Yes, well.
Meanwhile, I'm reminded of an old seasonal song which seeks to share of the merriment of the Christmas-ish season:
Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa la la . . .
Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa la la . . .
Etc.
I also remember, from many years ago, a different and less cheery set of words to the same music:
Deck the halls with advertising
Fa la la . . .
Tis the time for merchandising
Fa la la . . .
Profit doesn't need a reason
Fa la la . . .
Spend the money, its the season
Fa la la . . .
Which fits "nicely" with an observation that Christmas is the time when people spend money they don't have, to buy presents they can't afford, to impress people they don't like.
Some truth in that; how much, I don't know.
Anyhow, Black Friday has it's own song. Though I'm not sure how popular it will become.
This serves as background to a disturbing piece in The Guardian newspaper of Britain, about the coming assault on ordinary American citizens in 2014. In the guise of lowering taxes, powerful interests will seek to destroy public education, health care, workers' pay and pensions, the environment, and other government services. This, so corporations can keep even more of their profits. "Profit doesn't need a reason."
Please note, while The Guardian deals with the situation in the U.S., the same is true for Canada, and Britain, and many other countries.
It is going to be an interesting year, 2014. Sigh!
My assessment of the whole thing is, "Bah! Humbug!"
But what do I really know? I'm only a Bear.
Blessings and Bear hugs, nonetheless!
Footnote
R.I.P. Nelson Mandela, 1918 - 2013
Darn if I know what this world is coming to!
ReplyDeleteJust a decade ago we had four separate events that deserved their own rituals, back to school, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now, the Christmas onslaught has crept in our lives earlier and earlier.
If profit is King, then we are back in a dark Christmas Carol where Mr. Scrooge never goes to sleep and his conscience never has a chance to shake him up.
We saw the first signs of Christmas immediately after Hallowe'en. Rushing the season a little. But with nothing better to advertise, why not?
DeleteAnd now that profit is "the only thing," not just king, it keeps piling up wealth around the clock, whether Scrooge sleeps, sails around on his yacht, or flies in his corporate jet. And if he does dream, it's about how to squeeze ordinary people a bit more, so he can keep more of his money.
Blessings and Bear hugs, Scrooge notwithstanding!
Thanks for your comment, it did not make me feel any warmer. I think the coldest temp I have ever been in was around -28 C and I guess is close to that in F. In Jackson Hole, WY and also in inland Sweden, up north.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about the forces that are trying to destroy the middle class and sort of kill off the poor. It is very frightening and I keep wishing for young people to not get caught up in greed or misery and DO SOMETHING! We used to march and protest, but I guess that's not done any longer. So I'm hoping people will get out and vote in 2014. It may well be the one of the most important elections in this country's history.
There are lots of marches and protests going on. But the mainstream media rarely reports them, out of respect for their corporate masters (i.e., advertisers).
DeletePart of the problem is that many voters are deluded by election advertising into voting agains their own best interests. Sad, but true.
Blessings and Bear hugs!
Oh I do know of wise bears. B
ReplyDeletePlease, could you introduce me to one, sometime, please!
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
You know black Friday didn't do as well as expeted here - but White Monday - buying on the internet - was a great success!
ReplyDeleteGiven internet shopping, every day can be Black Friday. A sobering thought!
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
Very interesting and thought provoking, Rob-Bear. 1914 will be interesting on many levels.
ReplyDeleteAlso I love your new Christmas lyrics.
You remind me of the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." It is a curse because the Chinese value order and consistency, and "interesting times" are the opposite of order and consistency. And, yes, given what's happened in 2013, I think 2014 will be "interesting times."
DeleteGlad you enjoy the different lyrics. I find them disturbing.
Blessings and Bear hugs!
I am grateful for the coming new year because I will have health insurance. Thank you, President Obama!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Indeed, Janie. But remember how hard other people tried to block the Affordable Care Act. It was a strenuous campaign with big dollars behind it.
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
I am very much aware of how hard some people continue to try to destroy the act. I wish I could look those people in the eye and say, It's me! You're trying to keep ME from getting insurance! Why are you doing this to me and so many other people like me?
DeleteThey're doing it to you, Janie, because they want your money! And lots of it. Pure and simple! Don't have the money? Too bad. They want to keep making multi-million dollar profits every year, for their presidents, directors and shareholders. Everyone else be damned.
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
Bear, I have been requesting that bloggers send me birthday cards for my (former) MIL's 80th. I still need 46 cards. Please, please, please send a card (if you haven't already) for Margaret to Janie Goltz, PO Box 61371, Jacksonville, Fl 32236. I would appreciate it so much.
DeleteI feel a bit of angst on my horizon .....
ReplyDelete"A bit of angst" you say? My, but aren't you the master of understatement?!
DeleteIf you're in a state with a Republican-controlled state house, you could experience a lot of angst.
Blessings and Bear hugs in the process!
I'm an internet shopper, all throughout the year. No black Fridays for me!
ReplyDeleteSo, for you, every day is Black Friday — or could be. So to speak. Except you don't experience the "crowd madness."
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
That whole thing is SCARY!!
ReplyDeleteMy assessment entirely, fishducky. I really wonder what kind of world will be left for our grandchildren.
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
At Christmas people used to make most of their things and this is what gave it meaning. Today its all about electronic things and these things you can't make. As we drive from town to town here in BC it is alarming to see how many homeless people there are out on the streets. They are becoming alarmingly visible and the food banks have more demands from Mothers with children Surrey said it went up from 60 to 200 mothers coming for diapers and milk and baby things.
ReplyDeleteIts just not affordable living on Min wage. It makes me mad when milk prices have gone up to almost 5 dollars a gallon.
Its just not right. I wrote the paper and the editor said we have 33 processing plants in BC so we have cows, which makes it even more disturbing. We can buy milk from Canada in other countries for the same price its sold here.And we have fish but mostly from Asia. So we eat poison. Bah humbug is right.!
I absolutely understand what you are saying, m'lady. I now live within a few blocks of Friendship Inn (a big soup kitchen) and our city's Food Bank. And they are always busy.
DeleteThe minimum wage, when it was set up, was supposed to give enough money that workers would have a decent place to life, good food, and adequate clothing. Successive governments have made a mockery of that principle. But we also know who has enough money to buy a government.
Blessings and Bear hugs!
You better watch out,
ReplyDeleteYou better not cry,
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why,
Santa Claus is tapping, Your phone.
He's buggin your room,
He's reading your mail,
He's keeping a file
And runnin a tail
Santa Claus is tapping Your phone
He hears you in the bedroom
Surveils you out of doors
And if that doesn't get the goods
Then he'll use provocateurs.
So you mustn't assume
That you are secure
On Christmas Eve
He'll kick in your door
Santa Claus is tapping Your phone
Ooops, sorry. I couldn't resist :)
That's very much to the point, susan. And here I was almost stating to enjoy Advent. Yet another dose of reality.
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
Due to the violence associated with this past Black Friday and people fighting over bargains, I heard it referred to as Black Eye Friday.
ReplyDeleteGod rest Nelson Mandela.
Black-eye Friday. Interesting and expressive turn of phrase. Violence of gift giving. Sigh!
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
I'm so upset with my government right now...both sides, and also the media jerks who spew hate filled speech over and over until they have everyone stirred up and fighting mad. I'm worried for my kids and my grands. What a mess we are leaving them!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I worry about, too, Terri. These two youngsters who show up at our place almost every day — what will be left for them?
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
I hear so many complaints about the "month of Christmas." Wait, I forgot - it starts after Halloween, so that would make it almost two months of Christmas. People get stressed over the shopping they feel they have to do; stressed because the neighbors have their houses decorated when they haven't done so yet; stressed because they feel obligated to give time to others, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd all I can do is shake my head over the politics of it all.
I don't get it. Is this some sort of, "we need bad in order to appreciate good?"
I think it's a case of people not really knowing what the event called Christmas is about, and getting caught up in the "hype" and "spin." We all need to stop, take few deep breaths, and ask ourselves why we are "spending money we don't have. . . ."
DeleteAs far as I can see, we don't need bad in order to appreciate the good. We maybe do need to de-consumerize ourselves as bit, even though that is heresy to the mindset of the corporate controllers.
Blessings and Bear hugs.
Well, it warms my heart to see that a few "of the people" are waking up. Not nearly enough, though. I've been saying this for years and the only thing I got was was a negative response and a roll or the eyes.
ReplyDelete"A prophet is not without honour, except in her own country." Sorry, Manzi. Please, keep up the good work.
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
I am ashamed to admit that for many years I bought into all that flurry of shopping and spending money I didn't really have. Don't know exactly when the switch was flipped --my guess is after my mother died, as she was huge on over-the-top gift-giving-- but once it was I never went back. I do not even like the thought of shopping for Christmas and now keep it truly simple.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the dire thing we can expect in 2014, one of the worst is this zeal toward the polar ice to make sure claims are staked for "when it is gone." Countries are not even trying to save the Arctic, in spite of paying lip service to caring. Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact...which makes me feel like just giving up. :(
Yes, the Arctic is undergoing huge changes. Lands which were once permafrost, and now melting and releasing clouds of methane into the air. And Polar Bears re dying at an alarming rate, trying to swim fro ice floe to ice floe. And the US is still trying to claim that the northwest Passage, through Canadian land, is n international waterway.
DeleteLots of gloomy things to consider.
Blessings and Bear hugs!
You have to wonder if capitalism and consumerism really IS evil. It shouldn't be like this, Bear. And I feel so helpless! I vote every time, but sometimes I don't get to choose anybody I care about. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteIt is really sad, indeed, DJan. George Monbiot, writing in the Guardian (the newspaper which I mentioned above) describes the situation a follows: "The lefthand glove puppet argues with the righthand glove puppet, but neither side will turn around to face the corporate capital that controls almost all our politics." No wonder you feel helpless, as do so many others; no matter who you vote for, you get the same policies, more or less.
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
Green Chri$tma$ by Stan Freberg. None of teh commercial stations would play it here.
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention it, I do believe it was Freberg's "Green Christmas." Trust you to fill a vacancy in my brain. Thanks, J.C.!
DeletePeace and joy, nonetheless.
My favorite take on the song is "Deck the"stalls with cows named Dolly...
ReplyDeleteWhat a moooooving Christmas song. Thanks, Zoe. If you can remember the rest, please add it in, either here or on your own blog.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and Bear hugs.
There is some truth in that observation. Which is why I don't do that anymore. To me, Christmas is mostly for the kids, so it's the kids that I mostly get presents for.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary. I hope you and the kids have a wonderful Christmas!
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
I shopped on Black Friday maybe once or twice in my life, and both times I was absolutely terrified by the way some people push and shove and act—all to get a little money off some stupid thing someone else probably doesn't need or want anyway. No more for me.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that there is an inherent peacefulness in Christmas! (Indeed, peace is one of the four great themes of Advent.) Why virtually risk life and limb in such a un-peaeful setting?
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
A week ago in Canada, perhaps it was Black Bear Friday, eh. Thankfully, in Britain, we don't have such a fiasco. However, we did see the videos of um civilized folks fighting over toys.
ReplyDeleteIn Britain, our evil government regime is targeting the most vulnerable in society to pay for the mistakes of the incompetent fortunate. A familiar theme going around, sadly.
I might refer to Christmas as "Boxing Day Eve." Bear humbug, methinks.
Nelson Mandela, the light of hope for a more compassionate world, shall never be extinguished.
In kindness, a confused Canadian in England,
Gary :)
Thanks, Gary! I was just reading today about the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations. Lots of goodies for corporations, but for average people, nothing. Except the voice of india, which demanded, and got, a concession that food security for its people was essential, despite the demands of international traders.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
Interesting post. I'll have to check out the article you mention. I like how you compared US situations to Canada and Britain. I was just visiting with a lady from Venice, and it seems no matter your political affiliation or country of origin, we are all facing similar problems and frustrations.
ReplyDeleteThe corporate takeover of the world means nobody is having a good time (except the very rich corporation owners). I'm worried this will keep getting worse.
DeleteIf you find the article in The Guardian unsettling, I could send you a few more references.
Lord, Have Mercy!
Blessings and Bear hugs!
I hate Black Friday and refuse to go out in it. I always finish my shopping by Thanksgiving. We keep it simple.
ReplyDeleteI think that simple is the best way to go. Congratulations for keeping it simple, Lisa!
DeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!
Out of principle (and not wanting to get trampled to death) I do not participate in Black Friday. Plus, I like to sleep in, not stand out in the cold bitter morning chill. Brrr. Your song was pretty good in a sad sad way. :)
ReplyDeleteMore "Black Friday" wisdom, Julia. Great! And yes, the song is sad.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and Bear hugs!