Riding in the backseat of a car on Christmas Eve right after enjoying an evening with family, I heard a radio jockey come on the airwaves and in a quick commercial message declare to listeners that Christmas is all about getting what you wanted and what you get. It sounded like a bad joke but the commercial was entirely straight and I took it to be a further sign of what kind of nation we live in.
It’s not like I didn’t make a Christmas list. I did. But I would bet money that my Christmas list was different from any other college student because I am not liquidating my assets on PS3, XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii, PC gaming, IPods, IPhones, or any other gizmo that fuels capitalism because once you start to buy, you can’t stop. You have to have more! And believe me, assets is no exaggeration.
On my Christmas list, I asked for The Shock Doctrine and The End of America, two books all Americans should read. I asked for an Olympus recorder to improve my interviews for articles I write for OpEdNews (which means I will now start doing interviews for articles here on OpEdNews). And then for fun, I asked for SNL Season Two and a replacement SIRIUS radio, which I will argue are two progressive friendly gifts for every progressive American family to enjoy (and if you want more on that leave me a comment).
But I doubt many people thought of how they could use Christmas to further the revolution like I did and instead became one of those billions of shoppers that poured billions of dollars into merchandise and gift cards for loved ones this holiday season.
Now, it is being spread throughout the corporate consolidated media that retailers are not happy with us. Apparently, we Americans did not buy enough this holiday season. And that is why this morning, retailers were open early.
Yes, the Day after Christmas could effectively be called Black Friday the Sequel. It’s the first day that Americans can get back to being selfish people who live in a world of “me” after having to spend a month worrying about “we” or family. And many cannot wait to spend those gift cards which are burning a hole in their pocket and thank baby Jesus that they are doing such a thing because retailers cannot record them until you buy their products with the money you got.
While some go out to retailers on the day after to buy, others go to return the unwanted merchandise they have received, something retailers are well aware of and work to get around as much as possible.
For example, let’s say you got Bill O’Reilly’s Kids Are Americans Too and want nothing to do with it. I don’t blame you. But you better be sure to have your gift receipt or sales slip from the person that gave it to you. If you don’t, you may be stuck with Bill instead some other book your mind may have really benefited from.
But what if it’s not a Bill O’Reilly book you got but something like the Ronald Reagan DVD Boxed Set. Well, you better hurry and return it as quickly as possible because chances are that retailer will not let you return it if you keep it past January or even if you have it for more than a few weeks.
Of course, it is entirely possible that you will be "blacklisted" like communists in Hollywood were during the days of McCarthyism. This means you will be forever be branded as a "serial retailer" and the retailers will keep tabs on you so that they do not have to go through the dreadful process of "restocking."
Now, personally, I think the American people who are suffering from a declining economy involved in subprime loan disasters, rising health care costs, student loans, insurmountable credit card debt, etc. should throw a curveball to the retailers and just en masse opt to return everything received for Christmas forcing them to give them money for everything. If they will only give store credit, chances are you can use it for food or something you really need in everyday life. Having returned everything, you may be able to actually come closer to being out of debt and in control of your life.
I’m not advocating taking the toys that we all heard were infected with lead the Chinese had put in to poison us away from your children. The children should keep those and get to enjoy Christmas. But I do think we need to exercise some more self-control and creativity in these dire times and not allow capitalism to enslave us so much.
I find it amazing that nobody took all this love, joy, and faith and channeled it into working to get real gifts this Christmas, gifts that all humanity could benefit from.
Single-payer health care
Securing Social Security for the future
Bringing the troops home now
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