Its November and that means its time to be besieged with the annual 24/7 propaganda campaign designed to get us to spend money we don't have. The institutionalized pressure to buy, buy, buy, is succumbed to by millions every year who go into debt annually buying worthless material products for people in our lives that we usually have at best, very dysfunctional relationships. We are told that if we cannot buy (exploited) diamonds and jewels, cars, clothes, and electronics for our loved ones for Christmas that we don't love them. This is the subtle message communicated by capitalism because everyone knows you are what you can buy in this system so if you can't buy anything, then the logical extension of that is you obviously aren't worth anything as a human being.
The impact this backward thinking has on people is evidenced by the fact there are more suicides in November and December than the entire rest of the year. People are killing themselves because they can't measure up to the standards set up by the capitalist system. Standards that are designed to reap profits for the system regardless of the hardships trying to meet expectations places on people.
The other troublesome aspect of this blind consumerism is the lies that all of it is based on. Thankstaking is a vicious and terrible reminder of the heartless terrorism carried out by the original invaders from Europe. There was no cross cultural meal celebrating the arrival of these terrorists. The actual turkey dinner is nothing except a retake of the celebratory dinner from 1637 involving Europeans celebrating the cowardly slaughter of the Pequot people. So, when you sit down on that Thursday and eat, whether you verbally acknowledge it or not, whether you think its about football or not, what you are really doing when you sit down is validating an attempt to wipe out the Native peoples of this hemisphere. As for Christmas, Biblical scholars have asserted for quite some time that all evidence suggests that Jesus the man was born in the early fall, September by most accounts. Economists equally agree that the December 25th date was concocted solely to provide an annual economic boom day at the end of the year for merchants. The fact that Christmas should be a Christian holiday is lost in the midst of all this shameless consumerism. I guess that explains why any semblance of Christian values is completely abandoned by so-called Christians who are out searching for that deal. Once the retail doors open on the day after thankstaking, all rules are out the window. In fact, people act like weekend violence in Chicago is such a primitive phenomenon when that day after thanksgiving is easily the most collectively violent day of the year, every year.
There's no question that it's time for justice seeking persons to speak out against this annual foolishness. It's time to stop ignoring and co-existing with it. It's time to challenge it. For me it's easy. I haven't celebrated any of these imperialist holidays since at least the early 80s when I was in my late teens/early twenties. In fact, my 28 year old daughter has never celebrated Christmas, thankstaking, fourth of the lie, or any of these propaganda weapons against humanity and she's as intelligent, well adjusted, and happy as any of your children if not more. My daughter is the way she is because we redirected our energies into collective inspirational activities this time of year. We developed alternative events to promote positive values centered around justice. My daughter was raised going to the American Indian Movement's "un-thanksgiving" sunrise ceremony at Alcatraz the morning of the so-called holiday. We used the end of the December to organize and participate in ideological family get togethers where we reaffirmed the values of resistance against this system of oppression. My daughter is better for this as well as myself and all the other comrades, family, and friends who take this healthy approach. I even remember with fondness how relieved my parents were when I explained to them years before they died that they need not worry about buying presents for me and their granddaughter any longer. That what we really wanted was to spend time with them. Now that they are gone, it's that time with them that my daughter and I miss, not any adherence to imperialism's script for carrying out its propaganda agenda.
So for 2015 you should join us by refusing to participate in this anti-human consumer fraud scam. Save your money and if you must spend, use money to visit loved ones. Pool your monies and take a trip to discuss how we can reach out to our youth and make some small contribution to humanity. I know that if you take that step to say goodbye once and for all to thankstaking, Mis-Christ, the fourth of the lie, and all imperialist manifestations, you will feel better as a human being and it will clear the way for bigger and better reflections for building a better world. Plus, you will be happier and healthier once you are freed from having to participate in these meaningless annual exercises in corporate subsidizing.
The impact this backward thinking has on people is evidenced by the fact there are more suicides in November and December than the entire rest of the year. People are killing themselves because they can't measure up to the standards set up by the capitalist system. Standards that are designed to reap profits for the system regardless of the hardships trying to meet expectations places on people.
The other troublesome aspect of this blind consumerism is the lies that all of it is based on. Thankstaking is a vicious and terrible reminder of the heartless terrorism carried out by the original invaders from Europe. There was no cross cultural meal celebrating the arrival of these terrorists. The actual turkey dinner is nothing except a retake of the celebratory dinner from 1637 involving Europeans celebrating the cowardly slaughter of the Pequot people. So, when you sit down on that Thursday and eat, whether you verbally acknowledge it or not, whether you think its about football or not, what you are really doing when you sit down is validating an attempt to wipe out the Native peoples of this hemisphere. As for Christmas, Biblical scholars have asserted for quite some time that all evidence suggests that Jesus the man was born in the early fall, September by most accounts. Economists equally agree that the December 25th date was concocted solely to provide an annual economic boom day at the end of the year for merchants. The fact that Christmas should be a Christian holiday is lost in the midst of all this shameless consumerism. I guess that explains why any semblance of Christian values is completely abandoned by so-called Christians who are out searching for that deal. Once the retail doors open on the day after thankstaking, all rules are out the window. In fact, people act like weekend violence in Chicago is such a primitive phenomenon when that day after thanksgiving is easily the most collectively violent day of the year, every year.
There's no question that it's time for justice seeking persons to speak out against this annual foolishness. It's time to stop ignoring and co-existing with it. It's time to challenge it. For me it's easy. I haven't celebrated any of these imperialist holidays since at least the early 80s when I was in my late teens/early twenties. In fact, my 28 year old daughter has never celebrated Christmas, thankstaking, fourth of the lie, or any of these propaganda weapons against humanity and she's as intelligent, well adjusted, and happy as any of your children if not more. My daughter is the way she is because we redirected our energies into collective inspirational activities this time of year. We developed alternative events to promote positive values centered around justice. My daughter was raised going to the American Indian Movement's "un-thanksgiving" sunrise ceremony at Alcatraz the morning of the so-called holiday. We used the end of the December to organize and participate in ideological family get togethers where we reaffirmed the values of resistance against this system of oppression. My daughter is better for this as well as myself and all the other comrades, family, and friends who take this healthy approach. I even remember with fondness how relieved my parents were when I explained to them years before they died that they need not worry about buying presents for me and their granddaughter any longer. That what we really wanted was to spend time with them. Now that they are gone, it's that time with them that my daughter and I miss, not any adherence to imperialism's script for carrying out its propaganda agenda.
So for 2015 you should join us by refusing to participate in this anti-human consumer fraud scam. Save your money and if you must spend, use money to visit loved ones. Pool your monies and take a trip to discuss how we can reach out to our youth and make some small contribution to humanity. I know that if you take that step to say goodbye once and for all to thankstaking, Mis-Christ, the fourth of the lie, and all imperialist manifestations, you will feel better as a human being and it will clear the way for bigger and better reflections for building a better world. Plus, you will be happier and healthier once you are freed from having to participate in these meaningless annual exercises in corporate subsidizing.
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