Journals of Toast 49
Posted by ezrast Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:30:00 GMT
Actually I like Christmas, but for all the wrong reasons. As an atheist, the religious connotations of the holiday mean nothing to me; as an avoidant introvert, I am bad at shopping for things that I think other people would like; as a staunch cynic, I believe the whole Santa Claus shtick is only maintained in our culture due to the asocial tendencies of parents wanting to either assert their dominance over their children (by lying to them) or vicariously experience a nonexistant fantasy through them. Christmas (as it is integrated into our mainstream society) is a reaffirmation of materialism that permeates society, strengthened and perverted by corporate culture.
The fact that despite our rampantly materialistic tendencies and corrupt motives there is one day a year where all of us (okay, most of us) mutually and assuredly agree to just give stuff away to each other is pretty amazing. If I were designing an ideal society, would I designate one day in particular where everyone is obligated to buy each other things? Probably not, because that doesn't really make sense. But as a product of the natural development of our own, real, flawed society, it's actually pretty neat.
P.S. I really hate that I had to resort to a pun on "façade" but I couldn't think of any other word synonymous with deceit that worked.
Agreed.
Mos def, man. Mos def.