Consumerism the “reason for the season”?

American culture is an interesting subject to look at because it is constantly changing. Consumerism is one aspect in American culture that seems to emerge stronger throughout the years. Over the past thirty years, due to the rise of our economy during that time, consumerism has grown into an identity of what being American means. Our identity is in our things like: our car, our clothes, our electronics, and even the number of zeros on our paychecks. We as Americans allow these things to not only define us but to unite us with others that have the same identities: like country clubs, Warcraft communities, and even groups connected to certain fashion styles.
This idea of consumerism not only fosters these identities but it even changes the way Americans see our holidays. The holiday season (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years) is one area where this idea of consumerism is shown brightest. After a good day of eating, watching football, and spending time with your family; many people set their alarm clocks to 5 am or even 3 am so that they might be able to go get all the deals on “Black Friday” and some even skip Thanksgiving all together and just camp out so they can make sure they get that new XBOX or HDTV. If you do not like going shopping at stores then just wait till Cyber Monday rolls around in two days and you can just sit at your computer and find all the deals your heart desires. These two days are the pinnacle of consumerism during the holiday season.
Commercials during the holiday season spread the propaganda of consumerism as the “reason for the season”. This propaganda pushes for shopping binges during this season which builds on the desire to obtain all the things on your Christmas lists. This propaganda is not only driven by commercials, but also by advertisements in the newspaper and on the internet and through every store you might walk in on. Throughout the day it is very hard to not be affected by this propaganda. This propaganda infuses itself into the fabric of the holiday season so much that it is hard to try to break free of it.
It is interesting how some are trying to guide Americans away from this attitude of Christmas and back to the true “reason for the season.” Movies have tried to do it and some come very close; yet by the end of the movie they tell the audience that the meaning of the season is giving and being with friends and love ones (which is great but not the main reason for Christmas). However, some people in the Christian community try to show people that the meaning of Christmas is that God brought his son to earth so that all people may know him and be saved. One person trying to do that is Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback, with his new book The Purpose of Christmas. This book is trying to do such that, but I feel that he is not breaking Americans free from this consumerism driven season by just adding a new book to be consumed why people are shopping for other things on their list.

I feel the only way to try to bring Christmas back to its true meaning and to start breaking free from consumerisms hold on us we need to stop spending hours at malls, online shopping, and even making lists of what we want for Christmas. When people start breaking free from its hold then maybe a revolution of non-consumerism might emerge and I feel that Christians should be the avenue where this emergence starts. This could be the hardest thing any Christian or church might start to attempt to do because we everyone likes to open presents and to give presents, but at what cost?

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Tags: American culture, Christmas, Consumerism, Purpose of Christmas, Rick Warren

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