As to Kwanza, it’s got no real religious elements. It was started in 1966 as a way to help black Americans feel as though their culture had contributed something to their lives and the US. There’s no “Open Secret” in this. I’m sure lots of really stupid people believe that it’s an ancient celebration or some such hoo-hah, but really stupid people believe TV shows are real – it’s not the fault of the people who invented it, it’s the fault of the stupid people themselves who, regardless of what you do to rectify the situation, are still gonna’ stay stupid.

Black Culture had been told for a long time that their ancestors were inferior, and that anything they’d done of note had either been in spite of this, or because they’d learned European ways. I can see how that would grate on you. I’ve got Southern friends who were repeatedly told that the South was “Nothing but a prison colony” and everyone from there was stupid, racist, evil, mean, and drunk. If 2/3rds of the country are looking down on you, that’ll mess with your head, so I can see how being told nothing of merit came out of Africa would play with you a bit. Inasmuch as Kwanza was intended to open a connection to a non-European heritage and make people feel better about themselves, it’s a good thing, no different than a slightly fake version of Octoberfest or whatever.

My only problem with it is that Africa’s a freakin’ huge place, and virtually all black Americans came from central/western Africa, whereas all the Kwanza stuff is Swahili, which is southeastern Africa, more than a thousand miles away, with no more direct cultural ties to American black ancestors than, say, Russians have with Italians, if that makes sense. So I’m not so opposed to the concept as to the slapdash execution.

It’s supposedly based on “traditional African rituals” or something along those lines. It’s an open secret that it’s bullshit, but it’s founder tried to pass it off as being far more rooted than it actually was.

Those damn Coexist bumperstickers bug me. I’m always annoyed at people who feel the need to use a bumpersticker to forward their politics, simply because people who do that tend to THINK in bumpersticker slogans, which they misinterpret as thought. But the Coexist ones bug me because around here, 9x out of 10, they’re inevitably right next to other bumperstickers that say horribly vitriolic things about Christianity, and religion in general, and conservatives, and mom, and America, and you name it. In short, there’s no coexistence going on in their heads – they’re totally my-way-or-the-highway. Pisses me off.