Tre Ventour’s feelings about Christmas have his friends calling him Scrooge. These are his feelings…
Bah humbug! Yes, I’m that guy who really doesn’t like Christmas. What number of times can be deemed appropriate to listen to the same Cliff Richard tracks repeatedly in the same day? I walk from one store into another and it’s as if the same tracks are on loop. How many times can we listen to the same carols and ballads bleating out at an eardrum-exploding-frequency?
Christmas is consumerism in its finest form. The hordes of individuals descend on shops like a big cat chasing down its prey on the savannah. As a society, we have a fetish for stuff. We are plagued by commodity fetishism. We are living in this culture of junk and mass consumerism. Christmas is that time of year where we bow to these false needs to fit in (well more so than the other 364 days in the year).
Ha, the human race is a weird and strange people. In the West, we have an insatiable desire to have things. Having the latest gadgets gives us power over others thus making us easier to control and removing our capacity for independent thougth.
Many call me Scrooge (thanks Dickens). They say “think of the children and it’s a time to be with family”. I agree with this but I also think why wait until Christmas for family reunions?
If you really cared about seeing them so much, you’d make an effort in the other 364 days don’t you think? Christmas is nothing more than humanity being happy robots, chasing the false needs of buying ludicrously expensive gifts which is basically a sheepish society being herded by the bourgeois capitalist ideologies (the farmer).
For children, it’s a winter wonderland where they get presents and get to see the yearly Doctor Who Christmas Special. That said, I’m a sucker for a bit of Who.
At its bare bones, Christmas, like Valentine’s Day (Christmas in February) and other festivals, are a business. Years ago, Christmas used to mean something. It used to be a time of cheer and goodwill.
In this time of technology and materialism, Christmas is here to make money and profit for the big corporations like Amazon, Apple, Tesco and all the high street retailers. The CEOs, bankers and others with their six-figure salaries are making a killing while their workers struggle to make ends meet, yet these workers still conform to this gift-giving ideology. By definition, Christmas is legalised theft under guise of a joyous festival.
Ho, ho, holy ghost of Christmas past! It doesn’t even begin on Christmas Day. It doesn’t even begin in December. The hype starts from September. The festive television adverts arrive in October with Christmas lights emerging in November. The action that irks me the most is that there is always a festival of lights between two fanatically keen neighbours who make their houses look like supernovas, with a fat Santa perched on the roof for good measure.
Merry Christmas! Have a present! Do people get things they need or things they want? Much alike the media and religion, cultural traditions like Christmas are out there to keep people in line. This was an idea pushed forward by Antonio Gramsci, a politician and neo-Marxist theorist. Cultural festivals like Christmas (derived from The Winter Solstice) keep the public united in thinking that they need to spend money on things they don’t actually need. It’s this idea of false consciousness which acts as a sort of superstition. Don’t say “Bloody Mary” three times in front of a mirror otherwise you’ll be cursed forever.
Don’t get me wrong, festivals like Christmas are designed for the children The most suggestible of our race but children are cruel. You know, with their innate ability to turn on the waterworks when they don’t get their own way. I want this; I want that; their ungratefulness at Christmas is mind-boggling. Look no further than somewhere like HMV or Game on the days leading up to the big event.
On the days leading up to the 25th, high streets are a war zone – Black Friday in December, uncanny to Tyrion Lannister’s pyrotechnic party trick at The Battle Of Blackwater Bay. It gets violent pretty quickly and this is in the name of giving children “the best Christmas ever”.
Christmas Day is said to be Jesus’ birthday. He was no Christian. He was a Jew, and in today’s world he would be labelled a socialist as well. In 2016, especially in the West, socialism is frowned upon. If you don’t believe me, look at Bernie Sanders in the US or even Jeremy Corbyn in the UK. I think that if Jesus was around today, his skin would crawl at what Christmas is.
It’s a festival that has been industrialised by corporations. Examples include Coca Cola changing St Nicholas from green to red. We all know the tale of good old Saint Nick with his heartfelt generosity and kindness. Then in the 1930s, the monopolising corporation Coca Cola decided to make him red like their trademark. Money talks and they’re willing to manipulate with a centuries-old tradition to make it.
The West has disregarded the whole religious flavour of Christmas for materialistic ideals like money and riches. I’m not saying don’t celebrate it. All I’m saying is remain wary and vigilant. Remember the old way. Remember that this is a time of year to be with loved ones and family, regardless if you buy them the most expensive gift or not. Family is for life. It is not a car. You can’t trade it in for the latest model when you get bored.
“If more us valued food and good cheer above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world”
J.R.R Tolkien
