Programmer Humor

Santa isn't red and white for no reason

I prefer this variant from the Pennsylvania Dutch, originating in the early 1800s.

And their opinion is that this is unacceptable and outrageous.

What is it like?

We've stopped with presents in my family, except for the kids. And they don't get showered in them, a few things they really want, preferably cheap. Everyone else just wants nice food and family coziness.

Cool, so it's still worth eschewing /s

I would like to note though that xmas is a very sore time of year for a lot of people (mostly queer, but others too) who do not have a good relationship with their family

I just use it to have a merry time with my family. Corporations try to co-opt everything; Christmas is no different. Is Pride about honoring greed and capitalism just because companies make everything rainbow? No, and neither is Christmas even though they try their best with that too. The only difference is buying gifts, but Christmas is about more than that, and homemade gifts are always an option.

Isn't capitalism a religion?

Well, they took inspiration from Clement Clarke Moore's (1922) "Twas the night before Christmas" and illustrations from Thomas Nast (1881) showing him in red with the sack over his shoulder. Certainly, Coca Cola has solidified the modern image with their ad campaign though starting in 1931. Src

Love the fact that this spawned new issues complaining about the debugger icon promoting violence against insects.

Wait, did I read that correctly and they replaced the hat with a snowflake?? Hahahaha

And yes, people often forget that generally offense is taken. When it's intentionally given, it's pretty clear.

Jesus Christ what is wrong with people... Microsoft giving in to a clear troll, surprised they didn't just lock and ignore that shit and move on.

I don't think Santa = swastika but it is super tiresome when Halloween ends and suddenly there's Christmas shit everywhere. I know it's more a factor of capitalism than Christianity, but it even infects the meager Hanukkah end caps we get. There's frequently products being sold that are clearly just Christmas goods painted blue and white (argh) paraded around as Hanukkah goods. Fuckin blue and white pine tree tchotchkes? C'mon what the fuck is that? Hell, one year I saw "chocolate Maccabes" which were literally just chocolate Santa candies in a different foil.

It's all expected, it happens every year (though the holiday seems to take up more of the calendar each year), but damn is it tiresome. And don't get me started on the music!

Or equate a santa hat to a religious symbol.