Pirate's Cove

Is it possible for these people to mind their own business? If they want to do something different, they can. Stop trying to force Everyone Else to comply

The world has changed. Christmas must change, too

…

It was the 1980s – “enough” was the enemy. I grew up in the heyday of mindless shopping and obnoxious advertising. I was a spoiled child in an affluent suburb; my friends and I knew that contentment was not the point. Christmas was about the next gift, and the next. Christmas, to such a child, meant a spree of consumption through which, if one’s parents were very lucky, they might prove their love.

I was not alone in this immodest conviction. Our consumer culture was by then a single absorbing story that invested material goods with magical powers. In a sense we were all children then, blithely delighted by the haul that the 20th century had dumped at our feet. But the decades crawled by and splurging turned to nausea. We grew up, we began to ask ourselves: “Happy…?”

Climate cultist Michael Harris does have a point on consumerism. He also makes a good point about finding different gifts, stuff we make ourselves, smaller stuff. But, of course, now we have to drag the cult into the mix

And yet all this did not really frighten the gods of consumption. Our 3-per-cent dalliance with frugality last year was merely a blip. Savings rates have declined again – and this Christmas we returned to prepandemic shopping levels. Mastercard predicted an increase of 7.4 per cent in holiday spending this year. Deloitte believes the increase is as high as 9 per cent. In the U.S., holiday spending is expected to total US$1.3-trillion. We assert normalcy through shopping. It soothes us. So, while we did have a chance to imagine new kinds of gift-giving, new demonstrations of our love, even the double punch of a global pandemic and climate crisis was not quite enough to dismantle our consumer spirit.

Can a more lasting change be coming? We now know, after all, what enormous costs such consumption entails. We’ve grown acquainted with the carbon footprint of all we consume in the name of holiday warmth. Baked into the greedy Christmases of yore was an ignorance of harsh facts – for example, that consumption by the world’s affluent would surpass population growth as the major driver of climate change.

When I watch that old video of Christmas morning long ago, I have to admit that the scene, crowded with gifts – my little brother rummaging under the tree and handing out parcels, a tag on each one – is heartwarming, lovable, hard to criticize. But times change and Christmas must change, too. We now have to search for some finer – and more durable – way to show our love.

What he means is that you must be forced to comply. And climate cultists are typically hardcore leftists who freak out when Christmas is mentioned in public, and won’t allow any mention on government property, do not want it at stores. Still want their holiday pay, though.

Meanwhile, in a letter to the Columbus Dispatch

Xmas has come early for all great Americans with common sense, regardless of what party they support.

First, Texas citizens are building a border wall that should be built by the federal government.

Then, Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat has the “Xmas ornaments” to stand up for what is right for the people that elected him and this nation by voting against adding more to inflation and, has said no to the “smoke and mirrors” financing of the Build Back Better bill.

And, of course, Biden’s BBB included lots of climate crisis scam stuff. Found that since another letter on the same page with a letter that discusses global cooling and warming well predating human civilization.