{"id":257,"date":"2013-12-20T09:58:07","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T09:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dave0.nfshost.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2013\/12\/20\/on-micro-agression-and-macro-depression-and-xmasxanukah-with-bonus-tracks\/"},"modified":"2019-12-17T19:15:03","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T00:15:03","slug":"on-micro-agression-and-macro-depression-and-xmasxanukah-with-bonus-tracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2013\/12\/on-micro-agression-and-macro-depression-and-xmasxanukah-with-bonus-tracks\/","title":{"rendered":"On Micro-agression and Macro-depression and Xmas\/Xanukah (with bonus tracks!!!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey All,
\nI continue to write a monthly column for the Ann Arbor Chronicle<\/i>. This time around it’s on math and Jews and *The Holidays* and microagression and Thoth and Ganeesh and Hobby Lobby and so on. Somewhere in the later half I say something like this:
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\nThe Ann Arbor Chronicle | In It For The Money: Happy Holidays!<\/a><\/p>\n

\n. . .
\nThis is incredibly frustrating \u2013 because the equivalence, driven by a well-intentioned desire to be inclusive \u2013 is so needless. Xanukah isn\u2019t a \u201cJewish Xmas.\u201d It\u2019s Xanukah \u2013 a relatively minor religious holiday celebrating a military victory. If anything, it\u2019s sort of a Jewish Fourth of July \u2013 which is more apt, but just as nonsensical. Similarly, Ramadan isn\u2019t a \u201cMuslim Lent,\u201d Diwali isn\u2019t \u201cHindu Halloween\u201d \u2013 or even a \u201cHindu Xanukah,\u201d despite the fact that Diwali is also the \u201cFestival of Lights.\u201d
\nInclusion is nice, but you do it by including others in the stuff you are doing, not by arguing that their things are sub-functions of yours. We\u2019re not idiots; we haven\u2019t failed to notice that the entirely secular \u201cHoliday Break\u201d from school conveniently centers around Xmas and the Gregorian calendar roll-over date, and that \u201cSpring Break\u201d is aimed to coincide with Easter \u2013 not Passover.
\nOne of the principal privileges of being in the Majority is that you get to be, by definition, \u201cnormal.\u201d You don\u2019t find yourself constantly contradicted by outsiders \u2013 well-meaning television shows and well-wishers and folks planning office parties \u2013 as to what your holy days mean. You don\u2019t have to wrestle with autocorrect about the spelling of your holidays and well wishes. You don\u2019t have to disclose a lot of personal details to explain why this or that day is no good for a meeting, because no one schedules a meeting for December 25th.
\n. . .<\/div>\n

BONUS GIFT! Back in the day I used to record Holiday Music of my Own Devising, because it was fun, and because when push comes to shove, from a strumming-and-singing-and-programming-sequencers perspective, there are *a lot* of great Xmas songs. Here are my offerings, in reverse chronological order. Enjoy!
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