all of that is still Stuff That's Not Ours.

And that's what makes you uncomfortable? I guess I just don't get it. My neighbors wear headscarves and celebrate Ramadan. Doesn't make me uncomfortable.

Aims, you rock! Which of course is nothing new.

Askye, that medicine sounds awful. I hope it is worth the ickiness and really helps you.

I over did it the last couple of days, and I paid for it last night with pain and anxiety attacks last night. I have to go out again tonight to do errands with TCG. So, any productivity for me this morning has to be done sitting. Time to shred old paperwork and maybe start wrapping gifts.

ChiKat, I'm not Hil, but it's on the house she lives in. Also, Islam is not the dominant culture here. Christmas is EVERYWHERE. Even as conscious as I am, I found myself asking my boyfriend (again, the ex-Hasidic atheist) what he was doing for Christmas. ::face palm::

And now I need to vent.

I forgot to check my alarms (yes, plural) and woke up 15 minutes before I was to be at work. Was a half hour late. The rest is tl;dr but GODDAMN why must my every attempt at efficiency be thwarted? It's like they don't want to make a profit. ISTG.

Also, Islam is not the dominant culture here.

So because Christianity is dominant, it's okay to be uncomfortable by it?

So because Christianity is dominant, it's okay to be uncomfortable by it?

I think, to a large extent, yes. Replace "Christian/Christmas" with some other privileged group and something that is "theirs", and then assume by default that everyone--even people not in that group--would be into it. For people outside that group, there is not a non-problematic way they can respond. If you're not into macho/sports culture, you can go along to the Superbowl party, you can choose a different way to celebrate it (e.g. Puppy bowl), you can quietly opt out, you can explain why you don't like it, etc, etc. And the superbowl is not half as fraught or nearly as all-consuming within the culture as Christmas is. For a month (or more).

I don't begrudge people of color whatever relationship they find workable with Anglo-dominated media. I try not to begrudge feminist-leaning parents whatever relationship they end up with with princess culture. I may find some of them a little inexplicable or eye-rolly, but people do the best they can when something is unavoidable and not theirs.

Plus, didn't they decorate the house Hil is living in? That was the impression I got. I'd be more irked by that that my neighbors having stuff or whatever.

Don't they live in the house as well as Hil?

I think, to a large extent, yes.

So, if I'm understanding your position, it is okay to be uncomfortable by any dominant area of your culture but it is not okay to be uncomfortable by non-dominant areas. Is this correct?

Don't they live in the house as well as Hil?

My understanding is yes. They are decorating their own house that they live in.

My understanding is yes. They are decorating their own house that they live in.

Yes. They're not deliberately trying to make her uncomfortable. But is it really hard to understand that the Christmas onslaught can feel exclusionary when you are outside of the overwhelmingly dominant mainstream tradition? And it might make you feel a bit uncomfortable?

The landlord isn't doing anything wrong, and I haven't heard Hil or anyone suggest otherwise. But her reaction seems unexceptionable to me and I'm not sure why it seems so objectionable to others.

(Onslaught feels more negative than I mean it but I'm not coming up with a less loaded word.)