Hear Me Out: The Holidays Are Tacky. Embrace It

Slate Debates

Slate Podcasts

Society & Culture, News

4.6 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… ‘tis the damn season. Break out the glitter and the ugly sweaters. If you’re on social media, you’ve probably seen a lot of minimalist holiday décor this year — from celebrities, influencers, and DIY-ers alike. It seems trendy to try “class up” the holidays and eschew the bright and gaudy for the monotone, the understated, or the expensive-looking… but does living in fear of committing a faux pas maybe miss the point? Kristen Meinzer, culture critic and cohost of The Daily Fail, joins us to defend the tacky — as not only counterculture, but as the real reason for the season. If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: [email protected] Podcast production by Maura Currie. You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Hear Me Out, I'm Celeste Hedley. The holiday season is upon us and it sometimes hits you in the face with the strength of 40 gales.
0:11.0	Before the show takes a break next week, we want to bring you a
0:14.0	seasonally appropriate conversation. If you celebrate Christmas in any form, you
0:19.6	know there's a perpetual back and forth pull between tacky and tasteful.
0:24.4	You can see it in department stores, the colorful gaudy decor on one side,
0:29.1	the tasteful decor at the super expensive stores, especially with pastels and tope and crystal and gold so if you're
0:37.7	finding yourself tempted by the idea of a minimalist restrained restrained, sophisticated holiday, think again you might be missing the point of this holiday.
0:47.0	Now is the time to enjoy what is fun and to do so unapologetically.
0:52.0	We don't need to worry about being classy.
0:54.1	Culture critic and podcast host, Kristen Meinzer joins us once again in just a moment.
0:58.8	Stay with us.
1:02.0	Welcome back to Hear Me Out. I'm Celeste Hedley.
1:05.0	So this is what the East Colonnade looks like today. The White House says these are
1:08.8	topiary trees. Others are calling it the Murder Forest.
1:12.3	But unlike the Shining, when others are calling it the murder forest.
1:13.0	But unlike the shining, when you peek out through your fingers,
1:17.0	the red trees are still there.
1:20.0	A lot of people said it looks like Christmas in hell.
1:24.0	Then Malani said, exactly.
1:27.0	Which holiday is that for?
1:29.0	St. Gourlan's Feast of Human Boons?
1:32.0	I put the, I'm working my ass. 4-Lons feast of human boons.
	...

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