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- Herausgeber: Atlantic Books
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
Christmas is an ethical and political minefield. Luckily, this survival guide contains valuable advice on how to navigate the hazards of the holiday season. Learn how to... * launch a scathing dinner table takedown on your woefully unwoke relatives * craft your own sustainable decorations that bring festive cheer without compromising the 2050 Paris Agreement * splurge on Black Friday without propping up the neoliberal capitalist agenda * build a body-positive snowperson that isn't a straight white male for once * skilfully avoid eating meat or dairy without it becoming a whole thing you have to justify for an hour. Whether it's a stocking filler for a left-leaning loved one, or a Secret Santa gift for a painfully earnest colleague, A Snowflake's Guide to Christmas is the perfect gift for anyone with a bleeding heart (and a sense of humour) this holiday season.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
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Also by Dave Skinner
Why Steve Was Late
Published in hardback in Great Britain in 2020 by Atlantic Books, an imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd.
Copyright © Dave Skinner, 2020
The moral right of Dave Skinner to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Every effort has been made to trace or contact all copyright holders. The publishers will be pleased to make good any omissions or rectify any mistakes brought to their attention at the earliest opportunity.
The picture acknowledgements on p. 134 constitute an extension of this copyright page.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Illustrations by Carmen R. Balit unless otherwise noted
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Hardback ISBN: 978 1 83895 209 9
E-book ISBN: 978 1 83895 210 5
Printed in Great Britain
Atlantic Books
An imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd
Ormond House
26–27 Boswell Street
London
WC1N 3JZ
www.atlantic-books.co.uk
To Sal, Charlie, Grace andall the Snowflakes everywhere
Contents
Introduction
The Problem with Christmas Trees
The Problem with Christmas Crackers
The Problem with Carol Singers
The Problem with Christmas Shopping
The Problem with Gifts for Children
The Problem with Gifts for Grown-Ups
The Problem with Christmas Decorations
The Problem with Christmas Cards
The Problem with Christmas Food (& Drink)
The Problem with Family Gatherings
The Problem with Christmas Party Games
The Problem with Office Christmas Parties
The Problem with Santa
The Problem with Snow
The Problem with Christmas Music
The Problem with Christmas TV
The Problem with New Year’s Eve
The Problem with New Year’s Resolutions
The Problem with Conclusions
Appendix A: A Snowflake’s Christmas Letter to Santa
Appendix B: Emotional Support Animals to Quell Christmas-Induced Rage
Introduction
Like so many things that predate Instagram, Christmas can be a deeply problematic season for any compassionate, contemporary person who considers themselves switched-on, sensitive and socially engaged. Outwardly a time of lighthearted fun and celebration, it’s arguably a motorway pile-up of intersectional issues.
When else are you likely to find so many people of different generations, often with such diverse beliefs and opinions, compelled to come together? Usually in a confined, overly warm, heavily tinselled domestic environment, where there are astonishing amounts of free alcohol on tap, where old grievances and familial recriminations can quickly bubble over, and where there is a constant underlying pressure to HAVE FUN.
Aside from all the potentially explosive ‘chat’, Christmas is a time of colossal consumption. Not just of vast quantities of booze and food (especially heartbreaking, climate crisisinducing meat), but also of STUFF.
Christmas is all about exchanging stuff: plastic stuff, shiny stuff, sparkly stuff – much of which cannot be recycled. You’re obliged, by the unspoken laws of the festive season, to give people stuff you’re not entirely sure they’ll want – and, in return, to receive and say ‘thank you’ for stuff you don’t really want or need.
Frankly, for a modern millennial, Yuletide can be a merry freaking minefield.
This book is here to help.
Whether you yourself are a loud, proud, wide a-woke Snowflake, you’re related to one, or you work with one – and need to give him/her/they/them a ‘Secret Santa’ gift – this invaluable guide is packed full of relevant and contemporary festive hacks, hints and tips designed to help you navigate this most troubling of holidays.
Over the following pages, A Snowflake’s Guide to Christmas breaks down the component parts of the ‘classic Christmas’, identifies where the most problematic triggers lie, then offers advice and solutions to help achieve safe passage through the potentially choppy Christmas waters...
A note on terminology
The current use of the word ‘Snowflake’ as a derogatory term for liberal-minded, easily offended individuals has its origins in Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel Fight Club, in which a member of the anarchist group Project Mayhem tells the other members, ‘You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.’
Recent events (Brexit, Trump, the climate emergency, the verbal diarrhoea of Katie Hopkins) have brought the term into widespread use, particularly in the right-wing press, where it is used to lambast anyone with even the vaguest hint of a conscience.
For many people, even the word ‘Snowflake’ itself has a triggering effect, and some may question its use in this book (I call these people ‘meta-Snowflakes’).
The author uses the term here in an attempt to ‘reappropriate’ it, throwing it back in the faces of those who use it to stigmatize us. So be loud, proud progressives and reclaim the label, and remember... enough Snowflakes can make an avalanche.
