Yes, today is Festivus. I got thinking to myself about how this wonderful website is like the holiday. Warning: Completely frivolous light holiday fun follows.
Details below the fold:
First of all, a refresher course for those who need a definition of Festivus:
Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as "another way" to celebrate the holiday season without participating in its pressures and commercialism[1]. It was created by writer Dan O'Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a screenwriter for the TV show Seinfeld,[2][1] as part of a comical storyline on the show.
Wiki
Festivus is defined by four key characteristics which have a suspicious link to Daily Kos. Let me list them for you:
- The Pole. The symbol of Festivus is an unadorned aluminum pole. Daily Kos has a long tradition with poles and polls, and even Poles. Who can forget the Sarah Palin PBS poll, the random and zany polls posted around here, freeping polls, and most importantly, Bob Johnson's pole. I won't even mention the fact that a Festivus tradition is the erecting of said pole.
- Airing of Grievances. A major part of Festivus is the airing of grievances, when people get to complain about what is bothering them. Come on people, this is Daily Kos, the Internet's leading location for the airing of grievances. Total parallel right there!
- Feats of Strength. The head of the household can challenge another to a wrestling match, and these continue until they are pinned. This community certainly knows how to verbally wrestle. My other favourite part is that the person challenged can refuse if they have something better to do. Maybe we could all learn from this at times, and just walk away from the argument.
- Festivus Miracles. Easily explained events are labelled as miracles. We all often either give people more or less credit than they are due.
I will conclude this random, and probably useless diary by saying Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy Festivus.