I think it's safe to assume this mayor is a Christian. Christians are the first people to claim they're being persecuted any time they are prevented from forcing their religion on others. They are also the people most likely to persecute others if given the opportunity to do so. Our secular government cannot choose one religion over another. That has been settled law for over two hundred years, and yet conservative Christians persist with the idea it doesn't really apply to them. Such is their sense of privilege and entitlement.
Application only on government website, government liability disclaimer, contact info for the "organizer" only on government website, mayor has final say in who is included, but it's not a government sponsored event?
Sure, Jan. And I have some oceanfront property in Des Moines I will sell you cheap.
no one, absolutely no one, does Hate like those of the Abrahamic religions. first they steal the holidays, then they deny they stole them, and won't let anyone else enjoy them. bah! humbug!!!
Exactly. But goddess forbid anyone point out to the church sheep that they only have Christmas at all because the early church never saw an existing party day they couldn’t co-opt. So in that light — BLESSED YULE, assholes.
Speaking of yule, ChatGPT informs me that evergreens native to the eastern Mediterranean include Aleppo Pine, Stone Pine, Mediterranean Cypress, Kermes Oak, Junipers, Carob Trees, Wild Olive, and Bay Laurel. A quick visit to Google images shows that none of these resemble the traditional “Christmas” trees, which are normally Firs, Spruces, Scots Pines, or White Pines. Kinda gives you a clue as to how “Christian” this tradition is, doesn’t it? [Here insert reference to syncretism.]
A creator god who's simultaneously one being and three beings, his son who is also himself but maybe not who died and then got better, the son's mother who got magically knocked up under suspicious circumstances, a chubby, fiercely bearded elderly man with a flying sleigh that can traverse the globe in a single night while still allowing time to visit each and every house, apartment, and condo on Earth for several minutes to deliver presents (which also must be bigger on the inside, leading one to suspect that it might be a stolen TARDIS) and eight (sometimes nine) similarly flight-capable reindeer, a legion of extremely cold-resistant toy-building elves, and a mildly misanthropic snow golem brought to life with a magic hat... these are all completely fine and reasonable.
Queen: "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis Carrol, 'Through The Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There'
"This parade is not organized by the city" ... because THAT way, a private individual or organization can play fast and loose with approvals and rejections and the city can disavow any responsibility. At least that's the way it smells to me, yet calling it the PARKERSBURG Christmas Parade tends to contradict the supposed private nature of the event.
Something is rotten in Parkersburg ... and I think some further digging is in order.
"This parade is not organized by the city" on the Facebook page is only there to provide plausible deniability because they know they are in the wrong.
American Christian Nationalist close mindedness and stupidity should be laughed at. Yet next time I hope that no reasonable German American will ever vote for Trump again and actually lift up their sleeves fight for cultural rights and traditions we take for granted. https://substack.com/@christinabishop/p-147038795
What you described is what I call toxic patriotism. Is it ok to have pride and respect for your culture yes. However when you create an environment where cultural participation is demonized and assimilated to respect another’s toxic values then it becomes dangerous. That’s why my Grandma Lill told me to be German First because she saw in her own life and in her children’s lives that culture is something that needs to grow and thrive in a good environment. And I think she did a good job.
My Dad is not a hunter like my Uncle Gorge or my Uncle Bobby and Uncle Pat, he is a Fisherman and loves to fish. In both Hunting and Fishing in the German American Tradition there is a devoutness and honor to a living thing. Both St. Peter and St. Eustice are the Holy Helpers in German Catholic tradition. Yet Hunters are the hero’s in German Society because they both kept land and people safe which is why there’s so many songs about them and a opera called Die Freischultz about hunters that changed how German theaters and composers did their own theater. The Jagermister bottle has the symbol of St. Eustice which is a deer with a glowing cross. The only composer who comes close to writing about Fishermen is Schubert and his leider that mention that relationship from Der Frolle to Fischerweise.
I'd like to see a counter-parade consisting of figures who truly were born on December 25th. This would include Humphrey Bogart, Rod Serling, Annie Lennox, Isaac Newton, Jimmy Buffett, Sissy Spacek, Cab Calloway, Clara Barton, etc.
Yup, Bogie would fit right in...in his final bedside hours, Lauren Bacall (his wife)asked him if he wanted a priest...He told her no.Babe,..."for me,when its over,its OVER" -attributed-
The Appalachian Pagan Ministry people are not trying to be offensive in any way to anybody. They want to be included in the parade and even their float is Christmasy( and even if it wasn't so the f what!) I for one say let them participate. They do good work. Include them too.
Yup, trashing our only planet, and home, to trick some obviously stupid deity into coming back, to rescue the very people that trashed the lovely planet we were suppose to be guardians of, makes perfect sense! /s🤪They just aren't very fucking smart.
There are few maniac religious people here, so I don't need to go elsewhere. App. 65% say they belong to a religious group. app 40% visits a moské, church, synagoge, tempel, whatever during a year.
If the powers that be in Parkersburg want to remove all things pagan in favor of Christianity, it's going to be a very short, very small parade. Take away all the things Christians stole from the pagans and you're left with a Nativity scene.
When you consider just how many "pagan" celebrations and "heathen" traditions and practices (Yule, Saturnalia, Mithraism, Norse mythology, etc.) were stolen and re-structured by the Chrishuns to make up their own religion more palatable to the masses, it's a wonder ANY group is allowed to participate in this annual Seasonal Parade of Hypocritical Nonsense. Ignorant people worship made-up magical deities and discard the historical realities of the beginnings of their exclusive blood cults. May the Olde Gods piss on the mayor's head and call it a baptism.
It does not matter what culture celebrated at the end of December, the sun was coming back! Axial tilt is the reason for all winter solstice celebrations!
If there really was a Jesus, and he really was born "while shepherds watched their flocks by night", then that would've been in lambing season in the eastern Mediterranean, late March or early April. Late December was chosen by early Christians living in the Roman Empire so they could disguise their celebration under cover of the general Saturnalia festivities going on everywhere.
I live in York Pennsylvania. For years York City has held a Halloween parade. It is solely for the benefit of the children. In the early 2000s, pastor Jim Grove started entering a float in the parade. The float had larger than life posters of aborted fetuses and body parts. It was very graphic. And pretty much everyone no matter what side of the fence they were on, found this offensive especially since children were being forced to view these images. The city attempted to put him at the very end of the parade with some distance between the last participant and his float. There are multiple articles online about it. Violence erupted. The courts ruled that he had every right to participate. And eventually the city decided to end the parade. JC's we're going to take it over with restrictions on who could participate, but then they changed their mind because of whatever legal counsel they got. The city went for several years without a Halloween parade which upset many of the parents. I saw that we did have a parade this year, but I have not read anything about whether there were any anti-abortion floats in it. There are other articles as I've listed here across our nation where parades have been impacted by groups with offensive floats. Each time the court has ruled that they have every right to participate. But according to the article posted here, the satanists are being discriminated against. They need to sue the shit out of this city and the organizer. I need to make a huge deal out of it so that the public hears about all the details. They need to give the examples including the two I've listed that come from Pennsylvania where offensive floats found legal permission to be part of a parade. I am so disgusted with this country. Fuck Jesus. Fuck Christians. No, on second thought, that might produce more Christians. My bad. The future is not looking positive here in the US. I used to imagine the light at the end of the tunnel. Problem was it was always a bus and it ran me over.
A pagan group is, by definition, not satanist. Satan is a christian construct. It's also an epithet thrown at any non-christian group which seeks to claim the same civil participation rights as christians automatically assume they have.
Christianity in America is in decline, and in some places, steep decline. And it's not because of Satanists, pagans, Muslims, or atheists: It's because of Christians. Christians who think and act like these parade organizers.
I think it's safe to assume this mayor is a Christian. Christians are the first people to claim they're being persecuted any time they are prevented from forcing their religion on others. They are also the people most likely to persecute others if given the opportunity to do so. Our secular government cannot choose one religion over another. That has been settled law for over two hundred years, and yet conservative Christians persist with the idea it doesn't really apply to them. Such is their sense of privilege and entitlement.
It’s getting near impossible to NOT think that this kind of behaviour is exclusively Christian, or at the very least religious.
Application only on government website, government liability disclaimer, contact info for the "organizer" only on government website, mayor has final say in who is included, but it's not a government sponsored event?
Sure, Jan. And I have some oceanfront property in Des Moines I will sell you cheap.
no one, absolutely no one, does Hate like those of the Abrahamic religions. first they steal the holidays, then they deny they stole them, and won't let anyone else enjoy them. bah! humbug!!!
Exactly. But goddess forbid anyone point out to the church sheep that they only have Christmas at all because the early church never saw an existing party day they couldn’t co-opt. So in that light — BLESSED YULE, assholes.
Speaking of yule, ChatGPT informs me that evergreens native to the eastern Mediterranean include Aleppo Pine, Stone Pine, Mediterranean Cypress, Kermes Oak, Junipers, Carob Trees, Wild Olive, and Bay Laurel. A quick visit to Google images shows that none of these resemble the traditional “Christmas” trees, which are normally Firs, Spruces, Scots Pines, or White Pines. Kinda gives you a clue as to how “Christian” this tradition is, doesn’t it? [Here insert reference to syncretism.]
Those came out of Germany, with Queen Victoria starting the modern tradition, she also started the wearing of white as a bride tradition.
God jul folkens. Raining now, so all the snow we had are gone. 😉
A creator god who's simultaneously one being and three beings, his son who is also himself but maybe not who died and then got better, the son's mother who got magically knocked up under suspicious circumstances, a chubby, fiercely bearded elderly man with a flying sleigh that can traverse the globe in a single night while still allowing time to visit each and every house, apartment, and condo on Earth for several minutes to deliver presents (which also must be bigger on the inside, leading one to suspect that it might be a stolen TARDIS) and eight (sometimes nine) similarly flight-capable reindeer, a legion of extremely cold-resistant toy-building elves, and a mildly misanthropic snow golem brought to life with a magic hat... these are all completely fine and reasonable.
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴!
Queen: "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis Carrol, 'Through The Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There'
Obviously she was a right-winger.
The elves don't need to be cold-resistant, they're working in east Asia these days making 5 cents an hour, building iPhones and PS5s.
A TARDIS with a working chameleon circuit? Will wonders never cease?
might be a Dalek
There's no race like gnome!
There's no race like gnome!
There's no race like gnome!
-- My D&D character creation philosophy
Gnomes rule!
"This parade is not organized by the city" ... because THAT way, a private individual or organization can play fast and loose with approvals and rejections and the city can disavow any responsibility. At least that's the way it smells to me, yet calling it the PARKERSBURG Christmas Parade tends to contradict the supposed private nature of the event.
Something is rotten in Parkersburg ... and I think some further digging is in order.
"This parade is not organized by the city" on the Facebook page is only there to provide plausible deniability because they know they are in the wrong.
If they reject a float with Krampus, what do you think that says to German Americans and their children?
That they should've bought their Christmas from the Coca-Cola company like 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 'Muricans!
(/s)
American Christian Nationalist close mindedness and stupidity should be laughed at. Yet next time I hope that no reasonable German American will ever vote for Trump again and actually lift up their sleeves fight for cultural rights and traditions we take for granted. https://substack.com/@christinabishop/p-147038795
My Grandma Lill told me to be German First and American Second.
What you described is what I call toxic patriotism. Is it ok to have pride and respect for your culture yes. However when you create an environment where cultural participation is demonized and assimilated to respect another’s toxic values then it becomes dangerous. That’s why my Grandma Lill told me to be German First because she saw in her own life and in her children’s lives that culture is something that needs to grow and thrive in a good environment. And I think she did a good job.
My Dad is not a hunter like my Uncle Gorge or my Uncle Bobby and Uncle Pat, he is a Fisherman and loves to fish. In both Hunting and Fishing in the German American Tradition there is a devoutness and honor to a living thing. Both St. Peter and St. Eustice are the Holy Helpers in German Catholic tradition. Yet Hunters are the hero’s in German Society because they both kept land and people safe which is why there’s so many songs about them and a opera called Die Freischultz about hunters that changed how German theaters and composers did their own theater. The Jagermister bottle has the symbol of St. Eustice which is a deer with a glowing cross. The only composer who comes close to writing about Fishermen is Schubert and his leider that mention that relationship from Der Frolle to Fischerweise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYzPqx63LKs
https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=14546
I'd like to see a counter-parade consisting of figures who truly were born on December 25th. This would include Humphrey Bogart, Rod Serling, Annie Lennox, Isaac Newton, Jimmy Buffett, Sissy Spacek, Cab Calloway, Clara Barton, etc.
Imagine the figures and floats in THAT parade.
Yup, Bogie would fit right in...in his final bedside hours, Lauren Bacall (his wife)asked him if he wanted a priest...He told her no.Babe,..."for me,when its over,its OVER" -attributed-
What an interesting idea!
The application is on the city's official website, not a private citizen's. that to me is a pretty clear indication of sponsorship.
To the Mayor of Parkersburg, West Virgina...
Will you be tossing Santa Claus out of your parade next? He is, after all, a pagan figure.
Right behind the Christmas trees ... more pagan nasty stuff! 😝
Christians aren’t even suposed to decorate trees like the pagans, Their own god says so in Jeremiah10:2-5.
That's the Old Testament. That only counts when Christians want to kill gay people, silly.
The parade application specifically stated that Santas were NOT allowed on floats because there would be a Santa after the parade.
The Appalachian Pagan Ministry people are not trying to be offensive in any way to anybody. They want to be included in the parade and even their float is Christmasy( and even if it wasn't so the f what!) I for one say let them participate. They do good work. Include them too.
But - but - but ... they're not CHRISCHUN!!! EEEEK! [he shakes his head and groans!]
So what obviously not everybody is.
The problem is that the CHRISCHUNS only see OTHER Chrischuns, and don't really want to see anyone OTHER than Chrischuns.
And when they DO see non-Chrischuns, they tend to lose their shit.
Believe me, if we heathens had somewhere else to go, we would. Let them make the planet uninhabitable waiting on their savior to restore it.
Yup, trashing our only planet, and home, to trick some obviously stupid deity into coming back, to rescue the very people that trashed the lovely planet we were suppose to be guardians of, makes perfect sense! /s🤪They just aren't very fucking smart.
There are few maniac religious people here, so I don't need to go elsewhere. App. 65% say they belong to a religious group. app 40% visits a moské, church, synagoge, tempel, whatever during a year.
But they're PAGAN!!! That stands for "People Against Goodness And Normalcy"!!!
I suspect nobody gets the reference.
Also stands for People Are Good And Nice. I got no problems with Pagans.
If the powers that be in Parkersburg want to remove all things pagan in favor of Christianity, it's going to be a very short, very small parade. Take away all the things Christians stole from the pagans and you're left with a Nativity scene.
And if they go the extra mile and remove all the brown-skinned furriners, all they'll have left is a cut-rate petting zoo.
Shepherds who wouldn’t have been there in December and 3 astrologers (heathens!) who only appear in one gospel.
Yeah, that always bugged me, as a farm kid I knew lambs come in the spring, because they survive better. Not in December.
And as for the 3 Magi? Joseph and Mary were devout Jews who would've turned away both the 3 sorcerers and their rather impractical gifts.
I love your sensible added context.
Thanks. It’s a point that doesn’t get a lot of “airplay” (certainly not by Christians).
And what happened to all that wealth? Maybe gawd wasn't the only one with a gambling problem.
Joseph disappeared from the story when Jesus was 12. No explanation, just gone. Hmmm...
Painted by white guys. 😉
And many of them probably painted on the diaper later.
That depicts the real reason for the season.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c80fbf56d9c3c519774cbfd42076dd1ae3304197169f55de5c4499d959347177.jpg
The Segways are a nice touch.
Hmm, now I got an idea.
That’s hilarious! More real than the typical one.
youtu.be/NBh895KdXAU
When you consider just how many "pagan" celebrations and "heathen" traditions and practices (Yule, Saturnalia, Mithraism, Norse mythology, etc.) were stolen and re-structured by the Chrishuns to make up their own religion more palatable to the masses, it's a wonder ANY group is allowed to participate in this annual Seasonal Parade of Hypocritical Nonsense. Ignorant people worship made-up magical deities and discard the historical realities of the beginnings of their exclusive blood cults. May the Olde Gods piss on the mayor's head and call it a baptism.
It does not matter what culture celebrated at the end of December, the sun was coming back! Axial tilt is the reason for all winter solstice celebrations!
If there really was a Jesus, and he really was born "while shepherds watched their flocks by night", then that would've been in lambing season in the eastern Mediterranean, late March or early April. Late December was chosen by early Christians living in the Roman Empire so they could disguise their celebration under cover of the general Saturnalia festivities going on everywhere.
Thank you, the lambs alone prove the lie.
So mote it be!
They need to hold a Krampus March in that town!
And don't tell the town that trees, gnomes, canes, garlands and lights are Pagan, left over from the christian invasion of the solstice celebration!
I hope it rains.
Literally rain on their parade.
It does rain here right now. Ugh.
Freezing rain, and sleet!
https://newrepublic.com/post/187811/trump-harris-halloween-float-chains-pennsylvania
https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/www/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=110x9558
I live in York Pennsylvania. For years York City has held a Halloween parade. It is solely for the benefit of the children. In the early 2000s, pastor Jim Grove started entering a float in the parade. The float had larger than life posters of aborted fetuses and body parts. It was very graphic. And pretty much everyone no matter what side of the fence they were on, found this offensive especially since children were being forced to view these images. The city attempted to put him at the very end of the parade with some distance between the last participant and his float. There are multiple articles online about it. Violence erupted. The courts ruled that he had every right to participate. And eventually the city decided to end the parade. JC's we're going to take it over with restrictions on who could participate, but then they changed their mind because of whatever legal counsel they got. The city went for several years without a Halloween parade which upset many of the parents. I saw that we did have a parade this year, but I have not read anything about whether there were any anti-abortion floats in it. There are other articles as I've listed here across our nation where parades have been impacted by groups with offensive floats. Each time the court has ruled that they have every right to participate. But according to the article posted here, the satanists are being discriminated against. They need to sue the shit out of this city and the organizer. I need to make a huge deal out of it so that the public hears about all the details. They need to give the examples including the two I've listed that come from Pennsylvania where offensive floats found legal permission to be part of a parade. I am so disgusted with this country. Fuck Jesus. Fuck Christians. No, on second thought, that might produce more Christians. My bad. The future is not looking positive here in the US. I used to imagine the light at the end of the tunnel. Problem was it was always a bus and it ran me over.
A pagan group is, by definition, not satanist. Satan is a christian construct. It's also an epithet thrown at any non-christian group which seeks to claim the same civil participation rights as christians automatically assume they have.
Pagans, not satanists.
Christianity in America is in decline, and in some places, steep decline. And it's not because of Satanists, pagans, Muslims, or atheists: It's because of Christians. Christians who think and act like these parade organizers.
I do wish it would decline faster.