When precisely did the celebration of the Christ Mass become so material or consumerist? Was it ever more than just a celebration of the material led by the god of capitalist Christmas, Santa Claus?
I’ve long held the belief that the capitalist Christmas celebrated today is more about capitalism and the god of capitalism, Santa Claus, than anything remotely related to the Christ. This is a large part of the twisted, tortured, tormented reality about which I often blog.
That’s the way it is with our republic as well. Capitalism/consumerism has held the republic in a death grip---some might say by the gonads---for a very long time. In many ways capitalism/consumerism is, to put it in trendy terms, a vampire. The oligarchs keep the host (all of us not in the top 2% who own it all) just alive enough to keep feeding on us no matter how Ayn Rand-types attempt to color it.
This time of year all I hear, see and experience is people I know well talk about running themselves ragged shopping for Christmas gifts. How much time do you suppose the Christ spent Christmas shopping?
I mention this because those who self-proclaim to be “compassionate conservative Christians” are especially prone to such behavior.
Part and parcel of this behavior is the pretending thing about Santa Claus. Compassionate conservative Christians who know better still engage in the pretending thing and in the shopping.
Those who have the means also enjoy a particularly generous god of consumerism/capitalism while “have nots” are taunted by a less generous one. What psychotic purpose does the Santa Claus pretend thing serve?
Where is the Christ in this?
What does this have to do with either Elections 2010 or Public Policy? I was wondering when you were going to ask and since you’ve read thus far I’ll indulge your question.
The office holders/elected representatives of this republic and state are egregious practitioners of this spiritual/material psychosis as is the voting majority population that votes them into office.
These office elected officials and by extension the majority population responsible for electing them create our public policy. Public policy favors one segment of the population over all others.
For example federal employees, our congress, supreme court and president all have paid compassionate conservative Christian holidays. (that’s back to tyranny by majority). The same is not true for Muslims, Hindus, Wiccans, Jews, atheists or agnostics and the list is near endless---unless of course, they are celebrating capitalist Christmas.
That. compassionate conservative Christians would have you believe. is because we were founded as a Christian nation. Wrong.
Four to five hundred years ago it was all about religious freedom and tolerance. When did that change? There was not so much Christmas shopping at the mall then I think.
There are those who tell me it is both a spiritual and a material celebration. Balderdash. Poppycock.
That’s like asking me to believe that the majority population of Texas Red really are compassionate conservative Christians. If so, it is a psychotic version of the philosophy.
Why do I say this? Because Texas Red’s majority population favors the death penalty, keeps senators and representatives, state and federal in office who have never done a kind, generous, Christ-like thing for anyone.
Recall the Christ was no friend of the organized religion of his day. The Christ did for those whom the organized religion of his day would not.
Consider this, Texas Red’s majority population and elected representatives are responsible for the state’s egregious apartheid public education system, severe lack of public healthcare insurance, an ever growing prison-industrial complex and an increasing number of those executed by the collective compassionate conservative Christians, guilt not a requirement. These compassionate conservative Christians are also adamantly opposed to the DREAM Act. Moreover,these elected officials are even worse stewards of the environment.
Does any of that sound remotely Christ-like to you? If so, you must be one of the delusional compassionate conservative Christians whom I call out.
The collective psychosis of capitalist Christmas, its god Santa Claus (the pretend thing), the shop till you drop mentality and more reprehensibly the cold, indifferent, hateful, mean-spirited public policy that results from the will of those who self-identify as compassionate conservative Christian is unacceptable and has nothing to do with the Christ.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
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If in fact the capitalist, consumerist Christmas is what the occasion is about then there is no need for the Christ in that. In that case what our elected representatives do or don’t do for the poor, the minority, the disenfranchised in the state makes more sense. What doesn’t make sense is why it’s called Christmas at all.
From Texas Red: a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable apartheid public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way…
Hasta Siempre,
Hasta Siempre,
More:
The prison-industrial complex, apartheid public education system, racism and Elections 2010
Standard Examiner – Framers refused God’s help in writing Constitution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Six_of_the_United_States_Constitution
The Texas Observer Investigates Natural Gas Safety
http://www.tpr.org/programs/thesource.html
Say it isn’t so…..
2 civil rights groups claim Texas education discriminates against minorities
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/122010dnmetlulac.33a01874.html
It Might Be Time to Rebrand It the South American Dream
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/it-might-be-time-to-rebra_b_800515.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=122310&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeatureTitle&utm_term=Daily+Brief
Top censored stories of the year
Secret strip-mall immigration prisons, how our military props up the Taliban, and ongoing efforts to wipe the U.S. dollar off the map
“However, James W. Marquart, Sheldon Ekland-Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorensen offer a more complex thesis. In their book, The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990,[5] they argue that Texas' execution rate reflects the Southern "cultural tradition of exclusion," and that "[s]uch exclusion was a basic element of the legacy of slavery."
The Best and the Brightest
Colbert follows O'Reilly logic: "We've got to pretend Jesus was just as selfish as we are"
Colbert follows O'Reilly logic: "We've got to pretend Jesus was just as selfish as we are"
