Tired of all this pumpkin and plastic skeleton crap everywhere. Thanks, marketing ghouls rage-cry

What, are we going to start celebrating the 4th of July next? Might as well with the NATO membership I guess

  • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I’m not sure how to break this to you, but Halloween is European. Halloween was invented in Ireland, from the pagan celebration of Samhain. Even the practice of dressing up in costume and going from door to door asking for food is recorded as of the 16th century at the latest. Pranks, as well as “Mischief Night,” also dates from the 18th century at the latest. This is all pre-Americanisation. It’s not a continental European tradition but it’s certainly European, not American.

  • Ericthescruffy [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    When the communist revolution happens not only will Halloween remain as an informal Holiday: All saint day will become an official federal holiday to ensure there is no work or school the day after!

      • LeylaLove [she/her, love/loves]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        It doesn’t, but it’s also the only truly communal American holiday. Christmas creates a lot of good will amongst people, I know my union my Grandma represented adopted HUNDREDS of families for adopt-a-christmas every year. However Christmas is still about. But modern Christmas is still based in celebrating your family, not people as a whole. Adopting other families isn’t essential for a Christmas celebration. Halloween is a day for children to walk around feeling cool in their costumes, get candy, and just have a good day. It’s the one day of year Americans can actually knock on their neighbors door without it being weird. Even St. Patrick’s day, the second most communal holiday in America, is entirely based around parades and not homes.

        On one hand, I don’t think Halloween would mean much to nations with closer communal ties. I get why other nations don’t understand why America loves Halloween so much. On the other hand, Halloween’s cultural significance of being the only inherently community building holiday in America makes it a more worthy holiday than many others. With how alienated people are becoming from each other, I think Halloween is a more important holiday in America than ever.

    • Vampire [any]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      WTF is this thread?

      Americans are trying to claim Halowe’en as their thing now??

      Fucking stop trying to make yourselves the main characters.

      Idiocy.

  • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netM
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    1 year ago

    Halloween comes free with your subscription to movie & tv monoculture having happened.

    Sorry, boomers existed and they made capitalism mandatory, and now we’re stuck with the consequences forever.

  • PKMKII [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    TBF doing a big ass Fourth of July display in England would be a pretty funny troll job. Especially if you played up the French collaboration angle.

  • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Halloween? At least it got some social meaning behind it.

    Wait until you realize how many countries specialy in the global south have “Black Friday” discounts now. I don’t think there is anything quite as pathetic other than being a literal gusano.

    Anyway one of the best examples of cultural imperialism by capitalism, shoving some meaningless sign in the language of the imperial core to signify a holiday that these people don’t even celebrate.

    I don’t know if there is a better source somewhere or if it was discussed before, but anyway its quite obvious even on the wiki entry just look at the around the world section and you’ll notice it literaly became a thing “overnight”, since 2010s with the growth of online retail around the world.

    Actualy thinking about it now its quite scary to think, western capitalism was extremely effective here.

  • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I don’t think that anyone in their right mind would say that we are suffering from an overabundance of joy in the world.

    Nobody is forcing you to celebrate Halloween but it’s okay to abide people having harmless fun. Life is short and far too often it’s filled with misery and suffering and there’s no need to add to your own misery unnecessarily, especially when it’s because other people are celebrating.

    At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love [for the people]. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.

    — Che Guevara

      • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        I don’t disagree with this take.

        But until we build strong, healthy, connected communities that centre alternative activities which bring joy to people outside of vapid consumerism then this is what people will gravitate towards for experiencing joy. That’s not the fault of the people who are surrounded by commercialism who effectively have no other options available to them, any more than it’s the fault of kids who grow up in a suburban hellscape surrounded by busy roads (patrolled by cops who will arrest them on any pretext) with little access to recreational third spaces for spending all their time indoors on social media and gaming.

        We must remind ourselves to be materialists in all things, including this matter. The material reality that fosters this sort of vapid commercial exercise is the problem and the exercise itself is merely a consequence of this reality. The people who participate in it are just trying to have fun and to take part in a community celebration with what’s available to them.

        I’m not saying that your opposition to this is wrong but it’s important that we don’t misplace our frustrations by blaming people for this. It’s people like you and I who know better and yet if we haven’t put in effort to make something outside of this late capitalist hellscape to prove to people that there are better options then, if anything, we are more to blame for the state of things than the person who lacks class consciousness and who just goes along with the Halloween trend because, essentially, they don’t know any better.

        • LeylaLove [she/her, love/loves]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          Glad someone explained this better than I could. Halloween is essentially the only holiday in America where people come together just to make a good day for the kids. As long as there is no real community centers in America, events that foster community are essential for the working class. The closest holiday we have that’s just a community celebration is St. Patrick’s, and that’s still centralized around parades and being 21+ instead of just the normal people around you. It’s the one day of the year that Americans can knock on their neighbors door without any real concern.

          Halloween is extremely consumerist because everything in America is consumerist. But Halloween being the most popular holiday in America is a function of worker’s alienation from each other. Trunk or treat is a great example of this. People in rural areas with no real way to walk to each other’s houses just pull up to a school parking lot with enough candy for kids to walk around 3-4 times. We buy $30 dollars worth of candy for the sole purpose of giving it to other people, we buy cheap yard decorations to make our community happy. It’s the only American holiday that we’re supposed to give to the greater community.