Skepticism

A Very Special Skepchick War on Christmas

The Skepchicks discuss the War on Christmas, with special guest appearances by Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon.net, Derek Colanduno of Skepticality, Richard Saunders of Skeptic Zone, Hemant “Friendly Atheist” Mehta, Christian Walters, Phil “The Bad Astronomer” Plait, Tim Farley of What’s The Harm, YouTube sensation Captain Disillusion, Dr. Rachie of Skeptic Zone, and Brian Thompson of Amateur Scientist.

. . . with a special final essay from Skepchick’s own Sam Ogden.

Santa is a Lie is written and performed by Peter Kovacs. Vocals and all instruments but drums by Peter Kovacs. Drums and production by Steve Goodie.

Listen (and subscribe!) on iTunes or download directly by clicking below:

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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12 Comments

  1. Shit. I’m the only one without a byline. I feel like I wandered on stage between sets at Woodstock thinking it was Open Mic night at the local Fork & Bucket Karaoke Bar :)

  2. Wonderful job everyone.

    @Sam – that was it’s own special breed of awesomeness that’s beyond words, except…..

    “But, sir? That’s Santa’s point.”
    “Santa don’t surf!!”

  3. “Redneck off” entry:

    Used to have a neighbor who put up very tacky plywood letters that spelled out “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” on his lawn. I always wanted to put up “Axial Tilt is the reason …”, but good taste restrained me.

  4. The Apocolypse Now parody reminded me of a pastiche I wrote of “Dulce et Decorum Est” on the subject of the War on Christmas. I originally posted this as a comment on the Digital Cuttlefish some time ago, but it turned out pretty good, so I thought I’d share it with you lot.

    With most abject apologies to the estate of Wilfred Owen:

    Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
    Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through slush,
    Till on the twinkling lights we turned our backs
    And towards our distant cars began to trudge.
    Men shopped asleep. Many had spent their cash
    But bought on credit. All went lame; all blind;
    Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the crash
    Of tired, bawling children that had dropped behind.

    Nog! Nog! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of drinking,
    Draining the festive tumblers just in time;
    But someone still was going out and shopping,
    And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
    Dim, through the candy canes and colored light,
    As under green chai tea, I saw him dropping.
    In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
    He plunges at me, muttering, cursing, shopping.

    If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
    Behind the debt that we soon found him in,
    And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
    His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
    If you could see, at every month, accounts
    Drained dry of each last hard-earned dollar,
    Obscene as cancer, bitter as the mounts
    Of pale riders, laboring under heavy collar,
    My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
    To children ardent for designer pants,
    The old Lie; Adeste fideles,
    Laetit triumphants!

    And on that note, I’d like to wish the entire Skepchick family a very merry Christmas, the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and remind ourselves that there are no fucking magic words.

  5. Ok … gotta be truthful here, Rebecca … the first two podcasts I liked … um … not so much. But this was really fun to listen to. Nicely done. There were a lot of voices present and you carefully edited all of them into a coherent, informative and enjoyable time well spent.

    Special kudos to the token penis: Sam. Well done.

  6. Seriously, Christmas is nice, why declare war on it?
    Just do what we do in Sweden, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a church at christmas even though most of my relatives (including my family and to varying degree everyone else in the extended family whose faith I know except a aunt in-law (do you say it like that? aunt in-law, I know you say like sister in-law…) ) are Christians. Neither is any of the decoration (except sometimes a little stable amongst all the trolls, and the star on top of the christmas tree I guess) or songs or tv shows we watch saying anything about Jesus.
    Let it just be a nice opportunity to get together with your extended family, have a nice dinner and maybe exchange some gifts (In our family we only give gifts to the children, though I personally like to give things away so I usually give to everyone). And mind, most people in Sweden are less devout Christians than my family. (One example, in my class in the 6th grade the teacher at one instant asked which people believed in God and I think like 4 or 5 out of 25 raised their hands)

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