Christmas and Capitalism: Materialism vs. Idealism?

This is a long blog 2:2.

I read an interesting article today about how religion is ruining Christmas. Leanord Peikoff in Christmas Should be More Capitalistic is frustrated with the constant flood of virtous messages that bombard us from every direction (and perhaps most especially from the advertising world).

"Christmas in America is an exuberant display of human ingenuity, capitalist productivity, and the enjoyment of life. Yet all of these are castigated as "materialistic"; the real meaning of the holiday, we are told, is assorted Nativity tales and altruist injunctions (e.g., love thy neighbor) that no one takes seriously"

Though I don't agree with Peikoff's cynical attitude, I do agree that Christians have "stolen" Christmas and made it into one enormous guilt-ridden charity drive.

I hate that Christmas decorations are up November 1. I hate that Christmas music starts before Thanksgiving ends. I hate that advertisers play on everything good, wholesome, and heartwarming about Christmas and turn it into a capitalistic frenzy. I hate that I have to remember Christ's birth for a whole month, and I hate that I have to love the whole entire world until December 26. I hate it that everyone says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." I hate that people get offended that everyone says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." I hate it that people assume that I'm some kind of Scrooge because I refuse to give to Tiny Tim and all his brothers just because "it's Christmas!" When did how and when I give become any of their buisness?

My sentiments are beginning to echo Peikoff's. What's wrong with buying big expensive gifts, tickets to the Nutcracker, and enough decorations to keep a small Chinese factory busy? Why can't Christians enjoy these things too? Why does virtue and hedonism have to be mutually exclusive?

"In fact, Christmas as we celebrate it today is a 19th-century American invention. The freedom and prosperity of post-Civil War America created the happiest nation in history. The result was the desire to celebrate, to revel in the goods and pleasures of life on earth. Christmas (which was not a federal holiday until 1870) became the leading American outlet for this feeling."

I don't think God would be angry if we abandoned our guilt and began to "celebrate, to revel in the goods and pleasures of life on earth." Even Jesus went to a party. And he was a very good guest--not a mopy, virtue-hounding, "let's remember the real reason we're here today" one.

Because, after all, the reason for the season is to celebrate. What you choose to celebrate is up to you. I choose to celebrate in my family, no school, snow-and-lights, sugary-fatty foods, and presents!

It is both blessed to give and to recieve.

Media Log

Sat. 11-21-09

• 11:00am cycling written announcements
• 7:30 pm verbal advertisement for food. (A bakesale at a play we went to.)

Sun. 11-22-09

• 11:30--3:30pm: adverts on T.V. very ineffective because I couldn't hear them and I wasn't actually actively watching the T.V. anyway.
• 7:30--10:00pm: Pandora. A few audio adverts for government announcements and Honda. Text ads on side.
• 11:30m--Facebook and MyLifeIsAverage.com: text ads on the sides. Totally ineffective.

On a more typical week, I watch more T.V. shows from Hulu.com which has frequent 30 second adverts. But I recall almost nothing about them. They have a few interactive ones, that I have an easier time remembering, however, not off the top of my head. I think I am much less exposed to advertisments of all kind than the typical American.

Why?

My family has just had the privilege to move into a brand new condo building in Tacoma, Washington and as a result, we have enjoyed watching the ship building hangers across the waterway just outside our windows. It is interesting to watch Martinac Shipbuilding Co. build tug boats just as fast as they can (takes about 6 months from start to finish). If we’re lucky, we get to watch them launch the boats for their first jaunt around the harbor. Not being “ship” people, we have no idea what sort of special boats these are:
“I think that’s an icebreaker. See how it comes to a point there?”
“I thought that was the back.”
“I don’t think so. I think that’s an icebreaker.”
“There isn’t any ice around here.”
“Yeah…I dunno.”

So it was no surprise that as I was talking to my father he happened to mention that one of the summer’s boats was finished and that it looked like it might be a firefighting one. But here’s the part that caught my attention: “It has ‘New York, New York’ painted on it.”
“New York City?” I asked just to be sure.
“Yep.”
“How are they gonna ship a ship from Puget Sound in Washington State all the way to New York City Harbor. Through Panama?”
“I guess so. Why not?” He asked.

Why not indeed? I did a little research into the Martinac Shipbuilding Company and discovered they are a bigger name than I imagined in the custom shipbuilding world. They specialize in tug boats (we were right!), yachts, trawlers, and something called a ‘tuna seiner’, and are proud of the fact that they’re ships are working hard in the Alaska Waterway, New York City, and Honolulu. I even happened across a website talking about how Martinac worked with some of “our guys” in Florida to make the electronics better and more efficient.

A cursory google-map search for the words ‘U.S.A east coast shipbuilding’ shows at least eight very large shipbuilding companies and countless smaller ones. In New York City alone there is at least nine shipbuilding related companies that appear to be adequate for any ship building needs New York Harbor might need

A ship must go roughly 6500 miles (or about 5648 nautical miles) from Washington State through the Panama Canal (stopping at Cuba, Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico) and all the way up to New York State. Or, the ship can be loaded onto a trailer and travel approximately 2600 miles across the continental United States. A preliminary search finds semi-truck drivers to get about 6.0-7.0 miles per gallon with an 80,000 lb load (give or take).

Because these numbers are so inexact, it is hard to say exactly which way would be the most cost efficient. But I think we can agree, it is a waste of time and energy to transport a tug boat made on the west coast all the way to the east coast whether it is shipped by land or by sea.

This is my “knock on the side of the head” moment. Why doesn’t New York just commission boats from New Jersey or Massachusetts? And we (Washington) can send our boats to California.

Note to Mr. Davis: This is meant to be my long blog 1 of 2