NationStates Jolt Archive


Kill a Tree for Christ...

THE LOST PLANET
05-12-2005, 05:47
Man, I hate this time of year... so much wrong with it.. so much hypocrisy. But this little rant is about one of the aspects of this season that I just can't reconcile with... Christmas Trees! Spare me the history lecture about this particular tradition, I've heard it. In this day and age how can the mass killing of evergreens still be a part of the season of 'peace on earth'? Even without getting into the morality of killing a living thing in the name of Christ, how smart is it to bring a large item that increases in flamability over the weeks proceeding the holiday into your home and cover it in cheap, crappy electical wiring?

Christmas Trees... I say it's time for them to go the way of eight-track tape players and beta videorecorders. If there really is a need for some repository for Christmas presents before the big day, surely there is something we can come up with better than killing a spruce and dragging it into our homes.
Dakini
05-12-2005, 05:50
Well, it woudln't be a christian holiday if they didn't steal every element of the pagan holiday that spawned it.
Colodia
05-12-2005, 05:51
Yes. We'll save time and execute the trees in front of their families.
Lacadaemon
05-12-2005, 05:51
are you some type of vegetable rights activist or something?
The South Islands
05-12-2005, 05:51
Yes. We'll save time and execute the trees in front of their families.

Perhaps with oxygen gas chambers?
Foe Hammer
05-12-2005, 05:53
Man, I hate this time of year... so much wrong with it.. so much hypocrisy. But this little rant is about one of the aspects of this season that I just can't reconcile with... Christmas Trees! Spare me the history lecture about this particular tradition, I've heard it. In this day and age how can the mass killing of evergreens still be a part of the season of 'peace on earth'? Even without getting into the morality of killing a living thing in the name of Christ, how smart is it to bring a large item that increases in flamability over the weeks proceeding the holiday into your home and cover it in cheap, crappy electical wiring?

Christmas Trees... I say it's time for them to go the way of eight-track tape players and beta videorecorders. If there really is a need for some repository for Christmas presents before the big day, surely there is something we can come up with better than killing a spruce and dragging it into our homes.

I use a fake tree.
Kinda Sensible people
05-12-2005, 05:55
The next step in the liberal war on christmas; denude the world of christmas trees! Long shall we pine after that tradition! They shall be gone but not fir-gotten!

Happy holid - I mean Merry Christmas, folks!
THE LOST PLANET
05-12-2005, 05:55
are you some type of vegetable rights activist or something?
:rolleyes: No, but I hate blatant waste and consumerism. It wouldn't bother me if there was some point to it all...
MegaUltimatropolis
05-12-2005, 05:56
fake trees, agreed problem solved
The South Islands
05-12-2005, 05:56
:rolleyes: No, but I hate blatant waste and consumerism. It wouldn't bother me if there was some point to it all...

Tradition?
The Eliki
05-12-2005, 05:57
It's not like they're cutting down rainforests. I live in Boone, NC, where a great number of Christmas trees are harvested. But they're all grown for the explicit purpose of being sold as Christmas trees, and I've seen them plant two for every one they cut down. This is a renewable resource. They're farmed firs and spruces, not free-range great redwoods or mahoganies.
[NS]The-Republic
05-12-2005, 05:57
Long shall we pine after that tradition!
Hehe.
The South Islands
05-12-2005, 05:57
Free range trees...just sounds funny to me.
THE LOST PLANET
05-12-2005, 05:57
I use a fake tree.Yeah that makes it all better. Fake a pointless tradition with cheap plastic... that will make the inevitable electrical fire all that much more toxic...
Dakini
05-12-2005, 05:59
Yeah that makes it all better. Fake a pointless tradition with cheap plastic... that will make the inevitable electrical fire all that much more toxic...
Uh... My family has like 5 christmas trees every year and we've never had a fire.

It's called investing in good lights.

Seriously man, christmas lights are like the best thing about the whole holiday to be quite honest. I mean, when it's dark at 5 pm there's nothing like following a well light street full of brightly coloured houses.
Lacadaemon
05-12-2005, 06:00
:rolleyes: No, but I hate blatant waste and consumerism. It wouldn't bother me if there was some point to it all...

It doesn't seem all that bad to me. Most people in my neighborhood get their trees for around $20-30 from a nice Jewish guy who owns a christmas tree farm in Connecticut.

I mean, I can see being against blatant waste and all, but christmas trees seem pretty minor in the scale of things. Halloween for example.

Maybe the people around you are going to far with it, and spoiling it for you.

Note: I myself do not have a tree, because I don't do christmas. I am more than willing to hang dead animals from the trees in Van Cortland park to celebrate Jule, if anyone wants to join me.
Foe Hammer
05-12-2005, 06:01
Yeah that makes it all better. Fake a pointless tradition with cheap plastic... that will make the inevitable electrical fire all that much more toxic...
If it's not so much better than cutting down a real tree and sticking it in your house, what would you suggest? A metal tree? You'd just cut yourself on it. And sparks would fly if exposed wiring hit it, and it would catch the carpet or your pets on fire. Then they would frantically run around and burn down the house much faster. A paper tree... is just plain stupid. A wreath, same deal as the tree. Would you approve of a Buddy Christ?
THE LOST PLANET
05-12-2005, 06:01
Tradition?Gimme a break... we manufacture 'traditions' in this country. Christmas cards, Christmas lights, Santa in the Mall... If we can create them we can put them out to pasture.
The South Islands
05-12-2005, 06:02
Gimme a break... we manufacture 'traditions' in this country. Christmas cards, Christmas lights, Santa in the Mall... If we can create them we can put them out to pasture.

So? It's my tradition. For Generations, my family has had a christmas tree.
Europa Maxima
05-12-2005, 06:03
If it's not so much better than cutting down a real tree and sticking it in your house, what would you suggest? A metal tree? You'd just cut yourself on it. And sparks would fly if exposed wiring hit it, and it would catch the carpet or your pets on fire. Then they would frantically run around and burn down the house much faster. A paper tree... is just plain stupid. A wreath, same deal as the tree. Would you approve of a Buddy Christ?
I wonder if he even has a point. He seems to be whining just for the sake of whining.
Foe Hammer
05-12-2005, 06:03
Gimme a break... we manufacture 'traditions' in this country. Christmas cards, Christmas lights, Santa in the Mall... If we can create them we can put them out to pasture.
Let me guess... you cut your finger on a christmas card, couldn't get the cellophane off of the light packages, and the mall didn't hire you for that Santa Claus position. Close?
The South Islands
05-12-2005, 06:04
I wonder if he even has a point. He seems to be whining just for the sake of whining.
With an odd font to boot.
Harlesburg
05-12-2005, 06:04
Man, I hate this time of year... so much wrong with it.. so much hypocrisy. But this little rant is about one of the aspects of this season that I just can't reconcile with... Christmas Trees! Spare me the history lecture about this particular tradition, I've heard it. In this day and age how can the mass killing of evergreens still be a part of the season of 'peace on earth'? Even without getting into the morality of killing a living thing in the name of Christ, how smart is it to bring a large item that increases in flamability over the weeks proceeding the holiday into your home and cover it in cheap, crappy electical wiring?

Christmas Trees... I say it's time for them to go the way of eight-track tape players and beta videorecorders. If there really is a need for some repository for Christmas presents before the big day, surely there is something we can come up with better than killing a spruce and dragging it into our homes.
You are just a plain Kiljoy.
Kinda Sensible people
05-12-2005, 06:06
You are just a plain Kiljoy.

In the case of this particular holiday, I beleive the phrase is Scrouge (although that might be one of those serious plagues in the Middle Ages :D ).
Foe Hammer
05-12-2005, 06:08
In the case of this particular holiday, I beleive the phrase is Scrouge (although that might be one of those serious plagues in the Middle Ages :D ).
Scrooge :P

I think "scourge" is what you mean by the plague.
Virtuous Tranquility
05-12-2005, 06:13
How does creating something, just too then kill it before its time, make any sense? Then do this at the same time every year, and for what? :rolleyes:


http://www.buynothingchristmas.org
http://www.adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/bnd_xmas/
CanuckHeaven
05-12-2005, 06:13
Man, I hate this time of year... so much wrong with it.. so much hypocrisy. But this little rant is about one of the aspects of this season that I just can't reconcile with... Christmas Trees! Spare me the history lecture about this particular tradition, I've heard it. In this day and age how can the mass killing of evergreens still be a part of the season of 'peace on earth'? Even without getting into the morality of killing a living thing in the name of Christ, how smart is it to bring a large item that increases in flamability over the weeks proceeding the holiday into your home and cover it in cheap, crappy electical wiring?

Christmas Trees... I say it's time for them to go the way of eight-track tape players and beta videorecorders. If there really is a need for some repository for Christmas presents before the big day, surely there is something we can come up with better than killing a spruce and dragging it into our homes.
Every year for the past twenty years, my sons and I have gone to a tree farm to cut down a tree that was specifically grown for that purpose.

What is the problem?

I get to spend some quality time with my boys, get some fresh air, and support employment for many individuals.

Merry Christmas to all who are inclined to celebrate the birth of Christ.
THE LOST PLANET
05-12-2005, 06:13
I wonder if he even has a point. He seems to be whining just for the sake of whining.Whining? Isn't that the staple of this forum? Who are you to dis my rant? As a matter of fact I do have a point, it's that the teachings of Christ are totally at odds with the concept of pointless killing of living things on a mass scale. Why associate this outdated pagan ritual with this holiday at all? And although my talk of fires was half in jest it is a sad fact that there are many tragic deaths every year due to them. I was rather hoping the misguided minds of this forum could come up with a creative alternative to the dangerous and immoral concept of the Christmas Tree...
Lacadaemon
05-12-2005, 06:16
Whining? Isn't that the staple of this forum? Who are you to dis my rant? As a matter of fact I do have a point, it's that the teachings of Christ are totally at odds with the concept of pointless killing of living things on a mass scale. Why associate this outdated pagan ritual with this holiday at all? And although my talk of fires was half in jest it is a sad fact that there are many tragic deaths every year due to them. I was rather hoping the misguided minds of this forum could come up with a creative alternative to the dangerous and immoral concept of the Christmas Tree...

If someone doesn't turn that frown upside down, I know a naughty boy that won't get a visit from Santa this year.
Tesspresstia
05-12-2005, 06:20
Even without getting into the morality of killing a living thing in the name of Christ...

this is a good point.
I've stopped eating because of my devotion to the baby jesus.
his spirit alone has kept me alive for dozens of years.
THE LOST PLANET
05-12-2005, 06:20
If someone doesn't turn that frown upside down, I know a naughty boy that won't get a visit from Santa this year.Oh pleeez.... I've been playing 'Santa' myself for a quarter century.



Besides, do you really think I'm typing this with a straight face?
Lacadaemon
05-12-2005, 06:22
Besides, do you really think I'm typing this with a straight face?
[/B]

Your choice of font was a bit of a giveaway
THE LOST PLANET
05-12-2005, 06:24
Your choice of font was a bit of a giveawayAh, you caught on to the 'bold comic', good for you.
The Eliki
05-12-2005, 06:34
How does creating something, just too then kill it before its time, make any sense? Then do this at the same time every year, and for what? :rolleyes: Well, they do it with just about any animal you've ever eaten. Fruits and vegetables, too. Why not trees?
THE LOST PLANET
05-12-2005, 06:37
Well, they do it with just about any animal you've ever eaten. Fruits and vegetables, too. Why not trees?Perhaps you missed the 'pointless' part.

Unless you actually eat your Christmas Tree at the end of the season...
Phillinstine
05-12-2005, 06:38
Friggin Hippy:) lol just jks
THE LOST PLANET
05-12-2005, 06:40
Friggin Hippy:) lol just jksYeah... So?
The Similized world
05-12-2005, 06:44
Note: I myself do not have a tree, because I don't do christmas. I am more than willing to hang dead animals from the trees in Van Cortland park to celebrate Jule, if anyone wants to join me.
I'm pretty sure the animals are supposed to be alive when you string 'em up.
Lacadaemon
05-12-2005, 06:51
I'm pretty sure the animals are supposed to be alive when you string 'em up.

But you leave them there until they are dead though, right? Otherwise, I am not doing it.
Gayaqual
05-12-2005, 07:13
I agree! Let's stop cutting down innocent trees that never hurt anybody. I motion we go after the U.S. Politicians. Cut them off at the knees and spike them on a tree stand. Be sure to give them lots of water so they stay green. I would recommend the Republican brand myself, the Democrats tend to go yellow sooner. Puts a whole new term on "Green" party doesn't it?

Anyhow, so we wait for rigomortus to set in, then stick their arms straight out. That would be great for hanging cheap christmas lights on them. Oooh! Let's string them into their mouths. It'll be the only time a light will ever go on inside the head of a politician. Shocking isn't it?

Seriously, though. These trees are bred specifically for christmas tree use. They are planted on plots of land that would usually be used for some comercialistic scheme if we didn't put a little green there ourselves. It keeps the area beautiful for the rest of the year, increases jobs, and grows trees that wouldn't have otherwise existed. Plus, fires happen to STUPID people. And the people who die in those fires are STUPID and have no right to live anyways. A few hundred christmas tree fires was enough to convince electritcians to redesign the lights, and besides, if you keep the tree green (A.K.A. GIVE IT WATER!!!) then it is not a fire hazard (you set wet wood on fire, I dare you) and it's not dead, now is it?

Of course, there is the after-christmas time. In that case, you can easily put the tree to other uses. Once it dries out, it could be used for firewood (for those outdoors camping enthusiasts, or those with fireplaces) and the needles would make great tender. Or if you want to be philanthropic about it, give the tree to someone who is less fortunate so they can burn it to prevent hypothermia, frost bite, and all of those other fun medical conditions that come with freezing your a** off because you are too poor to buy heating for your home (not neccessarily because it is your fault, but because the economy is psychotic).

If none of these options are practical for you and you can't come up with a use for a retired christmas tree, then you are a disgrace to the human race who put man on the freakin' moon! C'mon people, we have brains, let's start using them dammit!!! It is not senseless killing if we are intelligent about it! And we could very well be benefiting people in ways that would have never happened if this paegan/christian holiday never included the use of trees!

Excuse any spelling errors, I go to public school.

I leave you with these words for you to ponder (if you are able) by saying: I use a fake tree.

***********
:mp5:, :sniper:, and other wholesome activities.
The Similized world
05-12-2005, 07:16
But you leave them there until they are dead though, right? Otherwise, I am not doing it.
Obviously. It's a ritual invented by humans after all - you didn't honestly think the critters wouls survive, did you?

Incidentially, if you're nore satisfied with one of your slaves, you can string it up & gut it instead. Supposedly that's even better than killing a horse. If you happen to be a general or something similar, I think a good way to get around our silly 21st century laws would be to order your soldiers to strap trees on their backs.
Gayaqual
05-12-2005, 07:23
Whining? Isn't that the staple of this forum? Who are you to dis my rant? As a matter of fact I do have a point, it's that the teachings of Christ are totally at odds with the concept of pointless killing of living things on a mass scale. Why associate this outdated pagan ritual with this holiday at all? And although my talk of fires was half in jest it is a sad fact that there are many tragic deaths every year due to them. I was rather hoping the misguided minds of this forum could come up with a creative alternative to the dangerous and immoral concept of the Christmas Tree...

You know it. Who need a point to rant and rave?
Lacadaemon
05-12-2005, 07:27
Obviously. It's a ritual invented by humans after all - you didn't honestly think the critters wouls survive, did you?

Incidentially, if you're nore satisfied with one of your slaves, you can string it up & gut it instead. Supposedly that's even better than killing a horse. If you happen to be a general or something similar, I think a good way to get around our silly 21st century laws would be to order your soldiers to strap trees on their backs.

I am not hanging my horse up there. He's far too valuable.

Also, I don't have any slaves, can I use mexican day laborers instead? or am I restricted to people with H1b visas.
The Squeaky Rat
05-12-2005, 07:29
The next step in the liberal war on christmas; denude the world of christmas trees!

Nono - this is from the *Christian* war on Christmas trees. After all, Christmas is only for christians and the tree does not belong in the Christian feast :P
The Jah People
05-12-2005, 07:46
1. This thread is funny as hell.
Not because of the content, but rather by how serious some people have taken the thread.

2. I am not religious, but since Christmas trees have a conncetion with religion. . .
"[The Book of Jeremiah 10]

1 Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus says the LORD:
Do not learn the way of the nations,
or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens;
for the nations are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are false:
a tree from the forest is cut down,
and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan;
4 people deck it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so that it cannot move.
5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil,
nor is it in them to do good."

Anyway, dosen't this thread remind anybody else of that episode of the Simpsons where Bart melts the X-mas tree with the fire truck and buries it under the snow in the front lawn?

Lizards eat pumpkin pie, too.
Megaloria
05-12-2005, 07:50
Where Would We Put The Presents
The Similized world
05-12-2005, 07:53
I am not hanging my horse up there. He's far too valuable.

Also, I don't have any slaves, can I use mexican day laborers instead? or am I restricted to people with H1b visas.
While I don't have any horsies, I can sympathise. Besides, who'd want to hang around a hanged animal that reeks of piss?

I'm pretty sure Mexican day laborers qualify as slaves. After all, if that's not 21st century slavery, what is?

By the way, don't forget to get drunk before you pour your beer on the ground.
The Similized world
05-12-2005, 07:54
Where Would We Put The Presents
On the floor maybe? Does it really matter whether there's a tree on top?
Megaloria
05-12-2005, 07:56
On the floor maybe? Does it really matter whether there's a tree on top?

Yes
The Similized world
05-12-2005, 07:58
Yes
You can always pile them up around your woody - assuming you're equipped with one. If not, just hire a male stripper.
Strobovia
05-12-2005, 08:02
I use a fake tree.
What?! Plastic never decompose! You'll just kill the trees slower that way.
Better kill them rightaway then.
The Squeaky Rat
05-12-2005, 08:14
Where Would We Put The Presents

In the socks on the fireplace, or in the shoes next to it of course. Huge presents after all are unchristian :P
The South Islands
05-12-2005, 08:15
In the socks on the fireplace, or in the shoes next to it of course. Huge presents after all are unchristian :P

Your mom was unchristian last night.

*burn*

:fluffle:
Kriegspiere
05-12-2005, 08:21
Man, I hate this time of year... so much wrong with it.. so much hypocrisy. But this little rant is about one of the aspects of this season that I just can't reconcile with... Christmas Trees! Spare me the history lecture about this particular tradition, I've heard it. In this day and age how can the mass killing of evergreens still be a part of the season of 'peace on earth'? Even without getting into the morality of killing a living thing in the name of Christ, how smart is it to bring a large item that increases in flamability over the weeks proceeding the holiday into your home and cover it in cheap, crappy electical wiring?

Christmas Trees... I say it's time for them to go the way of eight-track tape players and beta videorecorders. If there really is a need for some repository for Christmas presents before the big day, surely there is something we can come up with better than killing a spruce and dragging it into our homes.
Hate to tell ya big guy but beta's are used very commonly still, they have higher quality
The Squeaky Rat
05-12-2005, 08:27
Your mom was unchristian last night.

My father was a testtube, and my mother was a knife :P
The South Islands
05-12-2005, 08:29
My father was a testtube, and my mother was a knife :P

I see...

*runs away*
THE LOST PLANET
05-12-2005, 08:29
Hate to tell ya big guy but beta's are used very commonly still, they have higher qualityYou're illustrating my point perfectly, thank you. I'd like the same fate for Christmas Trees. Out of general use, but who cares if a few weirdos keep one around...:D
The Squeaky Rat
05-12-2005, 08:31
I see...

*runs away*

Actually it should have been the other way around I fear... but who cares about gender these days ;)

A cookie for people who know where the (corrected) quote is from.
Mikemay
05-12-2005, 08:55
Man, I hate this time of year... so much wrong with it.. so much hypocrisy. But this little rant is about one of the aspects of this season that I just can't reconcile with... Christmas Trees! Spare me the history lecture about this particular tradition, I've heard it. In this day and age how can the mass killing of evergreens still be a part of the season of 'peace on earth'? Even without getting into the morality of killing a living thing in the name of Christ, how smart is it to bring a large item that increases in flamability over the weeks proceeding the holiday into your home and cover it in cheap, crappy electical wiring?

Christmas Trees... I say it's time for them to go the way of eight-track tape players and beta videorecorders. If there really is a need for some repository for Christmas presents before the big day, surely there is something we can come up with better than killing a spruce and dragging it into our homes.

You know whats better, burning that spruce in your fireplace afterwards!
Spare us, I am pro enviornment myself, but these come from farms, they're not exactly cutting large chunks of forest out.
I bet you'll be really pissed when I tell you I celebrate Christmas with an annual deer hunt!
Kriegspiere
05-12-2005, 09:05
You're illustrating my point perfectly, thank you. I'd like the same fate for Christmas Trees. Out of general use, but who cares if a few weirdos keep one around...:D
I'm pretty sure the term "commonly" means its more than a few weirdos
Harlesburg
05-12-2005, 09:10
In the case of this particular holiday, I beleive the phrase is Scrouge (although that might be one of those serious plagues in the Middle Ages :D ).
http://67.18.37.16/1381/85/emo/laugh.gifhttp://67.18.37.16/1381/85/emo/laugh.gifhttp://67.18.37.16/1381/85/emo/laugh.gifhttp://67.18.37.16/1381/85/emo/laugh.gifhttp://67.18.37.16/1381/85/emo/laugh.gif
*Swims in a Vault of Pennies*
BackwoodsSquatches
05-12-2005, 11:42
Man, I hate this time of year... so much wrong with it.. so much hypocrisy. But this little rant is about one of the aspects of this season that I just can't reconcile with... Christmas Trees! Spare me the history lecture about this particular tradition, I've heard it. In this day and age how can the mass killing of evergreens still be a part of the season of 'peace on earth'? Even without getting into the morality of killing a living thing in the name of Christ, how smart is it to bring a large item that increases in flamability over the weeks proceeding the holiday into your home and cover it in cheap, crappy electical wiring?

Christmas Trees... I say it's time for them to go the way of eight-track tape players and beta videorecorders. If there really is a need for some repository for Christmas presents before the big day, surely there is something we can come up with better than killing a spruce and dragging it into our homes.

Preach on brotha man!

Burn them damn trees!

Oh wait..

Or you could just buy a plastic flame-retardant one like I got.
Looks just as good, and you aint gotta pick up any damn pine needles afterward.
Monkeypimp
05-12-2005, 11:50
Aren't almost all christmas trees grown specifically to be christmas trees?
The Charr
05-12-2005, 11:55
The only live Christmas tree I've ever had is still alive and well in my back garden, being many years old now. Just replant them when you're done with them and they're fine. Since then I've had a plastic tree -- it lasts forever without any extra cost. As do the lights, aside from the occasional need for bulb replacement.

In a world where people are literally crawling over each other and fighting each other to get the most desirable toys of the year on the 24th of December, you are picking Christmas trees as an example of rampant consumerism?!