Most people think Christmas is about spending time with those you love, and there’s an air of truth to that. But we can’t deny materialism plagues many holidays: with tv being filled with advertisements about what we should buy because “tis the season to empty your wallet”
Sure there is a certain joy in giving someone you love a gift that they’ll enjoy but we cannot deny the overwhelming problem of overconsumption over the holiday season, with the environmental impacts of the extra waste stemming from Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons add up to an additional 1 million tons of trash going into landfills each week.
28 billion pounds of food gets wasted every year during the holidays in the west.
Not to mention, the increased flying and travel using planes and cruises. Both of which release a ridiculous amount of greenhouse gases. As well as the warehouse workers who are extremely overworked during the holiday season
If we are to celebrate, it’s crucial we do so in an eco friendly way. With global temperatures rising due to climate change we must find more sustainable non wasteful practices. We must be willing to hold companies like Amazon accountable for their wasteful measures and environmentally detrimental practices which result in the throwing away done to millions of unsold items.
So to one part of your question, I am going to say no, Capitalism isn't the blame for this. All Capitalism does is give people the right to choose. People choose to spend their money on traveling, presents, and food, and so on... No one is forced into this, you can choose to do none of these things and that will also be ok.
To the other part as it concerns the environment. There is already laws in place on companies and consumers to make their travels and waste efforts as green as possible. Airline Companies and scientist are doing testing everyday to have a very green and safe form of Jet Fuel. Car companies are already making the switch to becoming all Electric, and All Electric cars are the wave of the future. Unfortunately, it just takes time. For what Amazon is doing, if their isn't a law already in place that comes to how they handle their waste, 1 will get passed and make sure they do make sure to handle things in a green way. Also, yes, these companies do get punished for breaking laws like these.
To the reference of consumer culture, Consumer Culture is the blame to this. However, the holidays are not the only thing effected by Consumer Culture. Buying an engagement ring, is effected by consumer culture. It wasn't until the great depression that engagement rings became the norm, This all started from an ad by the Da Beers Corporation ran, stating your partner doesn't truly love you unless they buy you a ring. Now that is a part of our culture.
In the end, I would only say yes to Consumer Culture, we have every right and availability to choose not to listen to these ads, but we do for some odd reasons. However, you can find many research that even non capitalists countries are dictated by the consumer, United States being a Mix Marketed Economy (having both Capitalists and Socialist Characteristics) is an extremely clear example of this.
i would say consumer culture did, not capitalism. people are getting more stupid by the day it feels like. i mean it's not the problem of capitalism that people need to rush out and get presents instead of planning that they will need presents and that the stores will be full so they can choose a more convenient time than last minute.
i don't see the problem with consuming as giving yourself or your family a treat of sorts. i don't really see a problem if fe as society decide to choose the same day for that sort of thing alltogether.
i feel like the "eco argument" is used as the bat to smash anything that's "fun", cause everything fun can be expressed as a function of how much co2 it adds to the environment and therefore be morally highroaded. THAT is what i see as a problem. cause now "having fun" makes you a morally bad person and i'm not sure if that's a good message psychologically. like yeah you shouldn't drive around, coal rolling, burning trees just for fun. but at the same time i think you shouldn't guilt trip people into not doing shit they love.
of course mindless consumerism that ignores the pollution products cause is an equally bad problem. the question is: can people today not spend more money to try and be a little more eco friendly? or can they just not afford it?
Yes. I've stopped celebrating it because of that. I'll celebrate Christmas again when I have kids.
I do still put up the Christmas tree and some Christmas lights. But I don't do gift exchanges. I don't see the point in it as an adult who can buy what I want for myself. The things I can't buy yet are houses and land lol. And nobody in my life is in a place to be giving houses and land as Christmas gifts to others. Which is completely understandable lol.
Yeap. Instead of spending time with loved ones and celebrating the time of the year, it's mostly about getting everyone you know at least one thing. Then worrying about a typical Christmas dinner. Then getting decorations up. Then the power bills. Then returning the gifts you don't want or throwing away the ones you can't return or hide away.
Exactly. Just look at all the people who do Christmas halls or what I got for Christmas videos ! It’s late stage capitalism at its finest, it’s bizarre we are so materialistic and desensitized to this nonsense we never think to wonder. Isn’t it messed up there are millions in the US starving while we waste all this food.
Or how what we do in the long term will effect us way more than whatever short term thing this rapid overconsumption gives us
Yeap. I buy one person a present, and thats because I want her to get something nice that she will enjoy. But I also do that throughout the year. Otherwise we eat, drink and enjoy ourselves
No not really, i mean business make a profit which means more stuff to sell. People leave the stores with stuff they normally wouldn't buy due to prices. Kids are happy because they get new stuff, parents are happy because their kids are happy and they get a break. The world revolves around money in whatever form it may take. As for greenhouse gases well it won't really matter what anyone says theirs no way anyone is stopping the use of fuels like gas. If people could actually make something on par or better than gas than yea sure they switch today but that's not happening as for as i can see. As for food well america does have a waste problem, i agree we shouldn't just throw food away. Give it to the homeless. Well like I said earlier with planes and traveling, theirs no way anyones gonna try to make that eco friendly unless a better option presents it self. People enjoy seeing family during those times so honestly yea thats why it happens. Same with toys and stuff, give it to oranghes or homeless. My solution to having a better eco friendly envirement is to simply start making eco friendly things and make sure that big companys can use them, because its all about money and theirfore you should make things that appeal to these companys
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Here's the truth about Christmas. Yes, it is a capitalist driven Hallmark holiday. There are two points to bring up. If Jesus represents Christianity hence Christmas for the birth of Jesus then why do people forget Jesus? On that day people go insane in shopping malls over material goods. Many people nowadays don't seem to care about Jesus, they claim they do but in reality they just like the idea of partying and getting drunk. Technically speaking, in the Bible drinking is not allowed (drunkenness is a sin). But here's the real truth, Jesus was not born on the 25th of December, both Muslim and Christian scholars have validated these claims. Christmas is more of a pagan holiday but the idea is we celebrate for Jesus at least. I am not big on Christmas that much because people act like animals this time of year.
absolutely... seems to me all christian values go out the window and instead we celebrate greed and glutony... im an athiest myself but even i can see the paradox
This is so true. It’s scary how so many Christian organizations will do everything to give homeless children toys on Christmas (which ofc is a nice thing to do) but why don’t they instead help the homeless community? Most mega churches especially and even most small congregational churches are extremely hypocritical in that sense.
They’re more worried about forcing their religion onto people in vulnerable positions and a bunch of other unpleasant stuff
If we are defining Christmas being "successful" as: "about spending time with those you love," then no. Capitalism is not stopping you from doing this. Perhaps your thoughts on capitalism and the planet are stopping you from doing so, but that's on you, not capitalism.
No, I read your post. You asked whether consumer culture under capitalism has ruined Christmas, but you never gave any metrics as to what a non-ruined Christmas is. The closest you came was your first sentence. You then went on about the harm to the planet, which is fine, but we are talking about Christmas, not Earth Day.
I don't think most people look at Christmas through a green lens. Therefore, I don't think the ecological harm that consumerism does really ruins Christmas for people. It might ruin Christmas for YOU, though. Again, I can't say for certain because you never qualified under what circumstances Christmas would be successful or not.
It's really easy to blame something instead of yourself. Many people do this and that is the issue. People are really, really quick to blame consumer culture only to turn right around and go shopping to cross some names of their gift list. But we are not supposed to call out peoples hypocrisy.
I'll also be perfectly honest. I have been a scrooge since grade school.
I’m fine with personal responsibility but these companies are the ones responsible for the vast majority of these problems when it comes to sustainability and the wasteful practices they use.
We aren’t doing enough to reach the goal that many climate scientists agree on the fact we must reach net zero emissions by 2050. Our emissions must be cut by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and reach net zero around 2050 to keep global warming below 1.5C over the preindustrial era.
Yet we continue to have these wasteful unsustainable practices. Of course there’s personal responsibility that’s apart of it but you have to remember the anger you’re feeling at supposed hypocrites not shopping sustainably also can greatly be due to the classism. In general it’s easier to buy cheaper items that’s were made by stores with environmentally bad practices as compared to eco friendly clothing brands which cost more due to them being more costly to produce.
“Carbon footprints” have been a long standing hoaxed spread by big oil to take away accountability from companies.
Welcome to the joys of being a Scientists. Even as a adult it's a lot like being in high school. People only want to talk to you when they want you to do their homework. But even that stops when a popular kid or a jock walks into the classroom. About the only people really, really are nice to you in public is when they are truly fucked.
About the only reason something like climate change is getting any press is because we are fucked if it isn't fixed. But you and replace the popular kids and jocks with political figures, talking heads and people involved in the media. So it might need to get to a point where we are truly fucked before anything is really done to fix the issue.
Consumer culture is pretty degenerate these days so imma say yes but that doent make capitalism illegimiate we still need it until we can find something better. A big socialist government will turn into not so socialist and be facist and exploit its people, thats what happens every time or most the time
We don’t have any time to wait for a better system. We have until 2050 to reach zero emissions, capitalism isn’t a system in which issues like global warming can be addressed and fixed as there will always be big oil companies trying to spread misinformation to keep their sails and practices going
The original translations of hebrew text of the Bible didn’t even mention anything about a hell existing.
Not to mention you’re forgetting the several scriptures of god explicitly telling Christians to care for their fellow humans, animals, and the earth itself?
“ Genesis 1:26 "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'"
yes he does say that but at the same time we have to do it in a smart way and not a controlled opposition liberal democrat way. im not an anti environmentalist im just saying its not our priority issue its a distraction to keep us away from the living God and making our country better.
Part of Capitalism is that each person is responsible for making their own decisions. You don't need to buy into all of the material stuff if you don't want to - that's a CHOICE. While I buy gifts for my family and close friends, I don't otherwise spend a lot on Christmas. For me, it's family, food, and Christmas music.
I'm not sure what you're trying to advocate here. Do you want to stop holidays or businesses or both? Or just tell everyone to look at your YouTube videos and suddenly change their entire consumer behavior?
You mention that holidays adds up air travel time. So in other words you DON'T think people should fly to see their families? Nothing that you are arguing for adds up to any sense in my opinion.
If you’re point is that we need to be more sustainable then there was no point in bringing up Christmas specifically. You either don’t know how to argue or don’t know what you want
Sustainability, reduce the overpopulation for a start but bringing back the rod because kids are so fucking spoiled these days and that is actively driving this problem fast fashion, shit quality toys that break in a week and electronics that are replaced every year
Overpopulations a myth spread by eugenicists advocates. In reality we actually produce enough to provide for everyone on this planet, we just don’t choose to because we live under a capitalist society that values profit over human life
The population should be half of it looking at historical figures Look at the pandemic the Spanish flu killed some 50M people and the population was about 2BN The plague reduced the population from just under 500M to an estimated 350M Covid the population is 7.8BN and it has killed 5.25M So 2.5% killed after 30% killed then what 0.1%
You're not forced to buy whatever you want or for whomever you want. Stores are just there present for people who wants to buy stuff and they're not there threatening anyone who won't buy from them. It's still present even after or before Christmas. It maybe a marketing strategy but again, everyone has the control on what to buy or not. So why are you blaming capitalism and proprietors when they're just doing what they do even if it's not on a holiday season?
The fundamental problem is not consumer culture, well logistically it is. But people not caring enough to do something thoughtful or buy something thoughtful but caring enough do something.
Things are more expensive sure but there's nothing stopping you from purchasing the gifts before they up the price for that time of year to maximize profits.
And that’s bad for several reasons I point out, but ofc you won’t care about climate change and overconsumption because you’ll be dead by the time my generation will be forced to deal with the impacts of a 2°C global temperature rise which will result in millions of more refugees being displaced from their homes, the destruction of eco systems, drought and increase disease from longer and much hotter summer seasons.
Texas recent reached record low temperatures this year for a reason that could’ve and should’ve been prevented. Consumerism is just inherently unsustainable on a planet with finite resources
This depends on each of us. I don't give anything to anyone. At the same time, I don't expect anyone to give me anything. At Christmas we meet with the family and have lunch together. End.
