As part of her whirlwind tour of New Zealand. Rebecca Watson made an appearance at the Back Bencher in Wellington last night. The talk took place In a small room on the second floor and in front of an audience of about 50 or so. The intimate setting ensured that even though I was seated at the very back. I still had a clear view and no trouble hearing.
So on to the talk itself. Once troubles with the projector and microphone had been dealt with. And in this case dealt with means giving up on them and carrying on without. Rebecca, with slide clicker in one hand and a handle of max drought in the other, Began to deliver what would be a very entertaining presentation on the subject of Christmas. My initial impression was that this was a timely and yet irrelevant topic. Even though I was raised in a Christian family where Christmas was all about the birth of Jesus. I have had no trouble in my transition from Christmas as a religious holiday to Christmas as a celebration of family and food. Especially food. So I was a very curious from the out set just where Rebecca's talk would go.
Of course being a Rebecca fan of long standing I should have had more confidence that her talk would be funny, informative and thought provoking. It was of course all three. From an initial discussion on the subject of childhood belief in the traditional western Santa Clause. Rebecca moved into a very funny section about some of the other weird fictional Christmas characters that appear in other cultures. Door Sniffer was my favorite. Though I can't really tell why.
Any way. It turns out that the Christmas battle rages in the lad of crazy and extremes. Thats right, America. Over there it seems that the Fundamentalists are desperately trying to return Christmas to it's religious roots. And the New Atheists are trying to drive Christmas to it's secular extreme. On this Rebecca made a very interesting observation that I had not previously considered. That is that religious holidays tend to become more secular over time. She used the example of mothers day. Which apparently started out as mothering day. A day in old England where people that had moved away would return to their mother church. Now I can't think of many days that are less removed from religion than mothers day.
The stated topic of the talk was how to ruin Christmas. But in the end it was really about how to enjoy Christmas and at the same time piss off the crazy fundies that always pack a sad when things don't go their way. The idea that Christmas will move to a more secular holiday on it's own and as a natural result of cultural drift is one that I agree with. In fact it seems obvious now that I think about it.
After the talk there was Q&A. Rebecca again showed why she has achieved the celebrity skeptic status she has by answering a multitude of questions on a wide range of topics with clear in informative answers. Sometimes drifting into a funny and relevant anecdote that served to illustrate the point she was making. Or not. All in all it made for a very welcoming and relaxed atmosphere which facilitated an interesting and stimulating conservation.
Rebecca Watson is one of the jems of the global skeptical community. It was a true pleasure to hear her speak and I hope she sees her way to returning down under sometime soon.
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