types. This year I had an empty for New Years though! So got pissed with rock band!!!1

Yeah apart from New Years they all seem pointless to me.
 

onemoretime

Dreaming the life
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
4,455
MBTI Type
3h50
I've never really gotten holidays. Always seemed a bit wasteful.

Christmas was cool cause I got pressies. But now I'm about to start a full time job and since i'm still living at home :)() with 4 little sisters I think my ESJ parents will expect me to get everyone pressies. Also someone always argues. Normally me and my Dad when he suggests I go to mass and then when i refuse thrys to prove its good to me at which point I spent an enjoyable morning telling him why religions wrong.

Haloween was never really embraced in my house. Neither were any holidays really. At birthdays my mum makes a birthday dinner of whatever the birthday person wants.

News Years is quite a big deal in Scotland, Edinburgh being the hogsmany capital of the world or something like that. But my parents never made any deal out of it as there not the partying types. This year I had an empty for New Years though! So got pissed with rock band!!!1

Yeah apart from New Years they all seem pointless to me.

What, no love for Bonfire Night? What's greater than to commemorate something not blowing up, going ahead and blowing a whole lot of stuff up? I'm American and I still think that's the greatest thing ever - though not so down on the whole anti-Catholic undertone. Best yet, it's in the rainy fall/autumn, unlike our Fourth of July, where half the time there's a burn ban for lack of rain in this part of the country.

AFAIAC-

- New Years - good excuse to get really drunk, find a hook-up (if not too drunk)
- MLK Day - nice day off, good opportunity to reflect on the lives and struggles of others
- Super Bowl Sunday (it is a holiday) - a lot of fun. Often the only holiday where people really let loose and enjoy themselves
- Valentine's - pointless, but it makes others happy. That's good enough for me.
- Presidents' Day - nice day off
- Mardi Gras - love it, but I love New Orleans, as well. Cajun and creole food are amazing
- St. Patrick's - too much fun. Love the irony of celebrating an "Irish" holiday with distinctly Eastern European Jewish food (corned beef). Green beer is hilarious.
- Easter - Not that big of a deal. I'm not religious, and our family is too dispersed to do anything big
- My birthday (late April) - Nice, but less significant as I don't receive many presents anymore. Appreciate people's thoughts.
- Mother's Day - Often have to be reminded, but it's nice to make your mom happy once in a while, even if she constantly pisses you off
- Memorial Day - Not a huge fan of this one. I like the day off, but do not like the nationalism, militarism, and quasi-death cult vibe that some memorials have.
- Father's Day - Much easier to buy a gift for this one
- July 4th - Fireworks and barbecue, plus oppressive heat. What else could you ask for? Still do not like the creeping militarism - they did that a month ago, you know
- Labor Day - A nice day off. Complete ignorance of the point of celebrating laborers irritates me.
- Columbus Day - the annual debates are fascinating. Opportunity for reflection over the country's history
- Veteran's Day - like it better than Memorial Day, given the lessons of World War I. I respect those who served, and mourn those caught in the senseless cycle of war
- Halloween - I like it for the same reason any heterosexual male over the age of 15 likes it
- Thanksgiving - Football is the highlight. Everything else is generally terrible. Not my style of food, family members are difficult to converse with, completely obligatory
- Christmas - Secular Christmas is fun, mostly because I enjoy how much others get into it. Religious Christmas is not for me.
 

Verfremdungseffekt

videodrones; questions
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
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866
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INTp
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5w4
I do like the spirit of anarchy, and the darkness, to Halloween. Though it's become as commercialized as anything, and parental paranoia is keeping kids off the streets these days, in principle it's got my thumbs-up.

All of the obligation-based dates, though, oy.

(Regarding the above post: for what reasons to heterosexual adult males like Halloween?)
 

Synarch

Once Was
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Oct 14, 2008
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We need to bring back ritual animal sacrifice. Hard to commercialize that.
 

jenocyde

half mystic, half skeksis
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
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I do like the spirit of anarchy, and the darkness, to Halloween. Though it's become as commercialized as anything, and parental paranoia is keeping kids off the streets these days, in principle it's got my thumbs-up.

All of the obligation-based dates, though, oy.

(Regarding the above post: for what reasons to heterosexual adult males like Halloween?)

'sexy' animal/nurse/cop costumes.
 

onemoretime

Dreaming the life
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Jun 29, 2009
Messages
4,455
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I do like the spirit of anarchy, and the darkness, to Halloween. Though it's become as commercialized as anything, and parental paranoia is keeping kids off the streets these days, in principle it's got my thumbs-up.

All of the obligation-based dates, though, oy.

(Regarding the above post: for what reasons to heterosexual adult males like Halloween?)

To quote many friends of mine - "It's the only day where you can dress up like a slut and not get judged for it".

Clearly, my interest is in the greater sense of acceptance and relaxation :devil:
 

Synarch

Once Was
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Halloween exemplifies the darker, primal aspects of sexuality. Blood. Violence. The lusty harvest of Fall before the dead night of Winter. Red wine. Bacchanalian fucking in the dark. Masks. Concealment. Flickering bonfires as the world cools and dies. All things darkly romantic and Gothic.
 

Misty_Mountain_Rose

New member
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Jul 21, 2008
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Halloween exemplifies the darker, primal aspects of sexuality. Blood. Violence. The lusty harvest of Fall before the dead night of Winter. Red wine. Bacchanalian fucking in the dark. Masks. Concealment. Flickering bonfires as the world cools and dies. All things darkly romantic and Gothic.

When you put it like that, I suddenly find myself turned on by Halloween. I haven't ever had that sensation about it before...

:huh:
 

Synarch

Once Was
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When you put it like that, I suddenly find myself turned on by Halloween. I haven't ever had that sensation about it before...

:huh:

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - from Hamlet , Wm. Shakespeare; Act II, scene ii

Like I said, the holidays are what you make them.
 

onemoretime

Dreaming the life
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
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"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - from Hamlet , Wm. Shakespeare; Act II, scene ii

Like I said, the holidays are what you make them.

Which makes Yule and Saturnalia WAY more interesting than a traditional Christmas.
 

Giggly

No moss growing on me
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Jun 12, 2008
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I see holidays as excuses to get together and celebrate something. Usually it involves food, drink, laughter, and sentiment and I like that. The ones where you get to dress up or get in a costume are even better.
 

sculpting

New member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
4,148
When you put it like that, I suddenly find myself turned on by Halloween. I haven't ever had that sensation about it before...

:huh:

maybe I'll keep halloween on the docket after all.... I can find a nice girl to cuddle up by the bonfire with...
 

Verfremdungseffekt

videodrones; questions
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
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Me, I associate Halloween with grotesque whimsy.

[YOUTUBE="eq-NKrC6itQ"]Or maybe a bit of Oingo Boingo.[/YOUTUBE]

Helps, I imagine, that I grew up in a small New England town, just down the road from a colonial-era cemetery.
 
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