‘Tis the season to be jolly they tell us. Christmas the pseudo Christian/Pagan holiday is today little more than an excuse to shop ourselves into oblivion.
Getting together with family and friends almost becomes an afterthought in our desire to purchase the love of others. Commercials tell us daily that unless we purchase the latest shiny bauble, those that we love will not know of our concern for them. It seems that love is not something we feel necessary to share three hundred and sixty-five days a year; it is something we express when sanctioned by the capitalist market. Whether it is Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or Christmas – “celebrating holidays with your loved ones” revolves around purchasing luxury items.
Christmas is not a holiday for the poor. At the minimum price of thirty Canadian dollars for a small turkey, it is exorbitant even before the wrapping paper graces the commodities we have dutifully brought home. In a time when spam is flying off of grocery shelves because people are too poor to afford meat, spending sixty to hundred dollars on one large meal amounts to ridiculous splendour.
Those of us with the financial privilege of being able to afford this holiday will do our bit, donating to local food banks, and buying presents for needy children. In the name of the holiday spirit we can acknowledge the suffering that occurs around us daily. Supposedly the magic of Christmas is that we’re reminded to care about the less fortunate.
Though we no longer have debtors’ prisons, the stigma of poverty is not eliminated by one day of generousness. On December 26th when Canadians rush to the malls to get their after Christmas deals, how many will remember the poor, the homeless families, the empty kitchen larders, or the children whose bellies one day later still ache for food?
The holiday giving is a sham. It is a hard truth, but one I have unfortunately had to embrace. It does not translate to greater good and allows people the ability to deny the three hundred and sixty four days a year that they live in privilege on the backs of those they seek to aid. There is no cookie, or pat on the back for deciding once a year that perhaps something should be done to elevate the systemic inequality that causes so many to suffer.
Though this is a holiday that is celebrated globally, its treatment by western capitalist countries readily ignores the fact that to “celebrate,” millions of workers globally are exploited.
Many expressed shock this year when 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour was trampled to death on Black Friday. Every single year someone is seriously injured, or dies, in our desire to procure the kickshaw that best represents our love. Think of the irony of that; love which is priceless is being represented by the cheapest commodities that we can procure.
While the death of Jdimytai Damour was indeed tragic, he will quickly be forgotten by the time the next Black Friday rolls around, just as we remain oblivious to the millions of third world workers who produce our cheap commodities for slaves wages.
Such connections, slavery, death and exploitation must certainly not be tied to Christmas; it would throw off our social myth about holiday solidarity. We prefer the neutral lies that we tell each other on a daily basis. The sex-appropriate gift giving that reinforces the gender binary is far more along the lines of what we are comfortable with.
It makes us far more content to accept that shiny blood diamonds makes women happy. Yes, the instant smile and perhaps holiday lay may all be yours if you can scrape up enough money to let your girlfriend or wife know you love her. It is equally simple for men; tools or high priced electronics are projected as the key the masculine heart.
No man can know what it means to have his efforts appreciated without a hammer and flat screen television under the tree. For a society that claims to be about individuality, the amount of conformity that is worshipped and practiced in the holiday season is shocking.
Even children are not spared the indoctrination. As soon as the Halloween pumpkins are put into compost, the toy advertisements go into over drive.
Little girls are offered the latest in dolls, makeup, and toy house wares. Can there be any better preparation to turn them into the diamond-craving wives of the future? For little boys it is trucks, super hero figures, and exploratory gadgets. Anything that encourages thought and ingenuity falls directly into the male category. Is it any wonder that the big boys (read: men) grow to desire the adult equivalent?
Capitalists know that Christmas is their big event. It is the perfect opportunity to welcome children into the lifestyle of needless consumption that will come to subsume their adult lives. Get together eat the turkey, but don’t forget to remind mommy and daddy that if they love you, they will purchase the latest imported piece of plastic crap from China.
No one should dare to use their imaginations and perhaps choose a gift that is off the male and female script. Secretly I believe that there is a fear that if we start to think we might begin to see the larger connections at work.
What if we were to suddenly decide that love cannot be measured through the purchase of commodities? What if we were to demand that anything given in love should truly be a reflection of that love? What if we should decide that caring for others should be more than a project we reserve for Christmas Day? The “what ifs” are astounding in terms of the societal changes that would occur.
I won’t wish you Merry Christmas because I wish you love and happiness three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Shocking, I know.