Okay, I know it’s a low-status signal to appear to be celebrating religious holidays on LW, but just admit it was a holiday party for LWers. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as you recognize that the pagan holidays are founded on incorrect ideas.The verbal gymnastics in your first paragraph are seriously painful to read.
I honestly wasn’t trying to hide the fact that it was a holiday party—but one of my strongest motivations was that many people don’t understand that a “real” holiday party (where you actual sing carols and stuff) is something that real people actually do, and which is awesome. There is genuinely less information in the phrase “The NYC Less Wrong group had a holiday party,” than:
“Approximately twenty of us gathered for dinner and a night of ritual. We sang songs, told stories, and recited litanies. The night celebrated ancient astronomers, and the work that humanity has done for the past 5000 years. It paid tribute to the harshness of the universe, respecting it as worthy opponent. We explored Lovecraftian mythology, which intersects with our beliefs in interesting ways.”
That said, the awkward phrasing of “well it wasn’t really Solstice so it was Solstice 6Eve” is pretty bad. I’ll just scrap that because it’s not actually important.
If you have other specific advice on how to rephrase some things, let me know.
Okay, I know it’s a low-status signal to appear to be celebrating religious holidays on LW, but just admit it was a holiday party for LWers. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as you recognize that the pagan holidays are founded on incorrect ideas.The verbal gymnastics in your first paragraph are seriously painful to read.
I honestly wasn’t trying to hide the fact that it was a holiday party—but one of my strongest motivations was that many people don’t understand that a “real” holiday party (where you actual sing carols and stuff) is something that real people actually do, and which is awesome. There is genuinely less information in the phrase “The NYC Less Wrong group had a holiday party,” than:
“Approximately twenty of us gathered for dinner and a night of ritual. We sang songs, told stories, and recited litanies. The night celebrated ancient astronomers, and the work that humanity has done for the past 5000 years. It paid tribute to the harshness of the universe, respecting it as worthy opponent. We explored Lovecraftian mythology, which intersects with our beliefs in interesting ways.”
That said, the awkward phrasing of “well it wasn’t really Solstice so it was Solstice 6Eve” is pretty bad. I’ll just scrap that because it’s not actually important.
If you have other specific advice on how to rephrase some things, let me know.