Crass Christmas
The Source
I have this ongoing argument with my friend Richard who lives in Brighton, England, some two hours out of London. It’s about whose nation manages to mangle Christmas most thoroughly. I claim that because of England’s declining religious tendencies, that it should win the award for commercializing Christmas. Richard maintains that since the U.S. constantly touts itself as a Christian nation then we’re the top hypocrites. He says, “At least we don’t pretend to be holy while making a buck off the shepherds and wisemen.” Richard is too far away to slap so our discussion is limited to email and Facebook. Richard’s the one, by the way, who when he visits with his family always insists on going to White Oaks Mall the day after Thanksgiving to “see Americans at their worst.” (I should add that Richard truly loves the U.S. It’s just that he like millions worldwide is often confused by our rituals.) It didn’t help a thing when on his last visit we heard Silent Night coming out of a liquor store’s speaker system. Richard agreed that if you drank enough the night would indeed become silent…maybe even eternal. I used to think it was fun to see which business, institution or even church could manage to produce the most crass Christmas. The State of Illinois has entered the crassness competition this year by taking the tune to Joy to the World and rewriting the words to tout tickets for the Illinois Lottery. I guess it’s okay to have church and state cozy up to each other as long as you have a nice thick slab of tackiness tucked in between. I loved the TV ad a few years ago encouraging us all to rush to a Midwest gambling casino asking the pithy question, “What better way to celebrate Christmas than at the Casino?” Uh….I can think of maybe one or two. Santa Claus has established himself so firmly into the little manger scene at Bethlehem that we probably have an entire generation of youngsters who assume the shepherds were simply unemployed elves. Drew, a former student of mine, now instructs a classroom of 5th and 6th-graders in one of the poorest regions of the Mississippi Delta through the Teach for America program. In a recent Thanksgiving visit he told me, “When I worked in Africa it was so refreshing. The kids hadn’t been exposed to commercialism. But when I tell my poor kids in Mississippi that when they spend $150 for a pair of Nikes it just allows someone else to take their money…well, I’d might as well talk to the wall. They all watch TV. They think that more things will make them happy. Mommy and Daddy think so, too.” Ho, ho, ho, boys and girls.
And of course our national leaders and the gurus of Wall Street after years bemoaning the American’s ability to save are now shouting, “Spend! Spend! For God’s sake, spend!” Maybe that’s an answer our capitalist society can settle on: Spend for God’s sake.