Merry capitalismas

By:  December 20, 2008 Categories: 

So I red this article about a Christmas tree, costing 11 million dollar, being unveiled in a hotel in Abu Dhabi. If you didn’t know yet, Abu Dhabi, part of the United Arab Emirates, isn’t concidered a Christian country.

74% of it’s population is muslim. In fact, Abu Dhabi even banned Blackberry phones for “potentially violating Islamic Law” and put a couple in jail for one year for kissing in public. Yet they erect ginormous multimillion Christmas tree. For what? To celebrate the birth of the son of God?

To me, this is the proof Christmas is no longer a Christian holiday. It became phony. A holiday to celebrate materialism and greed. The capitalist way. Why else do we buy tons and tons of crappy Christmas gifts, things we don’t even need? Do Christians honestly believe that’s still in line with their religion? Or how do they justify the billions and billions of Christmas lights on their houses? Is that really what Jesus would have wanted? Apart from that, I don’t see how that fits with the whole “going green” hype lately. It seems as if around Christmas we don’t care anymore.

Don’t get me wrong though, I don’t dislike Christmas. The nature of Christmas is wider than the principles of any religion. It expresses good will in a cheerful, happy and free way.

But to say Christmas is a holiday exclusivly for Christianity is incorrect, hence I call it a capitalist holiday. Not least for sales going up to like, 15% compared to other seasons.

Latest

Dit is ook China review

Dit is ook China review

I really liked ‘Dit is ook China’ by Cindy Zhu Huijgen. It isn’t a perfect book, but it’s a very nice read. And when you finish it — rather than feeling relieved you’re done — you’re glad you read it, and glad you’re a person who reads books. Before starting, I was a bit discouraged […]
October 26, 2026
Travel plugs

Travel plugs

In our new house, many appliances still get their power through a travel adapter. Eight years in China was long enough to not only put down roots and settle in, but also for everything we owned to end in a Chinese plug: my MacBook, the coffee machine, the rice cooker, the baby monitor. The appliances […]
September 21, 2026
Twenty-three years

Twenty-three years

In June we moved back to the Netherlands, six suitcases across 8000 kilometres, and after a brief spell at my parents’ place, we moved into our own home. This second move also involved putting down carpet, curtains, buying appliances and furniture — so that our new garage quickly filled with cardboard boxes and other packaging […]
August 29, 2026
Searching for meadows

Searching for meadows

Our new home in the Netherlands sits in a mundane residential area full of young families like ours. The street name comes from made (‘meadow’), still referring to a field that once lay here and now survives only in the name (just how the name Shanghai refers to a river that no longer exists). And […]
August 5, 2026