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Showing posts with label Consumerism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Consumerism. Show all posts
Monday, July 14, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Timebomb
I had seen this photo series by Chris Jordan a while back. It's an excellent visual depiction of unsustainable consumption habits in America today. Only recently did I stumble upon Beck's new video below. I like the taunting lyrics Beck uses in the song.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Remind me againt what Christmas is about
For NFL fans and readers of espn.com, you may be familiar with a column called Tuesday Morning Quarterback where Gregg Easterbrook reviews everything from the latest week in NFL, college, and high school football to current events to society, politics, and culture. Anyway... he had a recent blurb about Starbucks which I've pasted below:
"In the Starbucks Warm, Mighty King -- Do You Hear What I Hear?" Reader Ben Rosenberg reports that his favorite Starbucks, in Brookline, Mass., switched to Christmas music and Christmas decorations on Nov. 8. This, he notes, means Starbucks will spend 13 percent of the calendar year promoting Christmas. Brookline jumping the gun? I went into my favorite Starbucks, in Bethesda, Md., on Nov. 10: Christmas coffee was on sale, Christmas cards were hanging in the window, excruciating Christmas music was playing. I was disgusted -- and I like Starbucks Christmas coffee! The Official Wife of TMQ picked up a 2007 Advent calendar on sale in the Starbucks and looked at the sell-by date -- it read, USE BY JULY 2008.
I found it interesting that Starbucks (and other national retailers - I'm not just picking on Starbucks) spend 13% of the year promoting Christmas. More and more I'm just alarmed at how commercial Christmas is becoming. But here's the rub: my parents own and opperate a local Ace Hardware store and have a major Christmas section this time of year. Every year people pour into their store to buy more stupid junk to put in their lawns and under their trees. And the store benefits from and even needs this Christmas department to succeed. So while I'm critical of this trend toward over-consumption and consumption being linked to civic duty (be sure to watch the video with this link), I understand the murky complexity of the issue.
So as Christians who want to protect the integrity of this season and also claim a higher identity beyond being mere consumers, what do we do? Well, we could opt for the traditional non-participation which is the strategy of Buy Nothing Day. My friend Jason and his community take that approach a step further with the more transformative, positive concept of Make Something Day. But I wonder if the Christian community needs to undergo a complete paradigm shift. One that proclaims and observes Easter as the prominent Christian holiday. My understanding is that that is the practice of Eastern Orthodoxy. While doing so may require that we give up our Rockwellian love affair with Christmas, and while it may forfeit Christmas to its ultimate secular peril, I still see that as a positive step the Church could make. At least it's one I feel I can make in my own faith journey with my family and my church.
"In the Starbucks Warm, Mighty King -- Do You Hear What I Hear?" Reader Ben Rosenberg reports that his favorite Starbucks, in Brookline, Mass., switched to Christmas music and Christmas decorations on Nov. 8. This, he notes, means Starbucks will spend 13 percent of the calendar year promoting Christmas. Brookline jumping the gun? I went into my favorite Starbucks, in Bethesda, Md., on Nov. 10: Christmas coffee was on sale, Christmas cards were hanging in the window, excruciating Christmas music was playing. I was disgusted -- and I like Starbucks Christmas coffee! The Official Wife of TMQ picked up a 2007 Advent calendar on sale in the Starbucks and looked at the sell-by date -- it read, USE BY JULY 2008.
I found it interesting that Starbucks (and other national retailers - I'm not just picking on Starbucks) spend 13% of the year promoting Christmas. More and more I'm just alarmed at how commercial Christmas is becoming. But here's the rub: my parents own and opperate a local Ace Hardware store and have a major Christmas section this time of year. Every year people pour into their store to buy more stupid junk to put in their lawns and under their trees. And the store benefits from and even needs this Christmas department to succeed. So while I'm critical of this trend toward over-consumption and consumption being linked to civic duty (be sure to watch the video with this link), I understand the murky complexity of the issue.
So as Christians who want to protect the integrity of this season and also claim a higher identity beyond being mere consumers, what do we do? Well, we could opt for the traditional non-participation which is the strategy of Buy Nothing Day. My friend Jason and his community take that approach a step further with the more transformative, positive concept of Make Something Day. But I wonder if the Christian community needs to undergo a complete paradigm shift. One that proclaims and observes Easter as the prominent Christian holiday. My understanding is that that is the practice of Eastern Orthodoxy. While doing so may require that we give up our Rockwellian love affair with Christmas, and while it may forfeit Christmas to its ultimate secular peril, I still see that as a positive step the Church could make. At least it's one I feel I can make in my own faith journey with my family and my church.
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