Monkey Log | The Evolution of Society » Politics

The Origins of Christmas

Mr. Monkey — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:37:19 +0000

Have you ever wondered what modern day Christmas celebrations have to do with the birth of Jesus Christ? If so, you’ve probably found yourself asking what chocolate eggs and bunnies have to do with Easter as well. To find the answer, you have look at the history of how these traditions came to be. Since tonight is the winter solstice, I find it appropriate to have a look at the origins of Christmas and its Pagan roots.

Come again? Pagan? What is that?

Paganism is a word that describes religions that are Earth-based or nature-based. Long before the current major monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, were around, people worshipped the environment around them and personified nature into Gods and Goddesses. Pagan Gods are not simply replacements for Allah or the Judeo-Christian God, they encompass everything in nature, including the people themselves.

Pagans celebrate natural cycles such as the four solar quarters, the two equinoxes, and the two solstices. The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, was known as Yule. This was thought of as the rebirth of the Sun because afterward, the days would gradually get longer. The Sun is often a God in Pagan religions and the winter solstice was often his birthday. Sound familiar yet?

But wait, isn’t the winter solstice around December 21st? Christmas is on the 25th!

Well, I’ll get to that, but the fact is that no one knows exactly when Jesus Christ was born (or IF he was born, but that’s another topic). The Bible doesn’t state Jesus’ birthday so scholars can only guess. Even when they analyze scripture, they still don’t come up with December 25th. Some say Jesus was born in the Fall while others say he was born in the Spring. Up until the 4th century, some people celebrated Jesus’ birthday on January 6th.

Lending to the uncertainty of the exact date of the birthday of Jesus may have been early Christians keeping in line with the Jewish law of not commemorating birthdays. The celebration of birthdays was seen as a Pagan tradition.

December 25th was actually a popular day for Pagan Sun Gods to be “born.” Although the winter solstice is typically thought to be around December 21st, the first day that Pagans were able to observe the days getting longer was the 25th. Hence the “birth” of the Sun.

The Persian Sun God, Mithra, was “born” on December 25th, for example. Zoroastrianism (the Persian Pagan religion from which the story of Mithra derives) had many similarities to what we now attribute to Christianity. The story of Mithra evolved over time and eventually a cult dedicated to Mithra branched off from Zoroastrianism. Around 1st century AD, the cult of Mithra had spread throughout the Roman Empire and in 274 AD, the Roman emperor Valerian declared December 25th the birthday of Sol Invictus (aka Mithras), the “Unconquerable Sun.”

This declaration became attached to a Pagan Roman festival called Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the god of agriculture and harvest. Originally, Saturnalia was only celebrated on December 17th. The festival was very popular with the people as they put aside their work and partied extensively. In addition to the public celebrations, they held private family celebrations that were similar to the Christmas of today, with feasts, gifts, and the singing of hymns. It was a time to “be merry.” Saturnalia became so popular that the festival was eventually extended to December 24th, with the 25th being the birthday of the “Unconquerable Sun,” Mithras. To honor His birthday, gifts were exchanged on the 25th. Hmm…interesting.

Around the 4th century, as a strategic plan, Christians decided to start celebrating the birthday of Jesus. Remember, they didn’t know when Jesus was born and they hadn’t celebrated his birthday up until that point. Still, in order to entice Pagans to convert to Christianity, they needed to find a way for them to continue celebrating the holidays they enjoyed so much.

In their quest to convert as many people as possible, Christians decided to designate Jesus’ birthday, amongst other “Christian” holidays, to coincide with already existing Pagan holidays. This would make it easier for them to give their “sales pitch,” so to speak.

The Christians looked at Pagans as “the enemy within” and the Church of Rome was determined to get rid of them by any means necessary. In addition to “borrowing” Pagan holidays, they built up a negative image of Pagans and dramatically reduced the popularity of their religions. It was a shift from a polytheistic (many Gods) view to a monotheistic (one God) view.

The selection of December 25th as Christmas (or “Christ’s Mass”) came about from the desire of the Church to use the popularity of the birthday of “the Unconquerable Sun.” Since the traditions of Saturnalia directly preceded that date, they were also incorporated into the celebration of Jesus’ birthday. This was the beginning of what we know today as Christmas.

Christmas has evolved over time, and is still evolving. Today it’s a commercialized holiday that includes Santa, but there are remnants of the original Pagan holiday that we still celebrate…all while thinking it’s Jesus’ birthday.

Hacked Climategate E-mails Explained

Mr. Monkey — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:32:18 +0000

Leave it to the media and conspiracy theorists to make a mountain out of a molehill. The so called “Climate-gate” and the hacked email story really gets on my nerves. Please watch this video and you’ll understand why:

Global Warming Rap Battle: Al Gore vs Lord Monckton

Mr. Monkey — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:10:55 +0000

With the so-called “Climate Gate” fueling global warming debates right before world leaders are set to meet in Copenhagen to discuss the issue, The Juice Media invited Inconvenient Truther, Al Gore, and Climate Change Denier, Lord Monckton to go head-to-head in a classic rap battle. Juice News anchor, Robert Foster (Australian-based rapper, Hugo) moderates as Gore and Monckton debate key global warming facts, myths, and WTFs.

This increasingly intensely debated issue is bringing out conspiracy theorists in droves, who adamantly claim that all the scientific research ever done on Climate Change is false, yet they use the same data (that is supposedly false, remember?) to try to claim that the Earth is cooling. Interesting logic. I believe magicians call that “sleight of hand.“

The Global Warming “facts” are not as black and white as some peoples’ brains would like. “Thinking…hard. Brain…exploding.” Let’s break it down.

With nearly all the world’s scientists representing one side of the argument and a bunch of DVDs and YouTube videos (made by non-scientists) representing the other side, let the rap battle begin!

Albert Arnold Gore Jr.
VS
Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley

Nebraska Overcomes Anti-Stem Cell Research Proposal

Mr. Monkey — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:36:32 +0000

When George W. Bush was in power, the Republican party restricted stem cell research, despite it’s vast potential to develop treatments or cures for a large number of diseases and conditions. On March 9th, 2009, Barack Obama reversed the funding limits that Bush had imposed, allowing scientific research to continue. In a strange proposal, the University of Nebraska recently brought forth a resolution to limit itself (LOL…who does that?). They would effectively override federal and state laws and take themselves back to the Dark Ages Bush era.

Obama signing the executive order to allow further stem cell funding.

The university’s Board of Regents voted on this resolution yesterday, which subsequently failed to pass because of a 4-4 tie. Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Nebraska’s Medical School, Thomas Rosenquist said, “It’s permission to go ahead and take part in 21st-century research with embryonic stem cells.“

Although it seems the university dodged a bullet, they expect pro-life groups to eventually reattempt to stunt the growth of embryonic stem cell research. Powerful Republican endorser and executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, Julie Schmit-Albin, stated after their defeat, “Pro-lifers are a resilient bunch. We’re in this for the long haul. We’ll regroup and take a look at it and decide where to go.“

University of Nebraska Medical Center stem cell biologist, Angie Rizzino, is well aware of right-wing religious organizations who are attempting to restrict the progress in her field. “I fear that they’ll be back in a year or two trying to put a block on embryonic stem cell research again,” she says after learning of the recent verdict.

The potential treatments based on stem cell research include:

Brain damage
Cancer
Spinal cord injury
Heart damage
Haematopoiesis (blood cell formation)
Baldness
Missing teeth
Deafness
Blindness and vision impairment
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Graft vs. host disease and Crohn’s disease
Neural and behavioral birth defects
Diabetes
Orthopedics
Wound healing
Infertility

Pro-lifers protesting scientific research.

Why would anyone be against something with so much potential? The majority of the resistance to stem cell progress comes from right-wing Christians who take the Bible to be literally true. They say the Bible claims that human life begins at conception, when only the egg and sperm cell are present. However, in Jeremiah 1:5, it claims that life or the “soul” begins even before you are “formed in the womb.” This is often ignored by pro-life groups because it would cause logistical problems in their argument.

Slightly more reasonable people claim that life begins after 4 weeks (6 clinical weeks), when the heart tubes initially start beating, while others contend that it begins after 54 days, when brain activity begins developing.

Regardless of these arguments, only naturally dead embryos, donated by the mother, or fertility clinic leftovers, which would otherwise be discarded, are used in embryonic stem cell research. Because of this fact alone, all these talking points are irrelevant.

A Lesson in Discrimination

Mr. Squirrel — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:09:00 +0000

Imagine. You’re a teacher in a small, all white town located in Iowa, USA. Must be difficult to teach your students a true understanding of racism and discrimination. Well, the day after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4th 1968, Jane Elliott exercised a unique lesson which allowed her third grade students to get a glimpse of how it feels to be discriminated against. With all her students being of the same race, she found a way to divide them based on a physical feature; something they didn’t all have in common. No, not a division of gender, but rather eye color.

On April 5th of 1968, Jane Elliott divided her class into the “brown-eyed” and the “blue-eyed” people. On the first day, she claimed the “blue-eyed” people were better than the “brown-eyed”. The way she justified her claims is very similar to how discrimination is often justified and even how authority frequently deals with rebellious people. With Jane Elliott having an authoritative position and personality, and the students being at a gullible young age, they truly felt how it was to be discriminated against. The next day, she explained how she had lied about the previous claim, then stated how, in fact, the “brown-eyed” people were better. The tables were turned, permitting both groups the chance to experience perceived superiority and inferiority. Each day, the deemed “lesser” group was given a collar to wear around their necks, allowing their classmates to be able to easily distinguish them apart, a practice similar to what often happens in real life segregated situations.

The consequences and results of her experiment were astonishing. In a span of just two days, Jane Elliott observed not only a transformation in the behavior of the children, but also how the perceived superiority and inferiority affected their test scores. At the end of the second day, she clears everything up with her students so that they realize it was all just an exercise. What better way to understand discrimination than to know how it feels to be discriminated against.

Curious to see more? Because it doesn’t stop there. You can watch online, for free, a documentary presented by PBS Frontline called “A Class Divided” which features not only her in class experiments and the documented behavior of the students, but the aftermath as well. Years later, the students return to watch the footage together as adults, and talk about the eye opening effect the “blue-eye/brown-eye” exercise has had on their lives as well as their views on racism and discrimination. Then, the documentary follows Jane as she tries a variation of her exercise on adults in a place where there is segregation by design: a corrections facility. Overall, a very interesting documentary to watch and, especially it being free and available online, I highly recommend it.

PBS Frontline’s “A Class Divided”:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided

Jane Elliott’s website:
http://www.janeelliott.com

Jane Elliott’s Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott.

Danny and Charlie: Everything is OK

Mr. Monkey — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:38:21 +0000

Some things in society have become so ingrained in our psyche that it takes something out of the ordinary to bring our attention to things we probably already know, but repeatedly shove into a deep corner of our minds. In a push to challenge the status quo, some people are brave enough to do the things we all probably have wanted to do at some point or another. The meaning of freedom may differ based on who you are and the experiences you’ve lived through, so I’m not going to impose my thoughts, but rather let you create your own. These experiments in tolerance, freedom of speech, and the rights of the common person are intertwined in a series of videos called “Everything is OK.” Take a look at the video montage by the creators of this online series, Danny Shine and Charlie Veitch:

Everything is OK (montage):

Charlie Veitch: “Why I make these videos”:

If you’re interested in watching the entire “Everything is OK” series, I posted them all below:

Everything is OK – Part 1 (Corporate Property):

Everything is OK – Part 2 (The Hunt for Terror):

Everything is OK – Part 3 (Camden Stories):

Everything is OK – Part 4 (Corporate Requiem):

Everything is OK – Part 5 (Child Soldiers):

Everything is OK – Part 6 (The Royal Edition – Part 1 of 2):

Everything is OK – Part 6 (The Royal Edition – Part 2 of 2):

Everything is OK – Part 7 (The Peaceful Edition):

The creators of these videos, Danny Shine and Charlie Veitch, have a YouTube channel with many more videos. If you’re interested, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/cveitch

If you’re interested in making a donation to help Danny and Charlie in this cause, you can visit their blog at:

http://cveitch.blogspot.com/

Uruguay Gives Every Student a Laptop

Mr. Monkey — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:52:31 +0000

Uruguay has become the first country in the world to provide free laptops to all schoolchildren, from ages 6 to 12. The project, dubbed Plan Ceibal (Education Connect), started two years ago and has been a great success for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization, started by Nicholas Negroponte.

OLPC is a US based non-profit organization with a mission…

“…to create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning.”

At $260 per child, each laptop is relatively cheap and represents only about 5% of the country’s education budget. About 362,000 students and 18,000 teachers have been involved in the program so far, which has now successfully supplied every child, who didn’t have a computer, with an XO laptop, pictured below.

The XO Laptop

To find out more about the One Laptop Per Child program, visit their website: www.laptop.org