In this week’s NYT Sunday Review, Arthur C. Brooks, the President of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) cites Pew polls figures showing that Americans are bothered by the commercialization and consumerism of the Christmas season. Brooks explains it away saying, “The frustration and emptiness so many people feel at this time of the year is not an objection to the abundance … [but rather] a healthy hunger for nonattachment.” Like any self-respecting enlightened capitalist, he makes a superficial nod toward Eastern philosophy and tells us to “collect experiences, not things” (easy when you have nice things like groceries). Good advice, but it’s lost in the mix when he forgives all capitalist excesses because they allow for poverty amelioration: “This season, don’t rail against the crowds of shoppers on Fifth Avenue or become some sort of anti-gift misanthrope. Celebrate the bounty that has pulled millions out of poverty…” The whole op-ed is fairly nonsensical but the sort of the thing you’d expect from the President of AEI. You might hope that the NYT would choose a better lead story for their Sunday Review on the week that saw the release of the Congressional report on the use of torture, the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting, and a massive Justice for All March in D.C.
I do wonder what it means that a nation of such avid consumers is so horribly troubled by consumption during the Christmas season. Jean Baudrillard once argued that Disneyland exists so that Americans can identify it as fake, allowing us to avoid facing the overwhelming unreality of life in America as a whole. Do our critiques of consumerism around Christmas serve the same function? Perhaps we condemn consumerism within the sacred space of December as a way of making consumerism during the eleven profane months more acceptable. The only thing that makes Zen master Brooks different is that he revels in our “abundance” (that’s enlightened capitalist code for buying shiny crapola) all year. He’s all too happy to spread the profane.
I tend the other way. It doesn’t bother me that Christmas cranks consumerism up to 11. It would be fine if we went on a sweater-buying frenzy for a month out of the year if we didn’t drive gas-guzzling cars and live in giant houses and get trapped in a work-spend cycle the rest of the year. What concerns me is that we keep Christmas consumerism in our hearts all the year round. In other words, many of our concerns about Christmas consumerism are misplaced, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be worried about consumption in general. Now, back to my Christmas shopping …
Comments 3
Susanna K. — December 15, 2014
I tend to agree with you. It's fine to have one holiday where we're all encouraged to spend and buy lavishly. I know that a lot of charities see an increase in donations around Christmastime as a result.
But marketers seem to think that Christmas spending is something that ought to be replicated for other holidays. And so we get Valentines, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Halloween spending sprees, as well. Not to mention all the Presidents' Day and Memorial Day sales. It never stops, does it?
Jason — December 15, 2014
That push to over commercialize the other holidays is just capitalism doing its thing. If somebody is willing to buy it, or if effective advertising can convince you that you should, then somebody will slap a sale sticker on it.
As far as Christmas consumerism goes Lindner makes sense, even if you're struggling the rest of the year, you can spend now. Reminds me of medieval all fool's day. Just get it all out of your system so things can go back to normal for the rest of the year.
Kenneth M. Kambara — December 20, 2014
I go into Midtown (Manhattan) these days, where commercialization is fused with tourism. My first thought is Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle and I feel that when people say they don't like "materialism", what might be occurring is having a distaste for the marketing machinery that crosses the line and isn't so seamless. For various reasons, I'm detached from being in the fray this year. I can see the consumption rituals for what they are, which have to do with (use, symbolic, & exchange) value, values, and relationships in complex ways. I'm content to slowly make my way out West while working on my ASA submission. ;)