Now I may be talking way out of my depth here from a sociological viewpoint but the biggest thing I hate about Christmas bar none is consumerism. I hate it so very much it makes my blood boil. I know some of the people around me don’t see it that way and I don’t think that I alone can change the world but boy does it get me angry.
The festive season must be a massive if not the biggest source of income for corporations trying to flog you stuff1. I’ve not even bothered looking for stats to prove it because it’s just going to be true. I hate the whole idea of having to buy things for people, not because you love them but because the Christmas monster says you have to. Imagine not buying for someone who’s expecting you to buy them a present. Just imagine. I really want to write on the cards that I give to people:
Here’s a gift from me. I can’t really afford it, I’m only buying it for you because it’s Christmas and I’ll be skint because of it. You don’t actually need it, you probably won’t use it. Merry Christmas.
I don’t suppose that’d go down too well though would it.
From a very early age we are all duped into this merry-go-round of what I call Consumerismas. The big build up, the day arrives, the opening of stuff wrapped in shiny paper and boy-oh-boy this is great. The idea that buying stuff for people == love and happiness is etched into your soul and you’re fucked. And not just one present. Oh no, we’re now in the gluttonous age of more meaning better and the quantity or cost of something is directly proportional to the amount of love you feel for someone.
If you don’t join in with all this corporate fuelled madness you’re labelled as a Scrooge. Well if that’s the case we’ll ignore the fact that I spend the other 364 days of the year trying my damn best to be helpful, generous, polite, courteous, caring, thoughtful and loving. No, just because I hate lining executives pockets by buying pointless gifts I’m a bad person. For fuck’s sake.
Perfume Adverts on Telly
Sometime in early November they start. The Christmas adverts come on the telly and for me, the absolute worst examples are the bloody perfume/aftershave ones. You take one fit looking celebrity or model and show them: wandering down a deserted beach at sunset; attending a high-class society function; cavorting with some other fit looking celebrity or model; rambling on about life changing meaningless stuff2 or some other fantasy scene, shot in soft focus or monochrome. You watch and take it all in. Yes, you too Karen who works down the market with three kids, yes you John working as a plumber covered in shit all day, you too can look like Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor and live in fantasy land and have a six pack stomach or a barbie doll figure. All you need to do is spend shit loads of your hard earned cash for some fancy looking bottle of stuff that smells like chemicals and boom, your made it into the big time.
Well. I’m sorry Karen and John. No you haven’t. Karen, you still have to get up at six in the morning to get the kids sorted before you’re off to that market stall and John, sorry mate, that bunged up toilet is just around the corner. You should celebrate who you are and not try and be something you’re not and shouldn’t want to be. It’s a big fat lie of a fantasy that people with much more money than you are selling you. The end result is that they stay rich and you stay where you are. It’s time you, we, figured that out.
God and Jesus, Again
So, what has all this to do with religion. Fuck all that’s what. Corps selling consumers stuff they don’t need is not religious. It’s exploitation of the stupid masses by the rich and powerful. It’s the absolute antithesis of what the Christmas spirit is all about. If Jesus was alive and God existed, would you catch them down Argos buying Diesel perfume? Would you fuck. Do people buying all the shit think of God and Jesus when their gifts. Do they fuck.
Pathetic. And I’m not even a Christian!
Capitalism
Yeah, I understand that perhaps the whole structure of Western Capitalism is based on the corporations being rich. They keep rich partly due to Christmas. Well, in my world, all that would change. I think you could substitute the word Christmas for the word Capitalism in these posts and in a lot of cases, you wouldn’t notice the difference. Would you brother.
I hate Christmas
Dave
Image in this post courtesy of Zopeuse Creative Commons [↩]
Reason 11: Consumerismas
Now I may be talking way out of my depth here from a sociological viewpoint but the biggest thing I hate about Christmas bar none is consumerism. I hate it so very much it makes my blood boil. I know some of the people around me don’t see it that way and I don’t think that I alone can change the world but boy does it get me angry.
The festive season must be a massive if not the biggest source of income for corporations trying to flog you stuff1. I’ve not even bothered looking for stats to prove it because it’s just going to be true. I hate the whole idea of having to buy things for people, not because you love them but because the Christmas monster says you have to. Imagine not buying for someone who’s expecting you to buy them a present. Just imagine. I really want to write on the cards that I give to people:
I don’t suppose that’d go down too well though would it.
From a very early age we are all duped into this merry-go-round of what I call Consumerismas. The big build up, the day arrives, the opening of stuff wrapped in shiny paper and boy-oh-boy this is great. The idea that buying stuff for people == love and happiness is etched into your soul and you’re fucked. And not just one present. Oh no, we’re now in the gluttonous age of more meaning better and the quantity or cost of something is directly proportional to the amount of love you feel for someone.
If you don’t join in with all this corporate fuelled madness you’re labelled as a Scrooge. Well if that’s the case we’ll ignore the fact that I spend the other 364 days of the year trying my damn best to be helpful, generous, polite, courteous, caring, thoughtful and loving. No, just because I hate lining executives pockets by buying pointless gifts I’m a bad person. For fuck’s sake.
Perfume Adverts on Telly
Sometime in early November they start. The Christmas adverts come on the telly and for me, the absolute worst examples are the bloody perfume/aftershave ones. You take one fit looking celebrity or model and show them: wandering down a deserted beach at sunset; attending a high-class society function; cavorting with some other fit looking celebrity or model; rambling on about life changing meaningless stuff2 or some other fantasy scene, shot in soft focus or monochrome. You watch and take it all in. Yes, you too Karen who works down the market with three kids, yes you John working as a plumber covered in shit all day, you too can look like Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor and live in fantasy land and have a six pack stomach or a barbie doll figure. All you need to do is spend shit loads of your hard earned cash for some fancy looking bottle of stuff that smells like chemicals and boom, your made it into the big time.
Well. I’m sorry Karen and John. No you haven’t. Karen, you still have to get up at six in the morning to get the kids sorted before you’re off to that market stall and John, sorry mate, that bunged up toilet is just around the corner. You should celebrate who you are and not try and be something you’re not and shouldn’t want to be. It’s a big fat lie of a fantasy that people with much more money than you are selling you. The end result is that they stay rich and you stay where you are. It’s time you, we, figured that out.
God and Jesus, Again
So, what has all this to do with religion. Fuck all that’s what. Corps selling consumers stuff they don’t need is not religious. It’s exploitation of the stupid masses by the rich and powerful. It’s the absolute antithesis of what the Christmas spirit is all about. If Jesus was alive and God existed, would you catch them down Argos buying Diesel perfume? Would you fuck. Do people buying all the shit think of God and Jesus when their gifts. Do they fuck.
Pathetic. And I’m not even a Christian!
Capitalism
Yeah, I understand that perhaps the whole structure of Western Capitalism is based on the corporations being rich. They keep rich partly due to Christmas. Well, in my world, all that would change. I think you could substitute the word Christmas for the word Capitalism in these posts and in a lot of cases, you wouldn’t notice the difference. Would you brother.
I hate Christmas
Dave