Battleangel

There is actually such a thing as going overboard with egalitarian sentiments. I listened in to a radio show the other day which debated the issue of Christmas from the perspective of cultural and ethnic diversity. It’s an argument that I’ve been hearing a lot of lately. It’s somewhat related to the argument that the National Day should be transformed (from the present equivalent of nothingness?) to a Citizens’ Day.
In essence there are those that believe that Christmas constitutes a part of the Swedish identity and that it should be kept that way and that people will adapt or move.
And then there are those that for reasons unknown feel threatened or persecuted by having to live through the tradition. Since holiday celebration is hardly mandatory, being of a non-christian religion, Islamism or Judaism or whatever, is not sufficient explanation either. I mean, come oooon, Sweden is highly secularized by international standards. And one would have to dig pretty deep to justify modern Christmas to be other than a pretty shallow concept of religious heritage. It’s simply not the issue.
I rather feel that this is an issue of emancipatory action. Of a rather loudmouthed and radical slice of the the indigenous population that feel embarrassed with tradition somehow. They are under the delusion that the world of tomorrow should be built upon a case of utmost egalitarianism. Well, the road to hell is, as they say, paved with good intentions.

Unwittingly, those two parties have planted the seed of their own destruction. The logical outcome will be that endemic culture (or at least since culture is so fluid, that which is presently the standard) loses its footing, but to what benefit? The idea is artificial and engineering culture like this can be dangerous at best.
The thing is that those that oppose Christmas on this basis alone think that it would leave more room for alternative ways of life. This kind of emancipation rarely does. Have they considered that the same mechanism that they put in motion here will most likely crush any alternative views once it’s done with so called christian traditions? Good luck with balancing that razor’s edge.
And those that reaffirm Christmas do not realize what they are heralding. Their argument is built around single-word sentences like “cosy” and “romantic”. It is clear that Christmas is neither. They are almost buying the idea that they are protecting EXACTLY what the opposition claims they are protecting. Peel off the rest and all that is left is the commercial concept of Christmas. Exactly the bits and pieces of this holiday that I can’t stand. That and being around other people of course. But still, it’s distinct possibility that no one will prevail. No one but the hardened commercial spirit that for the last couple of decades has twisted and colonized our private lives, not just by the will to acquire wealth and material things, but also the way we plan and carry out our holidays in a ‘productive’ manner. We are the incarnated ideals of capitalism and industrialism. Perhaps this is the true dark side of these -isms.
I’m staring into the abyss here. It’s indeed the worst case scenario. But in human history, it is evident that we far too often manage to turn even dismal possibilities into realities. I.e. contrary to popular belief, there is no moral excellence as such in societies and civilizations. Harmful outcomes are preferred by the system and those that propagate it.

And furthermore, as the National Day was given the status of a national holiday, voices were raised regarding the ‘nationalistic’ properties of the event. What fools. If one examines a culture, any culture, one will find a great deal that celebrates the nation state. Sweden is arguably and ironically one of those with least focus on the propagation of the nation state concept. But at any rate, is that jubilation wrong in some way? Should one proceed to accept only traditions that are born and nurtured on the global arena? Are there even any ‘open-source’ traditions, to borrow a software metaphor.
It’s fine to complain, but think of the consequences and what we are going to replace the obsolete traditions with. The void that inevitable forms could be hijacked by just about anything or anyone. The supposed extremism that many anti-nation-state-tradition activists fear is JUST the kind of thing that thrives in that void. The subjectively “best outcome” would be that we were swallowed up, culturally, by nations that are not so quick to relinquish their nationalism, like the United States. And that expanding americanism would still be a nightmare. The “worst possible outcome” is too hideous to ponder.