Make Christmas more commercial (Merry Christmas, regular, solutions, March)
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In response to the increasing volume of "CHRISTmas" threads I decided to help offer a different point of view.
Quote:
Christmas in America is an exuberant display of human ingenuity, capitalist productivity, and the enjoyment of life. Yet all of these are castigated as "materialistic"; the real meaning of the holiday, we are told, is assorted Nativity tales and altruist injunctions (e.g., love thy neighbor) that no one takes seriously.
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Capitalism Magazine - Christmas Should be More Commercial (http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/culture/history/2254-christmas-should-be-more-commercial.html - broken link)
I agree with this article. Christmas should be about reflecting on the accomplishments of the previous year and enjoying the benefits of our labor with family and friends. Yes Merry Christmas everyone!
I agree. Christmas has already become a secular holiday in addition to a religious one. I don't see a problem with it at all - it's a fun time of year for everybody and that's what we need in life for sure.
People always say that Christmas is becoming too commercialized or that "The Christ isn't in Christmas anymore!" Well, if someone believes that, then they can celebrate it their way and I'll celebrate it my way. We're all individuals, people. Yes, they invented the holiday, the Christians did. But Christians also tend to be staunch Capitalists as well...
With marketing drives and media campaigns beginning as early as late October now I'm not too certain how Christmas could become any more 'commercialised' if a years supply of Yuletide eggnog and end of year multi-million dollar Wall Street bonuses depended upon it.
I love Christmas but DESPISE the scramble for gifts, toys and presents that will be worth at least half the inflated December costs come Boxing Day.
That's the only thing about Christmas that grinds me down, the commercial aspect. Christmas shows, breaks, dinners and dances'll do me just fine and some quality time with family and friends. But as for the celebrity endorsed product placements and the "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" jingle designed to get me elbowing my way downtown to invest in enough junk food to feed a small army and enough useless clothing accesories to keep a Charity Shop bargain basement overflowing for a decade, do me a favour, pass me the remote, I've got better things to do.
Like raising a glass of whiskey to old aquaintances and listening to 'Fairytale of New York' by the Pogues for another ten thousand times before those bells are ringing out for Christmas Day again.
Last edited by Fear&Whiskey; 12-04-2010 at 08:23 AM..
.....So shopkeepers and businesses can gripe and whine when consumers hibernate through January and February cos they've maxed out their credit cards again and no-one comes though their shop doorway again til mid-March. That'll work.
The commerical aspect of Christmas is like the Capitalist view on economics. Gorge now, pay later and we'll worry about working off that extra loose tyre round the waist come spring. This obsession with indulgence and a short sharp hit is similar to a junkie riding high for a week-end blowout but then scratching around for a score come Monday morning when he's penniless, shaking, rattling and a rolling with the mother and father of all hangovers to contend with. It's counter-productive.
Of course business should be booming at Christmas, but do we really need to overload to such extravagantly epic proportions? Unlike Santa's jellyroll, if Christmas spending doesn't keep expanding every year, we won't burst and we won't die, we'll live and just get used to it. It's about time we started adjusting to the fact that steady and stable growth in an economy is far more important than lavish but irregular spending sprees we can simply no longer afford.
Last edited by Fear&Whiskey; 12-04-2010 at 08:55 AM..
In response to the increasing volume of "CHRISTmas" threads I decided to help offer a different point of view.
Capitalism Magazine - Christmas Should be More Commercial (http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/culture/history/2254-christmas-should-be-more-commercial.html - broken link)
I agree with this article. Christmas should be about reflecting on the accomplishments of the previous year and enjoying the benefits of our labor with family and friends. Yes Merry Christmas everyone!
I always thought that was what New Years Eve was for. Reflect on the year just past on New Years Eve and plan for the one just starting on New Years Day. Isn't that what New Years resolutions are all about?
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