{"id":1920,"date":"2017-06-24T16:18:36","date_gmt":"2017-06-24T22:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/?p=1920"},"modified":"2017-06-24T16:37:29","modified_gmt":"2017-06-24T22:37:29","slug":"an-anti-christmas-carol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/?p=1920","title":{"rendered":"An Anti-Christmas Carol"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Another useless parasite.<\/p><\/div>\n

Tomorrow will be June 25, the orbital opposite of December 25, and making us nearly as far as possible astronomically from the spirit of Christmas as we can be. Seems appropriate then, with the current sentiment pervading our leadership these days regarding the poor, the young, the sick and the elderly, and the changes proposed to the way our society treats these people. It therefore seems appropriate to publish here an excerpt from Dicken’s classic story, reflecting what seems to be the mood of the times, which is to tell Tiny Tim that he is a freeloader, and needs to pull himself up by his bootstraps and get a job. Or just go away and die.<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas, Everyone.<\/p>\n

A Christmas Carol – Marley’s Ghost<\/h2>\n

\u201cAt this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,\u201d said the gentleman, taking up a pen, \u201cit is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.\u201d
\n\u201cAre there no prisons?\u201d asked Scrooge.
\n\u201cPlenty of prisons,\u201d said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
\n\u201cAnd the Union workhouses?\u201d demanded Scrooge. \u201cAre they still in operation?\u201d
\n\u201cThey are. Still,\u201d returned the gentleman, \u201cI wish I could say they were not.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?\u201d said Scrooge.
\n\u201cBoth very busy, sir.\u201d
\n\u201cOh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,\u201d said Scrooge. \u201cI\u2019m very glad to hear it.\u201d
\n\u201cUnder the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,\u201d returned the gentleman, \u201ca few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?\u201d
\n\u201cNothing!\u201d Scrooge replied.
\n\u201cYou wish to be anonymous?\u201d
\n\u201cI wish to be left alone,\u201d said Scrooge. \u201cSince you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don\u2019t make merry myself at Christmas and I can\u2019t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned\u2014they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.\u201d
\n\u201cMany can\u2019t go there; and many would rather die.\u201d
\n\u201cIf they would rather die,\u201d said Scrooge, \u201cthey had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides\u2014excuse me\u2014I don\u2019t know that.\u201d
\n\u201cBut you might know it,\u201d observed the gentleman.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not my business,\u201d Scrooge returned. \u201cIt\u2019s enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people\u2019s. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow will be June 25, the orbital opposite of December 25, and making us nearly as far as possible astronomically from the spirit of Christmas as we can be. Seems appropriate then, with the current sentiment pervading our leadership these days regarding the poor, the young, the sick and the elderly, and the changes proposed to the way our society<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,18,4,14,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","category-literature-2","category-niles-blogs","category-philosophy","category-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1920"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1930,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920\/revisions\/1930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilesritter.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}