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Post by Vorchia on Oct 31, 2005 1:46:24 GMT -5
Hi everyone, Over the past years (decades, centuries?) all sorts of products from the United States have been taking over the world, including my country. There is McD, there's KFC and on TV half the TV series are of American origin with Dutch subtitling. Sadly most of the American telivision programmes that get bought are things like Sex and the City, Jerry Springer, Sex court and so forth and so forth. I think this is because sex sells and notr so much because American producers are completely focused on sex and violence, they're merely focused on dollars. (Thank god the attempt to bring 'The World Wrestling Federation' to Dutch TV's has flopped mercilessly.) As for music, most music that ever reaches the hit charts is in the English language, even if its made by Dutch artists. Dutch music is the minority and only very rarely does the music in the language of our neighbours reach our ears. (French for Belgium and German for Germany) Its a pity really. I don't hate American culture but its not the ONLY culture you know? I like it when I get to see influences from over the world. Yes I love mountain dew but I also love French cheese and wine and Swiss chocolate you know? Sure its okay if American culture gets into my country but why must it suppress the LOCAL culture so much? This year, to my great astonishment Dutch children have gone out 'trick or treating'. Halloween has NEVER ever played any role whatsoever in Dutch culture. Maybe it has played a role in the lives of a European Wiccan minority (thats where the holiday comes from isn't it?) but for the rest its as American as you can get. I'll bet the real 'halloween' or whatever holiday it was derived from wasn't so sickeningly money oriented. Worse commerce has picked it up as an excuse to make money and catalyses the popularisation, at the expense of our OWN culture and what little traditions there are left in this country. I don't want halloween and pumpkins and ghosts, I want the more traditional walk with lanterns and a big bonfire (lantern festival!), which has been done since forever and is now forgotten. Thank you halloween. Ironically enough 'ween/wenen' is the Dutch word for 'weeping', weeping for a culture that is loosing itself in Americanism and will soon be lost? I'm for cultural diversity, its the color of this world, without it it'd get dull. Its not even the Christian view of halloween that makes me say these things, I have no religion based opinion of halloween. Its just that it doesn't belong here but gets dragged here by commerce to replace less profitable old traditions. Really, whats next, Thanksgiving? INDEPENDENCE day??? Sure there are other foreign holidays that end up in this country but I've never seen THEM become commercial money making fests the way things like halloween and valentines day do.
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sil
Junior Scholar
Leader of one, Lover of Music, Liver of Life
Posts: 202
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Post by sil on Oct 31, 2005 15:10:27 GMT -5
I know exactly what you mean. I may live in the U.S. but almost every holiday has been mobbed my overpriced commercialism. Halloween's start doesn't even matter, it's just another Halmark holiday for companies and shops to sell useless junk and rot kids teeth out! (don't get me wrong, I love chocolate, and candy as much as the next Dinotopian) But almost all holidays have been usurped, in any culture, by popularity and money. I don't want to affend any true blue Christians, but you have to admit, even Christmas is loosing its true value, (at least to the masses)
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Post by Vorchia on Oct 31, 2005 15:32:45 GMT -5
Oh yes, thats why I don't like Christmas, its all about spoilt children, expensive presents, gay plastic decorations, many colored lights and stuffing yourself with food untill you get a major constipation while in other countries people are still dying of hunger, thirst and treatable diseases. What do you mean the 'feast of peace on earth'? Especially for me Christmas is just plain an overdone consumeristic holiday because I don't go to church, don't get invited to parties and the family get togethers often see yet more clashing of various personalities within the family. I assure you peace has nothing to do with it if you're a 'neutral' trying to keep the peace at the Christmas table... Of course SANTA tries to take over here too. But we still have Santa's ancestor here who comes at the 5th of December and is called Sinterklaas, or saint Nicholas to bring gifts for the children. (Wow I just typed 'satan' instead of 'santa', coïncidence??) However this tradition too seems to be getting replaced by 'Santa' more and more or worse, kids will have gifts from Sinterklaas AND from Santa... Really there's a way to create a spoilt brat...
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Post by oldwingly on Oct 31, 2005 20:34:49 GMT -5
Thanksgiving is about the only holiday in the US that has not become commercialized and still pretty much remains true to its roots. Christmas and Easter, if you're religious, are the worst offenders, since a lot is taken away from the spiritual meaning of both. Halloween had a spiritual meaning at one time, but its very much overlooked anymore.
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Post by Vorchia on Nov 1, 2005 3:01:15 GMT -5
We're supposed to have Saint Maarten/Martin... Thats from The catholic church and has hardly been commercialised at all, hene why it doesn't sel anymore. It involves children walking around with lanterns at night and a big bonfire and then all the children get some tradional candy like a speculaaspop. Saint Maarten helped the poor so the kids get to learn something about helping others rather then being encouraged at being greedy and spoilt...
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sil
Junior Scholar
Leader of one, Lover of Music, Liver of Life
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Post by sil on Nov 1, 2005 15:10:51 GMT -5
That sounds like fun. I'd like to carry lanterns and have a big bonfire (but hey, I'm a slight piro so maybe I don't count ;D) But Thanksgiving, which is probobly the only pure holiday left (not), is being overlooked. Almost all the shops in my town have skipped over Thanksgiving and gone right on to Christmas, In October! (okay so it's November, but only by one day. and they've had those decorations/signs up for weeks.) I don't see the point of holiday's anymore , well I do but it's not what I thought of as Holidays, and I'm sure that I won't let those nasty, little...(following words have been sensored do to the fact that I don't feel like saying them, so there!) traditions be pasted onto my children, I want to bring them up right. (thats why I'm going to teach them the Metric System, and start them on an instrument and second language early, I want my next generation to be well rounded.)
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sil
Junior Scholar
Leader of one, Lover of Music, Liver of Life
Posts: 202
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Post by sil on Nov 1, 2005 15:11:50 GMT -5
pasted = passed, Oops!
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Post by Vorchia on Nov 1, 2005 15:48:48 GMT -5
Hey Sil, you can edit your posts to correct your typos, I do it all the time. If you just have a look at any of my posts you'll see most of them have ben edited by myself. In fact, most of them have been edited repeatedly as I excell at making typos! Now if only I could get a cent per typo... Christmas at school actually started at the beginning of the examweek two weeks ago... There's no tree yet but some of the smaller deocarations have gone up already. I love fires myself, I like to build fires, I like to stare into candles... Pyromaniac? Maybe. Don't worry I won't be lighting a bonfire (bbq, candle) during a dry season. I'm always THERE when there's a fire to me made, to show how its done... lol Its the only thing I liked about the scouting. Maybe holidays can be fun, if they don't become money oriented. Like a Christmas gift I send off to friends may not be worth a lot as I don´t have the money but its always carefully chosen. (Ok, Az is a kinderegg addict, a kinderegg costs 69 cents, I could just send her a nice box stuffed with kindereggs and she´s happy. Christmas shopping made easy... ;D ) Well your hypothetical kids can do spanish or something in high school and they´ll also get the metric system. I grew up with the metric system and lving in sucha small country with a language nobody understands you just NEED to learn English... lol
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Post by nobledreamhome on Nov 1, 2005 16:15:02 GMT -5
lol, first of all, I don't think you have to worry about Independence Day. A lot of countries have an Independence Day and I believe a couple of them are on the same day as July 4th, but their not there because of the American Independence Day. ^-^ And I'd be surprised if Thanksgiving spread into other countries as its strictly American because we celebrate the day the pilgrims and Native Americans shared their food with each other and made peaceful relations. As for Halloween, it's not American. In fact, we took it from Europe. It's the same with every holiday. Easter and Christmas were celebrated because of Christian beliefs, but it's not an 'American' holiday, they were brought with us from the European countries. We have just carried them with us. They're really holidays brought from Europe, it's just that your country is now adopting some as well. I think most people just call these holidays American holidays because people here make such a huge business about it. But its been the same in a few other countries as well. About the porno movies and such *shudders* I am disgusted by the American Producers who produce such things. Sex is NOT a toy. It's supposed to be private and sacred. But all these nymphomaniac (however it's spelled) producers want to ENCOURAGE sex. While less than half the country is having trouble trying to encourage teens to not have sex (actually, half of that less than half have now switched it to having SAFE sex because they're giving up *rolls eyes*), these hollywood producers who have nothing on their minds but sex are encouraging just the opposite by producing the shows they do. They're SICK. I think half the world's heads are stuck in the gutter. I really wish things could go back to the way they were when I was younger. Stuff that is rated PG-13 today would have gotten an R-rating when I was a child. I'm truly sorry that those stupid shows have made it to your country. It's ridiculous that they even made it in our country. The music might just be a passing trend. Like here in America, at least, certain sections of it, Japanese is the top music (because of Anime mostly, but also because its what the American Populace likes). In other places of America its different. But most of the music listened to in my state is foreign music. I LOVE all foreign music. My middel sister has a Sweedish CD that was given to her by a Sweedish foreign exchange student which I love listening to and my youngest sister has a Japanese CD that I listen to (well, we all listen to each others foreign music) as well. Foreign music is a big hit here in the U.S. right now. I listen to SoundScapes (its a radio station on tv with NO commercials, yay) all the time which has a bunch of foreign Celtic music as well as American Celtic music (well, done by American Celts ;D). And there's Latino music and Mexican and Spanish and all other types of music here. American music is just hitting the top charts right now because that's what the majority of the people in your country like. It should settle down after a while. That's what happened with Anime here in the U.S. it was REALLY HUGE for several years and now its more or less evening out.
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Post by nobledreamhome on Nov 1, 2005 17:02:35 GMT -5
Gah, computer just froze and I lost everything I'd replied to. Oh well. *starts again* No offense taken and I don't think you'll have offended any other Christian either. I agree with you. Christmas is all about taking and receiving. Not about giving. lol, I agree. I looooooooooooove bonfires and I'd love to carry lanterns too. It'd be so much fun. lol, I was telling my dad I wanted to take five huge boxes of matches, make a design, then light the first match on fire and watch as each match next to it lights on fire. Dad said I should be careful because someone might think I'm a pyromaniac and turn me over to the police. *glooms* Yup, same exact thing here. They started prepairing for Christmas before Halloween had even started. Comercials about Christmas savings started a couple weeks ago and we've been getting mail about Christmas candy savings since practically the beginning of October. Hardly anyone has the true Christmas Spirit anymore. YAY! Someone else who thinks children should learn a second (or more) language at an early age instead of in the 10th grade like my stupid old school. >.< You weren't allowed to take Spanish AT ALL unless you were in the 10th grade. And its common knowledge that children learn languages faster than most adults (I happen to be one of the few VERY lucky adults who can learn languages very easily). Woo hoo, we should do a Pyromaniac 'get together' lol. Weee, before long I will learn Dutch. Then I can write to you in Dutch. That'll be fun. Hehe.
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aric
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I drink your milkshake!
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Post by aric on Nov 2, 2005 2:35:49 GMT -5
I thought this was going to be a discussion about the European Constitution... There is McD, there's KFC and on TV half the TV series are of American origin with Dutch subtitling. Why aren't they dubbed? I think it would be more convenient... Sadly most of the American telivision programmes that get bought are things like Sex and the City, Jerry Springer, Sex court and so forth and so forth. I think this is because sex sells and notr so much because American producers are completely focused on sex and violence, they're merely focused on dollars. (Thank god the attempt to bring 'The World Wrestling Federation' to Dutch TV's has flopped mercilessly.) Those are pretty tame compared to what can be shown on some country's broadcast stations. In fact, American shows about sex are, IIRC, generally tame. As for music, most music that ever reaches the hit charts is in the English language, even if its made by Dutch artists. Wait... Dutch groups sing in english? Is there a reason for this? I don't want to be Americo-centric (assuming that's a word), but could it be that there's a desire to break into the American market by making english-language albums? I would think it would be the largest single-language market (apart from China and India) in the world right now. Dutch music is the minority and only very rarely does the music in the language of our neighbours reach our ears. (French for Belgium and German for Germany) I heard that at some sort of European cultural songfest or something, most of the groups there, with the notable exception of the French, had english langauge stuff... Its a pity really. I don't hate American culture but its not the ONLY culture you know? I like it when I get to see influences from over the world. Yes I love mountain dew but I also love French cheese and wine GAK! I hate wine. It tastes like urine. and Swiss chocolate you know? Oooooooooo! I had Swiss choolate before. It's great. Way better than American stuff. Sure its okay if American culture gets into my country but why must it suppress the LOCAL culture so much? Do the people who market American or Americanized stuff actively suppress competition? This year, to my great astonishment Dutch children have gone out 'trick or treating'. Halloween has NEVER ever played any role whatsoever in Dutch culture. Maybe it has played a role in the lives of a European Wiccan minority (thats where the holiday comes from isn't it?) but for the rest its as American as you can get. I think kids like candy more than lanterns. ;D I'll bet the real 'halloween' or whatever holiday it was derived from wasn't so sickeningly money oriented. Worse commerce has picked it up as an excuse to make money and catalyses the popularisation, at the expense of our OWN culture and what little traditions there are left in this country. I don't want halloween and pumpkins and ghosts, I want the more traditional walk with lanterns and a big bonfire (lantern festival!), which has been done since forever and is now forgotten. Thank you halloween. Ironically enough 'ween/wenen' is the Dutch word for 'weeping', weeping for a culture that is loosing itself in Americanism and will soon be lost? What do people do during the lantern festival? Is it fun? I can imagine kids under the age of twelve doing the trick or treating and older kids and adults doing the lantern festivals. Unless, of course, you're a parent, in which case you'll probably be dragged with the kids. I'm for cultural diversity, its the color of this world, without it it'd get dull. Its not even the Christian view of halloween that makes me say these things, I have no religion based opinion of halloween. Its just that it doesn't belong here but gets dragged here by commerce to replace less profitable old traditions. I really don't see how Halloween can be so profitable. Unless candy companies rake in the profits by selling tons of candy and stuff like that. But, in my opinion, Halloween doesn't lend itself towards the unadulterated commercialism that Christmas does. It's simply not versatile enough. Really, whats next, Thanksgiving? I see nothing wrong with thanksgiving, though I think some people have problems with family gatherings... INDEPENDENCE day??? The Netherlands doesn't have an Independence Day? Didn't you guys break away from the Hapsburgs at some point in the past? Sure there are other foreign holidays that end up in this country but I've never seen THEM become commercial money making fests the way things like halloween and valentines day do. I rather like the commercialization. It gives me reason to wallow in the disapproval of social conservatives who wail that holidays like Christmas are being corrupted. ;D I may live in the U.S. but almost every holiday has been mobbed my overpriced commercialism. It's not the commercialism that bothers me. It's the overpriced aspect. Inflation and such has outstripped wages in this country. Halloween's start doesn't even matter, it's just another Halmark holiday for companies and shops to sell useless junk and rot kids teeth out! (don't get me wrong, I love chocolate, and candy as much as the next Dinotopian) That depends. While there are some rumblings of Halloween even in late September, I generally find that Halloween is fairly time-specific. It's Christmas that merchants have been trying to milk for a longer period of time. I've been to the shopping mall lately and they've been getting ready for Christmas for a few weeks already... I don't want to affend any true blue Christians, but you have to admit, even Christmas is loosing its true value, (at least to the masses) Meh. Christmas was never really about the birth of Jesus Christ in the first place. Otherwise, the Church would never have renamed Saturnalia for the sole reason that it was too pagan and wanted a Christian-oriented holiday instead. Of all the holidays that are being commercialized and have become rites of Mammon, I love it happening to Christmas the most. Hey! Don't knock dem purty lights! ;D stuffing yourself with food untill you get a major constipation while in other countries people are still dying of hunger, thirst and treatable diseases. Meh. I don't feel too guilty about being well fed. The only reason people can feel like that at all is because their civilization has attained a level of security and properity unmatched by even the richest kings of medieval times. People feel guilty because they can afford to be. What do you mean the 'feast of peace on earth'? *shrug* Since Christmas has (erroneously) come to be associated with the birth of Jesus Christ, I'm guessing that human salvation and stuff like that is implied by "peace on Earth." I guess the feast part is part of the celebration of humanity's salvation as well as the Christmas meals that people have on Christmas day. and the family get togethers often see yet more clashing of various personalities within the family. Yeah, I heard about this before. Why do people keep showing up if they know they're going to get pissed off at these things? Surely the pragmatic need for some peace of mind would override any need to observe tradition or propriety. However this tradition too seems to be getting replaced by 'Santa' more and more or worse, kids will have gifts from Sinterklaas AND from Santa... Really there's a way to create a spoilt brat... HA! I was just thinking that. You get stuff on the fifth AND on the 25th. Hee hee! I should be a kid in the netherlands. Whoo hoo! About the porno movies and such *shudders* I am disgusted by the American Producers who produce such things. I may have missed something, but when did porno come up? It's supposed to be private and sacred. Meh. Private I can see. I'm not an exhibitionist. But sacred? I wouldn't say that. It can be very spiritual, but I don't see that as a fundamental aspect of sex. I see that "sacred" part as being something people imbue on sex. But all these nymphomaniac (however it's spelled) producers want to ENCOURAGE sex. For some reason, I think the idea of people wanting sex has been around for a long time before the LA porn industry arose. And you have to ask yourself, does the porn industry cause interest in sex, or does interest in sex cause porn? While less than half the country is having trouble trying to encourage teens to not have sex (actually, half of that less than half have now switched it to having SAFE sex because they're giving up *rolls eyes*), Probably because there are kids out there who are going to have sex regardless of how many times grown ups tell them not to. Also, simply keeping kids in ignorance IS NOT a proven way of preventing teen pregnancy and STD transmission. these hollywood producers who have nothing on their minds but sex are encouraging just the opposite by producing the shows they do. Think about causality here. Does Hollywood porno stimulate interest in sex or is it the other way around. I think you know my answer. I think people just find Hollywood to be a convenient scapegoat that they can attach their disapproval to because it's a lot harder for folks to put the blame where it really belongs - human nature. Of course, there ARE people who do that, but they tend to be raving fundamentalist extremists. They're SICK. I think half the world's heads are stuck in the gutter. Try the majority of the world. Sex is a part of human nature. And there's no evidence in the natural world to show that sex is JUST for procreation. I really wish things could go back to the way they were when I was younger. Stuff that is rated PG-13 today would have gotten an R-rating when I was a child. Blame Jurassic Park. ;D Remember the big ruckuss about the rating when you had human dismemberment and lawyer-mauling on screen? Not to mention the occasional swear words. I'm truly sorry that those stupid shows have made it to your country. It's ridiculous that they even made it in our country. Yeah. Amsterdam has a world-famous red light district. The idea that the Dutch can make do with tame American shows and sitcoms about sex is stretching it a bit. The music might just be a passing trend. Like here in America, at least, certain sections of it, Japanese is the top music (because of Anime mostly, but also because its what the American Populace likes). Japanese music? I didn't even know that. Could you name examples? Christmas is all about taking and receiving. Not about giving. But if everyone is taking, then who's giving? Who's doing all the buying? How could commercialism prosper at all when everybody's sitting back waiting to get gifts? Hardly anyone has the true Christmas Spirit anymore. Saturnalia has always been about gift-giving. This is paganism coming back to kick Christianity in the nuts. ;D YAY! Someone else who thinks children should learn a second (or more) language at an early age instead of in the 10th grade like my stupid old school. >.< You weren't allowed to take Spanish AT ALL unless you were in the 10th grade. And its common knowledge that children learn languages faster than most adults (I happen to be one of the few VERY lucky adults who can learn languages very easily). MUST? I started learning Spanish when I was twelve. Of course, there are those who say that children should learn a second language even earlier. - Aric
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Post by Vorchia on Nov 2, 2005 3:15:38 GMT -5
Unfortunately there is some schoolwork screaming my name but I will get back to this. ;D (And save some of that way too early Christmas chocolates for me.)
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Post by nobledreamhome on Nov 2, 2005 4:31:04 GMT -5
Sorry, sometimes I put sex and porno in the same category by accident. I meant sex but was thinking about the porno videos that hollywood puts out as well and so that came out. Eh, my brains muddled, lol. Em... I got my words mixed up again, I meant private and special between the two couples. Hm...that's true. This stuff wouldn't come out if it wasn't in demand. *sigh* Or, at least, if it did, it wouldn't be as bad if it wasn't in demand. Yeah, but why give up? There are teens who might have had sex, but didn't because they were told not to. In fact I've known a few. It's also been my experience (at least, in my town, I'm not saying all over the world because it's most likely different from town to town) that the kids who hadn't been encouraged by their parents to not have sex, had sex. And those who'd been encouraged to not have sex, fewer of them went out and had sex than the children with families who hadn't. So, I suppose, TV really isn't going to help as much as it would if the parents told their kids instead. lol, well, I didn't mean to get rid of sex-ed. Because we all have sex-ed, which explains everything (at least, my class heard everything, my eyes were opened BIG TIME to some things I'd NEVER heard of before, lol) about it. I think its a good class for children to take. I just don't think it's good for parents to let kids watch actual porno movies (which I know a few parents who let kids as young as 3 and up watch them almost every day). I mean, it is their choice about how they want to raise their kids and I don't go telling them how either because I don't have any experience raising kids and it's not my business to tell them how (unless they're abusive parents and are beating their kids, oooooooooh, then I'd have more than a word with them and the police and CPS. But I'm getting sidetracked again. >.<). It's just how I feel. Yeah, I agree. I guess I just hadn't thought of it that way before. But I am learning and I'll remember that next time. Thanks for pointing that out to me. True. lol! I love Jurassic Park. Yeah, I do remember that, lol. I remember something being mentioned about how they wanted to show a leg of the lawyer (or something like that) on the screen but the rating peoples said that would have made it a rated-R film and Mr. Speilburg (I can NEVER remember how to spell his name) said something about wanting kids to be able to see it because kids like dinosaurs and it was supposed to be a kid's film or something. I forgot about that until you mentioned it, lol. It's amazing the things a person can forget. American shows are tame? I didn't know other countries made worse....lol. I really am not exposed to thinks, am I? Well, I don't have the specific names and such, but next time I see the titles and artists on Soundscapes, I'll write them down. There are some Japanese (and other asian) artists there who had top hits. Some do stuff with the Chi and meditation and such. I'll give you artists and titles and such next time I'm listening to sounscapes. I'll make sure to have a pen and pencil. There's some really REALLY good songs on there. Even though I don't use the music for what it's intended (except the relaxation parts, ^_^ the music can be very relaxing) because I don't do Chi stuffs and meditation stuff (not that I'd know how to anyway, lol). Oh yeah and Yoga stuff is on there too. Anyway, I'll stop blabbering about that now, lol. Okay, now I feel really stupid, lol. I meant that all people see Christmas as anymore is taking and receiving, but not giving. I didn't mean that I believed Christmas was about taking and receiving. That sounds so conceited, lol! Also, I don't mean all people, but I do mean the majority of people I've met are like that. They are more concerned with what they are getting for Christmas instead of what they can do for someone else for Christmas. I'm not a saint myself and I don't expect others to be. But I do expect them to at least think of one other person less fortunate than they are for Christmas. It can't hurt them to do that much. In fact, the only decent people I've met, besides about 3 people from my old school and my immediate family, are all of you here online at Dinotopia and the T of P and a couple other places online. Hmm...I don't think I've ever heard of Saturnalia before. I do remember, reading on a Christmas mug one time, about this guy who started the 'Christmas' tradition in the Netherlands by doing what Vorchia mentioned above about a guy coming around and giving children gifts. And his name was St. Nicholas and that's how the Christmas Tradition got started. (See? We Americans took traditions from stuff that's already been started in other parts of the world....^_^). That's not fair. You are soooooooooo lucky. Well, I consider you lucky anyway. I wish I had been taught Spanish at the age you learned it. I love learning languages. I want to learn as many as possible. I even asked one time when I was younger when I would get to learn a language like other kids and they said (this was when I was in first or second grade or something like that) that I wouldn't learn until middle school. I haven't had hardly ANY luck with being able to learn languages though because, by the time I was in Middle School, I was in a school where everyone had learned a different language in Elementary. And finally, by 10th grade, I got to learn a little Spanish. But only a little because of a stupid boy who wouldn't leave me alone (I don’t think he was stocking me or anything but, it was creepy). I was too self-conscious to tell a teacher then. So I went to choir. And a month later, he followed me in there. I tried to go back to Spanish (cause that's where I really wanted to be, you don't want to hear me sing, lol), but the teacher said they were too far ahead (she didn't think I could catch up, though I know I could have). So I know only a spattering of Spanish because of that incident. And I only got to learn a little bit of German because I was in a class where we could only miss two days before we were dropped because the teacher didn't think we could keep up if we missed more than two days (no exceptions). And what happens? A housing inspection causes me to miss two days of school. One on Monday (the inspection) and the second on Wednesday (they were fixing stuff that needed to be fixed). Both were days of my German class. I tried to take it again and the same thing happened again! I run into a brick wall whenever I try to learn a language in a class. So, I've taken up teaching myself, lol. Anyway, sorry to bore your with that history of my lack-of-learning languages. It's just why I consider you (and anyone who’s learned one or more languages) so lucky to have been able to learn a language.
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aric
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I drink your milkshake!
Posts: 989
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Post by aric on Nov 2, 2005 22:27:42 GMT -5
Sorry, sometimes I put sex and porno in the same category by accident. I meant sex but was thinking about the porno videos that hollywood puts out as well and so that came out. Eh, my brains muddled, lol. Meh. That happens to me too. Em... I got my words mixed up again, I meant private and special between the two couples. Okay. Hm...that's true. This stuff wouldn't come out if it wasn't in demand. *sigh* Or, at least, if it did, it wouldn't be as bad if it wasn't in demand. I don't know about that. When something is pushed out of the mainstream, it can be usurped by certain people and made even worse. In my opinion, porno isn't bad by itself. However, here are some pretty bad examples of porno that are quite disgusting. The argument goes, that if it wasn't forced into the ugly dark corners of society, deviant examples of porno wouldn't be given the time of day. Yeah, but why give up? There are teens who might have had sex, but didn't because they were told not to. In fact I've known a few. I was under the impression that you thought there was something wrong with sex ed. My bad. It's also been my experience (at least, in my town, I'm not saying all over the world because it's most likely different from town to town) that the kids who hadn't been encouraged by their parents to not have sex, had sex. And those who'd been encouraged to not have sex, fewer of them went out and had sex than the children with families who hadn't. So, I suppose, TV really isn't going to help as much as it would if the parents told their kids instead. I generally don't go by personal anecdotes. I mean, how do you know that those kids whose parents told them not to have sex really didn't have sex? Are these things advertised or something? lol, well, I didn't mean to get rid of sex-ed. Because we all have sex-ed, which explains everything (at least, my class heard everything, my eyes were opened BIG TIME to some things I'd NEVER heard of before, lol) about it. I think its a good class for children to take. I just don't think it's good for parents to let kids watch actual porno movies (which I know a few parents who let kids as young as 3 and up watch them almost every day). I mean, it is their choice about how they want to raise their kids and I don't go telling them how either because I don't have any experience raising kids and it's not my business to tell them how (unless they're abusive parents and are beating their kids, oooooooooh, then I'd have more than a word with them and the police and CPS. But I'm getting sidetracked again. >.<). It's just how I feel. Gotcha. lol! I love Jurassic Park. Me too. As a thirteen year old, I didn't think it was as bad as some people were making it out to be. In fact, I think all the debate just made for free advertising for the movie. Yeah, I do remember that, lol. I remember something being mentioned about how they wanted to show a leg of the lawyer (or something like that) on the screen but the rating peoples said that would have made it a rated-R film and Mr. Speilburg (I can NEVER remember how to spell his name) said something about wanting kids to be able to see it because kids like dinosaurs and it was supposed to be a kid's film or something. I forgot about that until you mentioned it, lol. It's amazing the things a person can forget. I had to snicker at that. A kid's film? I particularly like this idea with the T-Rex attack sequence when she tried to eat the two kids in the car. American shows are tame? I didn't know other countries made worse....lol. I really am not exposed to thinks, am I? In Canada, I think they have late night porno on broadcast TV. That's like there being an adult-oriented program after Nightline on ABC. Well, I don't have the specific names and such, but next time I see the titles and artists on Soundscapes, I'll write them down. There are some Japanese (and other asian) artists there who had top hits. Some do stuff with the Chi and meditation and such. I'll give you artists and titles and such next time I'm listening to sounscapes. I'll make sure to have a pen and pencil. There's some really REALLY good songs on there. Even though I don't use the music for what it's intended (except the relaxation parts, ^_^ the music can be very relaxing) because I don't do Chi stuffs and meditation stuff (not that I'd know how to anyway, lol). Oh yeah and Yoga stuff is on there too. Anyway, I'll stop blabbering about that now, lol. See, I don't consider soundscapes to be mainstream at all. I think that just caters to the New Age/spiritual crowd. Okay, now I feel really stupid, lol. I meant that all people see Christmas as anymore is taking and receiving, but not giving. I didn't mean that I believed Christmas was about taking and receiving. That sounds so conceited, lol! *Scratches head* I think I still missed the point. How would giving not be a part of even the commercialized parts of Christmas? Also, I don't mean all people, but I do mean the majority of people I've met are like that. They are more concerned with what they are getting for Christmas instead of what they can do for someone else for Christmas. I'm not a saint myself and I don't expect others to be. But I do expect them to at least think of one other person less fortunate than they are for Christmas. It can't hurt them to do that much. I think Americans do become more generous during this time. The trouble is that it isn't year long. In fact, the only decent people I've met, besides about 3 people from my old school and my immediate family, are all of you here online at Dinotopia and the T of P and a couple other places online. Huh. I think you and your loved ones need to move away from that place. Hmm...I don't think I've ever heard of Saturnalia before. WikipediaSo, Christmas was just tacked on to the normal Roman festivities. Notice you don't see anything about the birth of Christ in the reason for the Church setting the date. If anything, I would like a week-long event like that. I do remember, reading on a Christmas mug one time, about this guy who started the 'Christmas' tradition in the Netherlands by doing what Vorchia mentioned above about a guy coming around and giving children gifts. And his name was St. Nicholas and that's how the Christmas Tradition got started. (See? We Americans took traditions from stuff that's already been started in other parts of the world....^_^). The Dutch guy would be Sinter Klaas. I think Vorch mentioned him. He doesn't have a sled and reindeer, though. He does have a steam engine, though. He a bit more industrialized that Santa. That's not fair. You are soooooooooo lucky. Well, I consider you lucky anyway. I wish I had been taught Spanish at the age you learned it. I love learning languages. I want to learn as many as possible. I even asked one time when I was younger when I would get to learn a language like other kids and they said (this was when I was in first or second grade or something like that) that I wouldn't learn until middle school. I haven't had hardly ANY luck with being able to learn languages though because, by the time I was in Middle School, I was in a school where everyone had learned a different language in Elementary. And finally, by 10th grade, I got to learn a little Spanish. But only a little because of a stupid boy who wouldn't leave me alone (I don’t think he was stocking me or anything but, it was creepy). I was too self-conscious to tell a teacher then. So I went to choir. And a month later, he followed me in there. I tried to go back to Spanish (cause that's where I really wanted to be, you don't want to hear me sing, lol), but the teacher said they were too far ahead (she didn't think I could catch up, though I know I could have). So I know only a spattering of Spanish because of that incident. And I only got to learn a little bit of German because I was in a class where we could only miss two days before we were dropped because the teacher didn't think we could keep up if we missed more than two days (no exceptions). And what happens? A housing inspection causes me to miss two days of school. One on Monday (the inspection) and the second on Wednesday (they were fixing stuff that needed to be fixed). Both were days of my German class. I tried to take it again and the same thing happened again! I run into a brick wall whenever I try to learn a language in a class. So, I've taken up teaching myself, lol. Wow. That was kinda long. I'm guessing, just maybe, you have a thing about foreign languages. ^_^ Anyway, sorry to bore your with that history of my lack-of-learning languages. It's just why I consider you (and anyone who’s learned one or more languages) so lucky to have been able to learn a language. I'm not that lucky. I've forgotten almost everything I learned in class. The way I do it, I learn everything I need to in order to pass the class. Then, when class is done forever, I forget almost everything the minute I finish my exams. I don't internalize it the way some other people might. Did I ever mention how lazy I am? - Aric
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RedFeather
Junior Scholar
*flap, flap, flap!*
Posts: 423
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Post by RedFeather on Nov 10, 2005 11:40:29 GMT -5
I am Wiccan, but I sort of separate Halloween from the Wiccan holiday Samhain. I celebrate both, in a way. Halloween, because it's just fun to dress up and go out and have fun, and Samhain because it is a part of my spiritual beliefs to celebrate it. Around others, I just call it Halloween... among others of like mind, I call it Samhain. It's two different things happening on the same day, really.
I do agree, though, that Halloween, like Christmas, Easter, and all of the major holidays, has become WAY too commercialized. I don't care what holidays one celebrates, and it does not matter to me how one celebrates their holidays. But all the Christmas things showing up in stores before Halloween, and all the Easter stuff showing up right after Christmas, it's just annoying. People need to prepare for major holidays, yes. But they do not need to do so to the point that they are sick of the holiday before it even comes. That is simply ridiculous.
It's also good to attribute meanings to holidays... things or aspects you can celebrate or take note of on those days. Put YOUR energies into it. Otherwise, it's just another commercialized holiday that you'll become annoyed with before the day even falls.
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