Are these the 21 Century holidays of the future?
Usually Halloween is the start of the holiday seasons. Not
everyone celebrates Christmas, Jews, Moslems and some atheists just don’t get
anything out of that holiday. However, not only Christians, but some atheists
and Wiccans celebrate the holiday, which got its start as a Winter Solstice,
thousands of years before Christmas. Some people love the decorations, while
others like to meet with family members.
By December 1st we expect to see a lot of ads
with Santa and elves trying to deliver present the retail corporations’ 1 %
want us to buy. To them this has always been the season to cash in on people’s
feelings of obligations to buy their friends and relatives presents.
Never in my entire life have I ever seen the kind of Crass Commercialism that has plagued these “so called holiday seasons.” I’m used to the Black Friday that comes after Thanksgiving. But this year they started early and then decided to extend it all the way to December. Commercial after commercial shows greedy-self-absorbed people bragging about iphones, TVs and Cars that are all buying supper cheap.
I haven’t even seen that many Christmas decorations in the
stores. It’s all about buying cheap junk and making the major corporations
rich. The Only Christmas symbols I’ve noticed on TV have been Santa selling
cars.
I’ve been enjoying Christmas (now I celebrate
the Winter Solstice, mainly for traditional reasons, and for an excuse to visit
family members), since I was a little kid. But this year is probably the worst
holiday season I have ever endured. To say that I am sick of Black Friday
lasting so long, is an understatement. I want to throw-up ever time I watch
some self-centered couple get on TV and brag about the cheap crap they bought.
I expect some crass commercialism, but this year is ridiculous. It worse and it
is disgusting.
There have always been a few Christmas specials criticizing commercialism of the holiday, such as A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! But these messages that “Christmas doesn’t come out of a package or store” does little to affect the crass commercialism that is thrown at us over and over on our TV commercials.
If TV commercials aren’t annoying enough, I get
plenty of commercials in my e-mail from companies trying to sell me crap I have
no interest in.
Here is an example of some of the crap that has
been piling up on me from my e-mail account;
“Zuuzs,con; It's Cold/Flu Season So Stock Up! -
Up To 40% Off Cold Remedies. Other messages from similar companies; 12 Days of Joy - Special Holiday Surprise Every Day
For 12 Days; Stock Up & Save - Full Price Legwear: Buy
ONE get ONE 50% off; Save On Holiday Gifts - 20% Off $60;
Shop Holiday Gifts On The Cheap - Great Picks
Starting at $5; Cyber Savings All Week - Special Offers On Top Brands
& Products; Art.com, Great Holiday Gift Ideas - 20% off all orders;
Naturalizer, Save On Holiday Gifts - 10% Off Your Entire Order;
Radioshack, Capture The Memories! - Up To $80
Off Nikon Cameras…”
Worse are the elaborate big ads for the crap I
really have no interest in buying;
I had no use for this crap either!;
I’ll try once again to celebrate Winter Solstice with my family and friends without giving lots of money to that greedy 1% and their corporate stooges. As our country becomes more right-wing, and self-indulgent, this may be the future of our holiday seasons for the immediate future. But we can still buy gifts from locally owned stores and avoid the ridiculous junk, such as iphones and TVs just because they were cheap. I will try to celebrate these holiday seasons regardless of the crap I have to endure from TV. This is the 21st Century and we may have to make our own holiday celebrations the best we can.
-សតិវ អតុ
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