Certified Christmas Decorations?

[Vorchia]

Hi everyone,

This year as much as the years before the school got decorated for Christmas. This year however the decorations were taken down again within a few days because of a new rule regarding decorations. Note that these were Christmasdecorations that are being used every year, its not as if they were new. Now all of a sudden it was no longer allowed to put up the decorations because they weren't 'certified fire-proof'. The decorations where by no means in contact with anything that would have possibly caused a dangerous situation but had to be removed.
Is this just the Netherlands or is the U.S.A. this crazy too?

[Anemone]

The U.S. is pretty crazy, too. At my school, we aren't even allowed to hang promotional posters or examples of students' works in the hallways because it's considered a fire hazard. Very bizzarre. It makes it difficult for the clubs to advertise.

[Barry]

Yea, your country is not alone Vorchia. We have an anti- Christmas group here in the US. It's called the ACLU ( American Civil Liberties Union) and they have been trying to get rid of Christmas for years and fail every year.

Site Link

Nobody can stop people from celebrating Christmas.
As well as worshipping the LORD. That power simply doesn't exist.

— Barry

[Anemone]

Trying to stop Christmas, eh? That's crazy. Actually, it's almost insulting. America was founded to escape religious persecution, so that group is not only pathetic, but it is unconstitutional. Ick.

Besides, what are they really fighting for? My friends who are Jewish or Muslim have never expressed the feeling that they are being persecuted. Even people who aren't very religious celebrate Christmas!

[Vorchia]

As far as I know nobody is 'trying to stop Christmas' over here. We do have a separation of Church and state and for us it IS the law even if its not strictly defined in the US. However a fragment of last years sillyness of 'not telling non Christians Merry Christmas' did make it to the Netherlands. I guess maybe even some tried to practise it but in general it didn't get seriously picked up and added to the social rules. The 'merry Christmas' is centuries old, you can't just remove it for misplaced attempts at 'political correctness' which are about as politically incorrect as it can get because it infringes upon the freedom of speech and religion. The separtion of church and state in the Netherlands would never be used to supress religion, just to try to prevent its abuse in government issues. Also it'd be fine a mess if all the Christians Muslims and Atheists in our government would start arguiing over the religious interpretations of law... Of course after 9-11 the social climate has gone colder and harder in my country too. But thats not just about religion, its about 9-11 and the chain of events that started, immigration policies, the economy and so many other things that fall outside the subject of this thread.

Back to the decorations at school.
Maybe I have not explained it properly and I have not told you ALL the facts, forgetting that they aren't commonplace fact for you guys... I guess I can't expect you Americans to understand it muchly if I don't explain the history of it. Here we go. A few years ago there was a new years party in a cute little cafe/bar in a village up north. Many young people were there, having a good time. Over there heads there hung a net and in the net there were lights and other Christmas decorations.
Then something went wrong with the lights and the net caught fire. It burned like dry wood and came down, on heads, on hands, on clothes. If you look at the labels of clothes you'll find many synthetic fibers that burn unusually well. Sadly the emergency exits were not well marked and even locked so there was no escape route. A group of teenagers were burned alive in the place, ironically called 'Heaven'. Those who could be rescued from the flames were mutilated forever. Do you know what it looks like when someone has been burned so badly they had to apply patches of new skin? Its hideous, it makes one so ugly it becomes nigh on impossible to have a normal social life. And these were just kids, teenagers with a whole life ahead of them. All because of bad Christmas lights and bad safety in general.
Of course this lead to a major scandal about fire hazard regulations, how they were being checked and politics was forced by public opinion (rage?) to improve up the fire regulations and the way they were being carried out.
Its not so much a thing against Christmas, its the horror of knowing how those kids died and the need to prevent a second disaster like that that makes the regulations so tight. It would have been the same had they been decorations for any other occasion.
Still the decorations at my school were set up safely enough. There's no way they could possibly block the exits when on fire, furthermore the firehose and other fire extinguishers are plain in sight and everybody in a laboratory school know how to handle them too. The school has many exits and even more ground level windows that can be broken if need be. The situation looked safe enough to me...
I don't mind if anyone refers to Christ/Mohammed/The Dalai Lama/Budda/religious holidays/their God/their holy book/etcetc. I think religious freedom is important. The freedom to be what you want to be, do what you want to do, live the life you want, speak your opinion, live and let live where-ever such is reasonably possible. I'll say Merry Christmas to everyone though I myself can't seem to bring myself to really believe in God and most people I know don't believe in God either. I tell people of other religions to have a happy holiday whenever they have one and I am aware of it.
Its a little silly to try to stop Christmas... So much has been lost already and even of Christmas there is not much left, not over here at least. Its a tree with lights and luxorious dinner with the family trying not to fight and American Christmas songs on the radio, thats all thats left of it over here. Sad but true, most of our traditions have gone. Most of them then are being replaced by Americanisms. The songs get really annoying really fast, I can sing them all along because there's only a limited number and the radio plays them CONSTANTLY... Of course it IS hillarious to hear what my siblings make of the English lyrics, for instance 'Jingle Bells' gets jumbled up very amusingly.

[Azonthus]

Well, the airport in Seattle just had to take out all of the Christmas trees because some Rabi complained that there wasn't a menorah. The airport officials decided that it would be easier to have no decorations than to search through every single culture and have to find something to represent their celebration.

The Christmas songs DO get annoying. I hate hearing the same version of the same song over and over and over and over when I know there are SO many songs out there. I have yet to hear We Three Kings on the radio, even on the station that plays only Christmas music, and that's one of my favorites!

[Vorchia]

I've never heard 'We three kings' but then again I am very often unaware of the title of songs I hear, let go the name of the artist. I don't usually put the radio on for myself so what I listen to are the things my family puts on or just the radio station thats being played constantly in the schoolcanteen.

[Barry]

I only listen to Christmas music when I'm at a Christmas party and on Christmas eve and Christmas day. The rest of the day is
regular music you hear everyday.

— Barry

[Anemone]

Then there are the weirdos like myself who listen to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in the middle of summer... Because they just rock. Hard. ;D

I agree with you on what America puts on the radio, Vorchia. I never turn it on during the holidays for fear of having my ears annoyed off by pop versions of all the old carols! We somehow manage to constantly exchange quality for quantity in popular music, no matter what the subject.

[Vorchia]

The classical station tends to a good alternative to the endless repeats.

[Aven Bluewing]

I kinda like the jazz-swing version of some Christmas songs, but with some, it just gets very annoying. I agree with you Anemone, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra ROCKS HARD!!!! The endless repetitions on the radio...eh...I like listening to the CDs and cassette tapes we have at home better.