On Shopping, Generosity, and Christmas
As I spent a week or so on a Thanksgiving-timed holiday and away from direct contact with all things digital (well, other than a music-only iPod), I haven’t had a chance to post in a while. In order to avoid posting a “RE:” for every BP item I found worth commenting on upon my return, I’ll just touch on a few thoughts here for a chance to catch up (and, more than likely, digress).
From the overarching themes of the BP as of late — ‘Wal-Mart shopping,’ ‘conservatives are more generous than liberals,’ and lastly (but not stated as directly), ‘things are bad for the Republican Party’ — I see that our ‘conservative’ journalists and news outlets are, as usual, entering the holiday season in a rather defensive manner. This is really unnecessary. After all, even if retail outlets such as Wal-Mart aren’t having The Holiday Season they had hoped for, shareholders will survive. Why people in Q4 of 06 aren’t loading up superstore shopping carts quite as high as expected could be for a number of reasons, including the following: Maybe Americans increasingly realize that big ticket items, disposable low-quality merch, and nearly-immediately obsolete technology-based gifts alongside stuff, stuff, and even more stuff doesn’t really make you or anyone else happy, and it is truly the genuine, heartfelt thought that counts. Maybe Americans have finally run out of home equity to dip into and/or credit cards to 'max out' and can’t finance the Christmas shopping spree that retailers would prefer. (I figure that my second theory is closer to the truth.)
But whatever; the better question is this: If people are spending less, will they be more generous in other ways? Will they share their blessings with those other than immediate family members and will give both the material and the non-material for reasons greater than obligation and guilt? Will they actually help someone in their efforts to give? Maybe. But it’s already clear that many of us will simply argue our defenses about whatever we do up until, during, and after Christmas. And as usual, these defenses will effectively help no one.
And finally, to digress as predicted. This week, in the midst of post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas, and general life-based excitement, I had the experience of seeing just a snippet of something I nearly missed (again for the third year in a row) but know nearly by heart. Sitting on a tour bus with a close friend of mine, a musician/band member who just happened to be hitting W/S for a show, we caught the end of ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ on the biggest HDTV that could be stuffed in the small corridor that serves as a mobile ‘family’ room. And it was cool; I could tell that everyone, even without saying, was temporarily sucked out of the environment and into that feeling, that story, and that great animation that cosmetically defies the aesthetic perfection of the high-resolution screen it appeared on… a unique reminder of “what Christmas is all about,” to borrow a quote from Linus Van Pelt.
From the overarching themes of the BP as of late — ‘Wal-Mart shopping,’ ‘conservatives are more generous than liberals,’ and lastly (but not stated as directly), ‘things are bad for the Republican Party’ — I see that our ‘conservative’ journalists and news outlets are, as usual, entering the holiday season in a rather defensive manner. This is really unnecessary. After all, even if retail outlets such as Wal-Mart aren’t having The Holiday Season they had hoped for, shareholders will survive. Why people in Q4 of 06 aren’t loading up superstore shopping carts quite as high as expected could be for a number of reasons, including the following: Maybe Americans increasingly realize that big ticket items, disposable low-quality merch, and nearly-immediately obsolete technology-based gifts alongside stuff, stuff, and even more stuff doesn’t really make you or anyone else happy, and it is truly the genuine, heartfelt thought that counts. Maybe Americans have finally run out of home equity to dip into and/or credit cards to 'max out' and can’t finance the Christmas shopping spree that retailers would prefer. (I figure that my second theory is closer to the truth.)
But whatever; the better question is this: If people are spending less, will they be more generous in other ways? Will they share their blessings with those other than immediate family members and will give both the material and the non-material for reasons greater than obligation and guilt? Will they actually help someone in their efforts to give? Maybe. But it’s already clear that many of us will simply argue our defenses about whatever we do up until, during, and after Christmas. And as usual, these defenses will effectively help no one.
And finally, to digress as predicted. This week, in the midst of post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas, and general life-based excitement, I had the experience of seeing just a snippet of something I nearly missed (again for the third year in a row) but know nearly by heart. Sitting on a tour bus with a close friend of mine, a musician/band member who just happened to be hitting W/S for a show, we caught the end of ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ on the biggest HDTV that could be stuffed in the small corridor that serves as a mobile ‘family’ room. And it was cool; I could tell that everyone, even without saying, was temporarily sucked out of the environment and into that feeling, that story, and that great animation that cosmetically defies the aesthetic perfection of the high-resolution screen it appeared on… a unique reminder of “what Christmas is all about,” to borrow a quote from Linus Van Pelt.
posted by Strother | 12:27 PM
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