It's the beginning of December, and I'm already getting irritated by the glee of Christmas that I find everywhere I turn. People all around me, folks on Facebook, work colleagues, and people who should know better are all falling into the well of simulacra, Baudrillard's idea that what is false is more believable and desirable than actual reality.
The more untrue, the more we believe it to be true. The bigger the illusion, the happier our delusion.
When are Western Christians today going to move beyond the myth that they have created about the Holy Land? Believing in the story about Bethlehem in the Bible as if it were alive today? When are the majority of Christians going to wake up to what is really happening in Bethlehem today? Do they know there is an Apartheid Wall built by the Israelis and policed by the IDF that restricts the movement of the residents of Bethlehem? Do they know that the people of Bethlehem need passes and permits? Do they care?
It's this living in the looking-glass world where everything is childishly innocent and joyful that I find so irritating.
Oh Come All Ye Faithful, indeed. Get ye head out of the Christmas card and look hard at the wall.
No comments:
Post a Comment