What is on your Christmas list? In a recent ABC News poll in which they asked people, “If you could have your choice, what one present would you most like to have for Christmas?” the answers provided gives great insight to the American psyche. Forget peace and happiness because most Americans wanted either a car or computer under the tree this holiday. Although Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of the birth of Jesus, in modern America, the celebration of Jesus’ birth had been replaced by commercialism and materialism. Christmas has far more to do with materialism and consumerism than anything else.
Despite every plea made by religious leaders, such as Pope Benedict XVI, this has nothing to do with religion. The fact is Christmas fuel consumerism because the principle message being told during the holiday season is to buy, spend, and consume.
The commercialism of Christmas is not a recent phenomenon. In 1850, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a lament that reflected a common sentiment: “There are worlds of money wasted, at this time of year, in getting things nobody wants, and nobody cares for after they are got.”
We’ve brainwashed ourselves to “give” into a mechanical generic holiday system instead of giving our hearts and souls to a worthy cause that the real Christmas represents.
This holiday season is a time when we should ponder the message of Charles Dickens’, timeless classic “A Christmas Carol,”. Most of us who grew up with it as children as being a story about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who cares about nothing but money and is visited in his house on Christmas Eve by three ghosts – the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Future. They make Scrooge see the error of his ways.
It is not surprising that everyone takes joy in Ebenezer Scrooge’s redemption, because it allows us to find the kernel of compassion, of humanity within us. However, many of us miss the true message Dickens was trying to convey. Understanding the conditions under which working-class people lived became based on his experiences, the scene with Christmas Present with the two orphans, Ignorance and Want is the central focus of the story. From Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol:”
‘They are Man’s,’ said the Spirit, looking down upon them. ‘And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it.’ cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. ‘Slander those who tell it ye. Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end.’
‘Have they no refuge or resource.’ cried Scrooge.
‘Are there no prisons.’ said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. ‘Are there no workhouses.’
Championing the causes of the poor and oppressed, Dickens personified ignorance and want as twins because Ignorance and Want are the twin evils of humanity. How we act and behave towards one another in society plays a vital role in lives of the poor and the oppressed. Yes, all of us! The orphan twins symbolized the plight of the poor and the causes of their poverty as well as humanity’s obligation to them. In addition, of the two, Ignorance is the greater evil.
When you look at the bigger picture, it is fear and need and want and anxiety that drives this country. Moreover, it is these fears that have caused our culture of cruelty that currently exists. Today, in his Year-End Press Conference, President Bush continues to push the illusion that Americans are at risk.
BUSH: As you all know, I’ve said this many times from the podium, I do believe in the universality of freedom. I believe if people are given a chance to be free, they will do so. I understand some don’t believe that. It’s kind of like, “We’re the only ones who can be free.” It’s kind of the ultimate isolationism, isn’t it. And the question then is: Is it in our nation’s interest to help others realize the blessings of liberty? And clearly the Bush foreign policy says it is, because I believe it’s going to yield peace. And it’s particularly important given the fact that we’re in an ideological struggle against people who use murder to achieve political objectives. And we faced these kind of people before in our past. And the question is: Does it make sense to confront them? And if we forget the lessons of September the 11th as a nation we will be naive or blind to the realities of the world. And the best way to confront these folks in the long term is to defeat their ideology with one based upon hope, and that’s one based upon liberty, and that’s what you’re watching unfold. It’s necessary work, and it’s hard work. And it requires determination and effort and commitment. And so, part of our efforts is to convince others: one, the nature of the world in which we live; two, that we’re in an ideological struggle; and, three, we will prevail because we’ve got the ultimate weapon against those who can’t see anything but terror and murder as the way forward, and that is freedom.
This is not a coincidence. Today Christmas is such a vital part of our economic system that Wall Street monitors the season as an indicator of the nation’s economic viability. Currently, the national mood is absorbed in the illusion that Americans are at risk and that they are in danger from terrorists abroad. While it is true that America has plenty of enemies, people in this country believe in the illusion created by this country that their hatred is toward us and not towards those who continue banging the drum of fear to achieve their political objectives. Rather than making sacrifices during a time when our economy is fragile, people today are being told that the best way to help economy is to go about their business and spend money as if nothing was wrong.
What better time to get out that message than the Christmas holidays. Why? Because not only is Christmas celebrated by gift giving; but we are also compelled to do so, not necessarily out of the kindness of our hearts.
This year, the average individual US consumer is expected to spend $817 on holiday-related shopping, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2007 Holiday Consumer Intentions Survey. Last year, consumer spending on holiday gift spending totaled $450 billion and in the previous year, consumers spent a total of $438.6 billion. Although it is being reported that sales are down this year, yet, the forecast for this year, sales are still expected to see a 1.5 percent increase from a year ago.
As Christmas has become entwined with shopping, American consumers are encouraged to spend, while at the same time, they are being told to save money. In the end, consumer debt continues to grow. Recent statistics show 3 in 5 Americans (59%) incurred credit card debt when shopping for Christmas presents. According to the NRF 2007 survey, 40.1 percent of shoppers, up from 39.1 percent last year, will rely on debit and check cards to make purchases.
In our contemporary framework, the term “giving” equals buying rather than giving meaning providing. And this is the crux of the problem. Pure market capitalism does not respect traditions or religion. The market doesn’t care if you are rich or poor. All that matters is how to make the best profit possible from selling to the public. It is a system that believes that humankind exists only for the money that can be made through exploitation and intimidation.
It is Ignorance that turns a blind eye on a world full of “Little Matchstick Girl,” with an attitude that we aren’t their keepers. It is Ignorance that continues to play self-deluding word games for the sake of an ideal self-image. In truth, if we dare to look it, as Nietzsche said, the abyss stares back.” When this happens it is easier to avert our eyes and bury our heads in the sand and turn a blind eye to our moral cowardice, because it is their poverty makes us feel uncomfortable, their illnesses that disgust us, and the apparent hopelessness of their lives that scares us.
At a time when everyone invokes and acclaims progress, solidarity and peace for all, people continue to die of hunger and thirst, disease and poverty. It is Ignorance that has ignored those who continue to be enslaved, exploited and stripped of their dignity. It creates an environment where victims of racial and religious hatred are hampered by intolerance, by discrimination, and by political interference. It creates an environment that rationalizes the numerous assaults and rape to women like Jamie Leigh Jones and Kathryn Bolkovac by companies like Halliburton, KBR, and DynCorp International through physical and moral coercion. And it is Ignorance that has turned a blind eye to the numerous threats and harassments to thousands of immigrants by the Border Patrol, ICE, and the US.
You could say that the adverse nature within us that causes us to be contrary to what is righteous. However, it is our greed, our selfishness, our self-importance, our materialism and our aversions to Godliness that has taken us down a darker path – a path is sociopathic. We are living in a pluralistic society that has created a climate that protects all variations of irresponsibility and irrationality. It is draining the economy, bankrupting the country, and making a psychotic mess of our political process. The twin evils of humanity have consumed us like a cancer. Make no mistake; this country seeks to control the world for its own political and economic interests and we are its collateral damage as many misguided flag-waving zealots rally to a jingoistic cause. And as we open our gifts this Christmas and singing songs of “peace on earth,” just remember, millions of innocent children will either spend their Christmas in private detention facility or continue to be blown up by our bombs for they shall roam the dark alleys of our indifference.
We have become deaf and blind to the truth: we help create this the economic, political, and legal systems that is stepping on the backs of the poor and the oppressed.
x-posted on ¡Para Justicia y Libertad!