First of all, the Christmas commercials and junk started appearing on TV and in stores even before Halloween. The deluge of crap used to start halfway through Novemeber (what's this Thanksgiving American Gluttony Day I've heard of?), or even just afterwards for Black Friday, but no. Now the steady stream of capitalism starts in the middle of October.
Not that I have many cable stations to speak of (22 channels, 3 of which are in foreign languages), but they're saturated with schmaltzy Christmas commercials. They don't even pretend to try to be politically correct anymore; the phrase Happy Holidays has somehow gone from being politely recognitive other faiths to being considered impolite. What I think is impolite is how American Usonian (less ethnocentric) people are eating up this garbage and excreting glittery new snowflake-shaped turds that for some reason the public at large is eating up like Pac Man eats pellets.
Yes, I know a few people who are still into the "genuine" Christmas Spirit. By this, I don't mean they're celebrating the birth of some Jewish carpenter that lived over two thousand years ago. No. I mean this Spirit of selfless giving, a desire to give heartfelt thanks to friends, family, whoever; the kind that should spread out all through the year, but especially swell in December. But no. The masses are duped by media or by blind greediness.
Examples:
(TV commercial for MasterCard, I think)
It opens with a politically correct, half-white, half-latino family that somehow magically has triplet boys who look to be around 12. The latina mother looks young and attractive, which is puzzling, as her white husband is old and fat. The commercial keeps panning from family member to family member, showing how the mother's extra-awesomely picked out (and on sale!) gifts make the whole damn family nearly wet themselves in joy. The dog even jumps around like an idiot, twirling, even though it looks like he didn't get anything at all. The thing that burns the sides of my face with flames of hate is that while this is all going on, the mother is standing there, hands clasped together, practically orgasming in pride that she bought such awesome presents. Not the kind of pride you have in a child for figuring out a puzzle, but the other kind of pride; the look how awesome I am for being awesome and you suck kind of pride. I want to stab her in the face. Thank you for making gift giving a competitive contest.
(TV commercial for Audi)
It opens with the husband of a childless marriage getting some unnamed white luxury car for Christmas. (I might have to post a separate rant about giving new cars for Christmas, but I digress.) They are both unsurprisingly white, middle-aged, and living in a McMansion. the man's sitting in the driver's seat, gleaming with happiness and thanking his wife, who sits in the passenger seat, smiling happily. Then, a big, black, shiny, fancier-than-your-car Audi comes around the bend of their street. Immediately, the man looks at his car, then at the other one driving past, and is crestfallen. It's clear he's thinking something along the lines of "Awww! That car is nicer than mine! I wish I had gotten that one for Christmas!" The wife notices this and is devastated. The commercial makes a comment about giving better presents this year. You stupid bastard. Poor, stupid bastard, you got a new car for Christmas? But you really wanted that fancier, more expensive car? You don't give a damn about the fact that you just crushed your wife's spirits? Do the world a favor and let your wife out of the car, then drive over a cliff into a lake. Thank you for telling the U$A that when you don't get what you really want for Christmas, you can be a whiny bitch about it and make everyone feel terrible. I hope you get AIDS. And that the one who bleeds on you is one of the kids of a family that's eating a Spam-loaf for Christmas supper.
Come on, people. What happened to the Christmas Spirit? There are enough kitzchy cartoon and other specials being aired to remind us about the more generous, honorable, thankful sides of Christmas, but if we don't set an example, the kids are going to be even more spoiled brats.
So Christmas, you can suck it. I'm going to shove coal up your ass and light it with my Yule log.
Duke of URL, at 12/10/2010 9:51 PM Reputation Level: 181
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I love your post... but I have to give you the other side. Now I'm not the going along with the bullshit consumerism that they shove upon people, because that is bullshit, pure and simple.
I used to love selecting gifts for everyone on my list. Heartfelt, non-qualitative and non-quantitative (i.e. the OPPOSITE of the Audi ad, which is extreme poor taste - something advertisers do to look "cute", but I digress there) gifts. The gifts I bought were never that expensive, but more in the spirit of giving... Many times the gifts I'd give were handmade, and had more involved in the presentation than the actual item.
One or two Christmases ago, my mom decided the family would cease gift giving in order to save money "because of the bad economy" -- a reason used to make many a bad decision seem good at the time, as it did in this case. It's true, I saved a couple hundred bucks right off the get-go, and I found myself with lots of extra spare time and less stress from running around crazy trying to find presents.
It was around then that I realized that everyone else was too busy buying gifts to do anything else, and I'd been effectively cut off from my government-regulated supply of holiday cheer! Before I knew it, Christmas was fast approaching and I still didn't feel like it was any different than any other day. I noticed myself trying to find more special holiday-themed events to go to, and ended up trying to buy special things to make Christmas d... (show all)
inner (the last remaining bit) MORE special than your average family gathering.
In the end, this money saving exercise cost me more than just buying gifts would have. But that's not the biggest hit. I really enjoyed making people happy by giving them a gift selected just specifically for them, and that is something you can't put a price-tag on.
This year, they wanted to bring gifts back, but strictly on a "buy an anonymous gift, and we'll randomly pick names out of a hat who gets it". After I outlined how that strips all of the goodwill out of gift giving leaving ONLY the consumerism aspect, that was deep-sixed as well.
Stores want to make money, and the earlier they start with the Christmas sales, the more they think they'll make. Personally, I tend to procrastinate most of the time, so I end up putting off my shopping until the week or two before Christmas. That makes it easy to avoid feeling rushed into the season.
As for people giving each other brand new luxury cars for Christmas... every time I see commercials like that, I laugh. I guess that's a class of people I haven't met yet. I don't know anyone who ever got even a used, crappy car for Christmas. I haven't seen the commercial that you wrote about, but it sounds absolutely awful. That alone would've been rant-worthy.
I think part of the way to keep the Christmas spirit is to know how to ignore all of that bullshit. I adore Christmas. I love the music, the lights, spending time with my family and friends, the smell of real Christmas trees, the general good feeling of the season... pretty much everything! I also love buying stuff for people. But for me, it's not about the price tag - it's about getting someone I care about something they want or need. And I feel the same way about gifts I receive.
I guess what I'm trying to say is don't let all the ridiculousness ruin Christmas for you. Don't blame Christmas for the greedy and the stupid. It's very easy to hit mute when the commercials come on.
This year, they wanted to bring gifts back, but strictly on a "buy an anonymous gift, and we'll randomly pick names out of a hat who gets it". After I outlined how that strips all of the goodwill out of gift giving leaving ONLY the consumerism aspect, that was deep-sixed as well.
Bah humbug.
Actually, I think the aspect that you're forgetting that remains in tact is the fun aspect. That's probably why your parents wanted to do it. And honestly, think about it -- there's probably a hundred things you could buy that your mom OR dad would enjoy equally.
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