I’ve known folks that are attracted to this sort of anti-establishment kitschy stuff. They have trouble taking much seriously, even if only out of respect for others’ feelings.
When I was a boy, this type was a bit antisocial and gravitated towards comic books, Dr Demento (>), Dr Strangelove, Dungeons & Dragons, and some geeky pursuits that overlapped with my own (computers).
They were intriguing on their own level, but I had trouble staying on that plane for more than a few moments. I preferred the company of HG Wells, Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
The person that makes an atheist stocking and the person that hangs one are two sides of the same coin, and I suspect will cluck their tongues over my opinion on this, which is too bad, because the same irreverence can extend to any belief that seems silly or incomprehensible. The same attitude that says “you're stupid for believing a man died and rose again” is also behind “you're stupid for believing Oswald 
acted alone” or “the Apollo moon photos are faked.”
Detachment from reality has little to do with what one is detached from; it’s rather a refusal to suspend convictions and consider alternatives.
I remember as a child seeing witches and spooky ornaments hanging on a Christmas tree in a K-Mart, which is still on 26th as you head into Erie from Millcreek. I knew even then, only 8 years old or so, that someone had a warehouse of leftover Halloween stuff and turned it into Christmas stuff.
My first exposure, perhaps, to what adults would call “poor taste.”
[2013-12-01]
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