Was it just me, or did Unity really almost happen?

[captain_slinky]

I'm not sure if this really happened or if it's just the rose-colored tint of nostalgia distorting my memories, but... did we almost have peace, unity, understanding and/or tolerance in the late-80's/early-90's?

I seem to remember a time, right around the time that "Kwanzaa" became a thing, where there was a huge push for everybody to celebrate (or at least acknowledge) every holiday regardless of religious affiliation. Governmental offices had a Christmas Tree AND an entire bulletin board dedicated to Hanukkah. Easter had very little to do with the commercialization of Jesus and was just a celebration of Springtime. Halloween was about costumes and the history of why we dress-up to go begging for candy. It was...

I guess I'm trying to figure out when it stopped being about all the things you CAN celebrate and started being about what you're NOT allowed to celebrate? But then I started thinking wait a minute - did we ever actually HAVE that all-inclusive celebratory era? Did that actually happen, or was that just my perception???

I remember when it all ended, even if it was just my own perspective. It was a big news item, some self-proclaimed Atheists were protesting because there was a Christmas Tree in their City Hall, which was a HUGE violation of "separation of Church and State". Having been semi-religious at the time (Catholic), I heard it repeated over and over again that these "Atheists" were actually SATANISTS bent on nothing less than THE FULL ABOLITION AND DESTRUCTION OF ALL THINGS DECENT. This was *WAR*, no doubt about it, and so The Forces Of Good HAD to fight back!

But instead of fighting back by just saying "Aww c'mon let us have our pretty little Christmas Tree", they fought back by insisting that NO ONE ELSE gets to have THEIR religious stuff up either. THIS was the big mistake! I'm sure that at least partially the intent was to just point out how ridiculous it would be to try and ban all religious observances, it became an excuse to be ever vigilant against anyone who believed something different than you. Different beliefs and observances are the *enemy*!

Did that really happen???

Comments

[zombie1974.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much how I remember it too...

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder if it was just because of how old we are, like if people 10-20 years older than us saw the timeline the same or if they'd say "Naaaaah, it all went down when *I* was 16-to-20-years-old" because that's when you kind of become socially *aware*?

[zombie1974.livejournal.com]

Stop! You're making me think and ponder, and it isn't even 8am yet! Something's going to break!

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Sorry... it was one of those "Fever Dream Nightmare Prompts Self-Awareness" nights :)

Think I need to make my epic "Stages Of Life" post I've been thinking about for so long...

[zombie1974.livejournal.com]

Yeah! Do it! I've had my coffee now...

[hallerlake.livejournal.com]

Are you going all nostalgic for Reagan now too ;-)

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Well sure; that's why I love Obama so much! Same policies, different dude!

[ukulele-hatter.livejournal.com]

i remember how some people complained that there was a nativity scene with all the Christmas Trees in Christmas in the park and they demanded that the nativity be moved to in front of the church. The following year it was back with all the Christmas trees again but i didn't hear of anyone complaining again. I'm not sure how they resolved it

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Do you remember when that happened? Like, what year? Seems to me it was the late 80's?

[ukulele-hatter.livejournal.com]

well, for my example that was local news here in San Jose. I looked it up just now (took me a while to find the reference. it feels like no one wants to acknowledge the event happened since the nativity is back in the park) and it happened November 1994. I find it funny how fancy liberal California tends to have a lot of loud conservatives making us look bad

[ukulele-hatter.livejournal.com]

oh, and i just remembered hearing about a Jewish leader fighting for the rights of Christmas saying how even though he doesn't celebrate it he always felt good seeing others celebrate (or something along those lines)

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

lol yeah I've noticed that about California ;)

So yeah, '94... that seems right? Late 80's/early 90's, seems like the first I saw of it was while I was still in high school for some reason...

[aquatwo.livejournal.com]

I remember it similarly. Also as an atheist, I personally like seeing decorated trees. I like treelighting ceremonies. I don't like tax dollars spent on carols about Jesus or gods but there are plenty of xmas songs that have nothing to do with religion. I cannot stand nativity scenes on government land, or that are government funded, nor displays for Easter, ten commandments, crosses, etc.

I guess I just don't see trees as having much of anything to do with christianity. I just think they're pretty.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

They're all carols about gods in one way or another, be it about the magic baby or about the snow golem or about the flying man in red who can conjure trinkets.

A recent episode of Doctor Who had a great thought on it. They were observing this race of people and their ceremony where every year they sing a lullabye to their sleeping God in order to keep him from waking up and destroying them all. The Doctor's companion asked if it wasn't all just silly rubbish and the Doctor replied with something like "Yeah, of course it's all rubbish but the songs are pretty and it's kind of sweet" - THAT'S how I prefer to observe religious stuff, just sit back and enjoy the pretty bits :)

[dulcegomez.livejournal.com]

Was it 9/11? The attacking of our nation by a group of Muslim extremists, perhaps, stirred still waters that ran deep. The instinct to be wary/suspicious/hostile toward people who are perceived as being "different" may be lodged deeply in the DNA/human culture- stemming all the way back to when "those strange people from across the river" might come over and steal the tribe's winter food stores.
I'm not saying it's right. I'd like everyone to use their cerebellum to reason, and to learn more evolved social behavior. Sadly, that seems a tall order for some...

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Well 9/11 certainly started the current climate of fear and hatred, but this was different... this was earlier than that. Watching sitcoms from the 80's, every Christmas Episode has a nod to the other holidays and traditions being celebrated and the big message was Unity. Then at some point it became "If I'm not allowed to celebrate MINE, then YOU can't celebrate YOURS". And even beyond that, in our "enlightened age" that we currently live in, it's more about slamming The Other Guy than about celebrating the good stuff. "Hanukkah is just a bunch of crappy presents, we Christians get REAL presents!" "Oh yeah? Well December 25th isn't even when your Jesus was really born! You guys just stole the dates and traditions of a bunch of other religions to make yours look better!"

We all love to kick back and delight in how clever we are for having torn down The Other Guy... how about we get back to just enjoying the pretty bits? Ooooh, pretty candles! Here, buddy, have a Christmas cookie!

[aurora77]

Yeah, around the same time as they went all overboard with the "politically correct" nonsense. I'm all for being respectful of people, but some of it got to be patently ridiculous.

[whiskeyjack.livejournal.com]

I recall there being an upswing in public pushback against religious displays around that time but I also remember some from earlier than that. Amount of flak I got for not being Christian seemed to be steady before and after that point. I think the late 80's/early 90's was when some very vocal groups decided they could no longer celebrate Halloween because it was satanic and there has been a steady decline in how much fun the holiday was since then.

[lynna12000.livejournal.com]

I don't think there has ever been unity. There have been lulls in hostilities, but no outright cease fire. The main difference between the late 80's, early 90's and now is the way information is spread. 20-25 years ago, people got their news via radio, newspaper, and television. Now, we get a lot of our information via the internet, as well as televsion. Information has been pretty available over the last 50 years especially. We now get it almost instantly; both the good and the bad.