Merry freaking Christmas

Ok so what's funnier than snowshoes in Bali, screen doors in submarines, or stupid pet tricks? It's Christmas in Bangkok! OR as I have seen Merry X'mas, Seasons gratings, Seasons greatings, Merry Exmas etc. WE have infected the freaking universe with commercialism- ever since Jim Thompson revivified the Thai silk industry in the 1950's. Or maybe a stronger way to say it is Commerce, and Trade, and Business is a very strong force independent of the meat puppets that act it out. Once one meat puppet gets a scheme that works, not only does he sell it on TV for 19.95, but also other meat puppets copy it . Christmas is a meme (A MEME constitutes a theoretical unit of cultural information, the building block of cultural evolution or diffusion that propagates from one mind to another analogously to the way in which a gene propagates from one organism to another as a unit of genetic information and of biological evolution.) of the corporate culture.

Also listening to Christmas songs in every possible noisy venue is a bit mind numbing. I am starting to prefer elevator music- some one shoot me!

Get this- in Thailand there are about 67 million people. Around 90% are Buddhists, 9% are some form of Christian, 1% is Muslim, and of that last 1% , most are Sunni Muslims with about 40 nervous Shiites tossed into the mix for spice. Do we see anyone celebrating Buddhist festivals with crass commercialism? No - they are not as profitable as Christmas is. There are many Buddhist festivals, but they involve offerings of fruits, flowers etc not spending your self into foreclosure to impress neighbors you didn't much care about any how.

OK so why the hell are we celebrating Christmas over here? And I mean every damned store- every taxi cab, even some dogs are wearing Christmas caps. The hotels are pushing Christmas and New years- but does anyone care that its really the year 2550 in Thailand ( based on Buddha not Christ- go figure) and its not even on January 1!. So we are infected by Christianity cum commercialism, and western commercialism Cum New years. Good god no wonder I cant find any culture in the Thai cultural center.

The hotel has a 30 foot tall fake tree decorated with so much crap you would think that there was a bargain on crap at the store down the street. Even the street vendors ( where i saw the majority of the weird spellings and greetings) are xmassing away. is there no way we can stop this? This hotel had 6 chefs and assistants running around for 3 days literally turning their delicatessen into a gingerbread house- with tray upon tray of gingerbread shingles, icing for icicles, and doodads and what nots. See the pictures- mourn Thai culture! Hell mourn for any culture in the face of the holy grail of commercial profits.

Enjoy the pictures of X'MAS in Thailand.