The
Devolving of Christmas: An American Tragedy
By
now everyone has been inundated by it on the news, streamed it on the
Internet either voluntarily or not, or read about it somewhere in
some advertisement of one kind or another. It's that time of year
again, the closing days of the holiday shopping season when people by
the millions will finish spending an average of $700.00 each between
now and December 31st on a bunch of cheap imported Chinese crap that
nobody really needs. The worst part for American consumers is that
all these inexpensive imported products from the sweat shops of the
3rd
world are designed and manufactured in such a way as to make sure the
items wear out sooner rather than later in the hopes that the
American consumer will go out and buy a replacement, hopefully sooner
rather than later. The giant US multinational corporations have
figured out that if you make a product just good enough to hold out
for a little while, you can still get people to buy it even though it
is made as cheaply as possible. Unfortunately for these same monster
corporations, the American consumer has begun to wake up and realize
they have been had and that things have been this way for a long
time, and they're furious about it. Their fury and rage first
manifested itself in the Arab Spring of 2011, followed by rioting in
Spain and England that summer, followed by the rioting in Greece that
has yet to completely simmer down. This was followed here in the US
in the form of the Occupy Wall Street and “the 99%” Movements of
which I am proud to be a part, and both of which are still very much
ongoing.
All
I'm saying is that people everywhere have become more questioning,
more critical or have even become opposed to capitalism due to what
is increasingly being viewed as its predatory nature and its emphasis
of profits over people. Many of us, including myself, are completely
up in arms over the state of our country. The Christmas shopping
season is just one symptom of capitalism gone overboard, with a mad
dash to acquire more and more material things just for their own sake
at a time when we are supposed to be quietly celebrating the birthday
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is indicative of a society
that has lost its sense of direction and lost touch with its purpose
for being. I was one of millions of people who boycotted Black Friday
last month as a way to peacefully protest being forced to live in a
world where the main thing that matters most seems to be how much
money one can make. I've been there and done all that. I owned a
computer store all through the 1990's and made a 6-figure income. I
know what it's like to have all that, and do you know what I found
out about wealth and riches? It's just a big trap, a never-ending
treadmill of the pursuit of profits until it consumes your whole
life, until in the end you realize that it was all just an illusion.
Like a game of Monopoly, when the profit machine comes to an end (and
sooner or later they all do) and the game is over, everything goes
back in the box only to start all over again. That's all capitalism
and the taking of profits is – one big Monopoly game where the
person with the most money wins, and always at the expense of
everybody else. Is it any wonder that capitalism and the taking of
profits has ruined the spirit of Christmas, let alone the whole
country?
What
have we become? Like cattle and sheep headed to slaughter, we roll
out at this time of the year at the bidding of shop-till-you-drop
gimmicks. Meanwhile, we fight and claw for the raw deal at the
various suburban box stores offering low wages and no benefits to
staff. So, how much can we save? Wally World is offering 25% off,
while Sneers is offering 30%. Let's run to Sneers! It's only 30 more
miles down the road and we've got the gas! What about the Chinese
girls slaving in non union factories at pennies a day? What do they
make off the deal? Who is actually winning? Is it really the
mesmerized consumers teary and googly-eyed while giggling gleefully
at 30, 40, and 50% off deals? Our politicians say it's the American
workers. Yes, it is our right to slave part time at minimum wages and
no health benefits while we shop till we drop looking for that
fantastic deal. We make this statement as employees of corporations
are lining the pockets of senators, congressmen and supreme-court
justices in Washington D.C. while sitting on presidential cabinets
making decisions regarding our planet's future, our future, and our
children's future. Meanwhile our consumerism is devouring the planet
into what might soon become more lifeless than the moon or, God
forbid, a Wall Street Tycoon. Yet, mesmerized by commercials with
intelligence levels less than a jackass after having a lobotomy, we
roll blindly into the gates of the shopping centers, the strip malls
and humongous big box stores. For example, consider the following
release from the Associated Press.
"A
shopper in Los Angeles pepper-sprayed her competition for an Xbox and
scuffles broke out elsewhere around the United States as
bargain-hunters crowded malls and big-box stores in an
earlier-than-usual start to the madness known as Black Friday. Toys R
Us opened for the second straight year on Thanksgiving itself. And
some shoppers arrived with sharp elbows. On Thanksgiving night, a
Walmart in Los Angeles brought out a crate of discounted Xboxes, and
as a crowd waited for the video game players to be unwrapped, a woman
fired pepper spray at the other shoppers "in order to get an
advantage," police said. Ten people suffered cuts and bruises in
the chaos, and 10 others had minor injuries from the spray,
authorities said. The woman got away in the confusion, and it was not
immediately clear whether she got an Xbox. On Friday morning, police
said, two women were injured and a man was charged after a fight
broke out at an upstate New York Walmart. And a man was arrested in a
scuffle at a jewelry counter at a Walmart in Kissimmee, Fla. In the
U.S., Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, has taken steps in
recent years to control its Black Friday crowds following the 2008
death of one of its workers in a stampede of shoppers. This year, it
staggered its door-buster deals instead of offering them all at
once." (Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press)
Lennon
and McCartney of the Beatles wrote in the song "Revolution",
"you say you want a revolution, well you know, we'd all love
to change your head." Yes, it is more than changing Wall
Street. It is, ultimately, about changing ourselves. This Christmas,
change how you celebrate. Speak from your heart to your kids about
consumerism and how it is affecting the planet as well as our
behavior. Instead of buying your wife a new nightgown, give her your
heart through sweet words of affection. Make her something really
nice, like a fancy meal or a piece of furniture. Ladies, instead of
buying your husband a new bag of golf clubs, give him a night he will
never forget. Be creative, be loving, be tender and compassionate.
Enjoy each other. To enjoy is to enjoin, to enjoin is to unite.
Consumerism keeps us isolated by gimmicks of sensationalist
advertising of unrealistically beautiful women, “perfect”
children and gorgeous hunks of men that are created off the corporate
mold. And who is being molded by all these advertising gimmicks? You!
For what purpose? To make others rich. Don't go there this year. Find
richness in your heart and share that this Christmas. And keep more
of your money.
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