Posted on 10/31/2005 10:00:31 AM PST by Ed Hudgins
Scared of Halloween By Edward Hudgins
Exective Director The Objectivist Center & Atlas Society ehudgins@objectivistcenter.org
October 31, 2005
Halloween has its origins in superstition and sadly, it invokes old and new superstitions still. Halloween, from "All Hallows Eve," was the evening before the Catholic All Saints Day and was supposed to be haunted by demons jealous of the holy day to follow. It also had roots in prehistoric Celtic mythology.
But in modern times it's developed into a fun day where children dress in ghoulish or cute costumes and canvass the neighborhood for candy while adults at masquerade parties imbibe more mature fare. Granted some juveniles get more into the tricks than the treats. And the occasional morbid-Goth youth can make it into an obsession with darkness and death, though they probably do that on the other 364 days of the year as well. But generally Halloween's about having fun.
Yet in our politically correct age this fall tradition is falling on hard times, under attack from, shall we say, rather diverse sides. Some extreme Christian groups oppose Halloween because the day represents the worship of Satan. Declares one Christian website, "Our forefathers recognized Halloween's association with the occult. The Pilgrims banned celebrating Halloween in America. The ban lasted until 1845." According to that site it was those damned Irish Catholics who raised that tradition from the dead.
On the other side of the—what to call it?—religious/political spectrum, in Canada a memo from the Toronto District School Board cautioned teachers that students from different backgrounds won't understand "the Christian, sexist demonization of pagan religious beliefs as 'fun.'" It went on to state that "Halloween is a religious day of significance for Wiccans and therefore should be treated respectfully." Wiccans are witches, that is, grow-ups who dress up funny but make a show of taking primitive superstitions seriously—worshipping the Earth-goddess Gia, magic spirits they imagine populate our world and the like.
And we find Europeans reacting against encroachments of Halloween back into the Old World from whence the tradition came. Some, like Catholic theologian Giordano Frosini, complain that it's a "manifestation of neo-paganism." But most nay-sayers just don't like American-style commercialization of that day—sales of costumes and candy—which, says Frosini, "undermines our cultural identify."
If you like to have fun on this day, fine. If not, if you think it's silly, fine as well. But it's sad that a jumble of competing superstitions and sensitivities are politicizing what was once a lark of a nice autumn night.
"OK ... OK .... I'll give up Halloween .... but I'm drawing a line in the sand on St. Patrick's day."
Come to where I live and you can draw a line in the urine and vomit adorning the streets at the end of St. Patrick's Day.
It's a plot by Big Orthodontry to drum up business. The dental amalgam makers are behind it.
I wish someone would take on St. Valentine's day, which is a day on which one half the population shakes down the other half, aided and abetted by Hallmark.
We had bonfires as a nighttime school event (at school)....those were the days.
How is Halloween "celebrating the worst in us"? I take no issue with the waist deep in corpses thing being somewhat of a buzz-kill, but a bunch of kids dressed up celebrates the worst in us?
Wow! ... Caroline Street must be in a rough neighborhood.
That's nice, but if everything really is matter in motion, then everything really is matter in motion. If everything reduces to matter in motion, then the terms "good" and "evil" must reduce to matter in motion, just like everything else.
That's the problem with reductionism --in this case, materialist reductionism.
Of course, good and evil exist, so materialism must be false.
Mebbee so. But it's still a day to venture into...the Dark Side...
Does anyone think he/she doesn't have...a Dark Side...?
Whoohoohahahahahahahahahaheeheeheeheeheehahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....!
Actually, I'm referring to Scranton, PA's St. Patty's Day festivities. I believe it is the second largest in the country. Last year, my husband and I were talked into doing the drinkfest, which started at 7:30 a.m. We ditched our friends by 9:15 a.m., went to our car and went home (sober, no less). Never saw a bigger bunch of drunken idiots in my entire life. At least not in celebration of a "saint".
Rand was a moral absolutist. She just insisted that the only way to arrive at the proper morals was by reason. Many who appreciate her work also criticize aspects of it that don't stand up to reason (principally abortion). Like the rest of us, she wasn't perfect. She did have plenty to offer, as the persistence of her ideas, even among Christians, indicates.
The people who are opposed to halloween need to take a step back and really ask themselves if they are choosing their battles wisely.
Which is funny because in a universe composed only of matter in motion, moralizing seems a bit silly, doesn't it?
No it doesn't.
Earth-goddess Gia
That's Gaia, you know.
And how is that PC? C'mon, a chocolate cake with white filling obviously named after Don King? Where's the ACLU? Where's Je$$e Jackson?
Well, 7:30 A.M. is a bit much. It sounds like you thin out the herd once a year in Scranton.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.