Christmas Online
It’s Christmas again, a time of year when, regardless of religious inclination (or not), we may become a little nostalgic for our own bygone celebrations. The problem is that a lot of water has drifted under the bridge in the last 12 months, and me with it. An illness that was grizzly enough last Christmas was grossly exacerbated in May 2024, through an adverse intervention by a zealous nurse in A&E. This enforced an emergency procedure by the ‘head mechanic’ on the operating table. In fact, he performed a total of six operations on me under general anaesthesia within a month. This has had a very debilitating effect on yours truly, from which there appears to be no instant cure. In addition to that, there are the many long-term side effects from the chemotherapy and radiation in 2023, with which I will not test your medical resilience. This has unavoidably caused an almost total lock-down for me on the social front.
But then it occurs to me that this style of isolated Christmas ‘celebrations’ affects millions of people throughout the universe. Explanations for the cause of this vary from pure old age, where there is just no one around to alleviate the loneliness, illness or simply a preference for seclusion. We tend to assume that all lonesome souls at Christmas feel desolate, but who knows? Our thoughts about them are mostly triggered by a person of the cloth, striving to be inclusive to all creatures great and small, and appealing for our prayers. These thoughts generally remain a fleeting intrusion in our own festivities, and are swiftly diffused. I have to say that in my case, my beautiful and caring son has been with me during Christmastide as usual and I thank my stars for him. Not that I am an invalid in that sense. I still shop in short sharp bursts, cook and wrap up presents, but I can’t participate in social events, rendering me almost completely dependent on the internet for news, social media and private contact with friends, within the confines of my own home. These days, millions of people should thank God for cyberspace!
I don’t care to think how it was in the ‘olden days’, stuck at home alone with a black and white TV, the size of a large fridge and just one channel. The Queen’s speech at 3 pm was likely the Yuletide highlight for such solitary souls. Obviously, television has vastly updated since then, but today State television in many European countries, has become for the most part, non-viewable. Reality shows and repeats of antiquated films, interspersed with tedious panel games and an endless parade of so-called ‘celebrities’ as a standard recipe for padding out television programs. There seem to be viewers who mechanically switch on at breakfast and turn off at night, just to have a noise going on. That said however, this year there was an exceptional seasonal happening in the annual Carol service in Westminster Abbey, aired on ITV1 on Christmas Eve and hosted by Catherine, Princess of Wales. So, although I am forced to pay a hefty tax for the mainstream television, I don’t watch it. I join millions of others who can otherwise no longer tolerate the woke and politically left version of ‘entertainment’, no matter how ‘state-of-the-art’ the TV screen may be. Even the adverts are so heavily weighted on the woke side, as to be unwatchable. This trend is killing off any interest in viewing serious discussions as personalities on the ‘right’ are seldom invited to participate and the one-sided debates have become unpalatable. As Christianity becomes less appealing to TV producers, Christmas is frequently reassigned as Winter Holidays. How sad is that!
But the situation has become much easier for individuals like myself. For decades I have been a keen computer user and I am grateful for 24-hour internet; to still feel I am participating in global issues. Actually, online newspapers are more enlightening than the paper ones, as there is access to readers’ comments. I don’t hold back in my own contribution to the comment section to feel part of the free world. Fortunately, podiums for one cause or another have sprung to life, and replaced the mainstream media, with my preference for a more transparent truth. The last time I counted, I had subscribed to at least 32 different online platforms to shed light on the world that our elite have moulded for us, on their own behalf. It’s good to keep up.What a relief, to make a detour to other online platforms like YouTube or Rumble which offer more and more attractive and realistic inputs and subscriptions.
Yes, we are undeniably very privileged to have this extraordinary internet facility at our disposal. Many things are not going right in our world, but this innovation is truly a lifesaver for countless individuals; perfectly normal citizens in body and mind, who need to feed those minds with the current news and important issues. It is our right, indeed, our duty to make our own informed decisions, in order to vote in a democratic society. That is the social contract. And despite certain political efforts to prohibit free speech – long may it last!
Photo: pexels designecologist