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Has commercialism ruined Christmas?

Have the ruined Christmas?

  • Yes the spirt of the holiday has been lost

    Votes: 19 45.2%

  • No I like the materialistic side of xmas and its good for the economy

    Votes: 10 23.8%

  • Not really bothered either way its just another day off for me

    Votes: 13 31.0%
  • Total voters
    42
Higgins86 said:
Was in Wal*mart today and was shocked to see xmas tree's up, xmas music playing and the staff wearing xmas hats! Xmas has been very commercial for a long time as we all know but is it getting too much? Its only Nov 15th and it is already being shoved down our throats, I mean what about thanksgiving? This will be my 3rd thanksgiving and you hardly even hear about it!
Growing up I used to get excited on Dec 1st seeing all the decorations being put up and hyas it got closer you used to get that nice warm feeling inside knowing xmas was just around the cornor. Nowdays they start so early that by the time xmas actually comes I just want it to be over with and all the good spirt and magic of xmas is lost. I was brought up a catholic and I have to say its very odd for me that there is not even a sign in the stores that it is a relgious holiday just full of tacky snowmen and cheap toys.
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Ha, I seen some of that stuff going on before Halloween. Big Lots, Walmart and a couple of other stores down here were putting out Christmas stuff in early October. But most of our holidays anymore have nothing to do with what was intended, they are used to sell people stuff. Memorial day sales, Columbus day sales, Veterans day sales, black friday, cyber monday, Christmas sales, 4th of July sales and on and on and on. Well up theirs.
 
Perotista said:
Ha, I seen some of that stuff going on before Halloween. Big Lots, Walmart and a couple of other stores down here were putting out Christmas stuff in early October. But most of our holidays anymore have nothing to do with what was intended, they are used to sell people stuff. Memorial day sales, Columbus day sales, Veterans day sales, black friday, cyber monday, Christmas sales, 4th of July sales and on and on and on. Well up theirs.
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... I'm not sold on that. Christmas has been commercialized since the 1800s. Macy's, for example, has been sponsoring Christmas trees and having holiday shopping sales for over 100+ years. I'd also bet that the 1901 Christmas shopping season started in early November too.

The time changes, but human nature doesn't. We were just as antisocial, commercialized, busy, offensive, etc. now as were were back then. The only difference is that we tend to view the past through idealized nostalgia.

E.G., "All this technology is making us antisocial" ... as if we weren't anti-social before technology? Look at the picture below --
"But, when I was a kid ..." or "My parents lived in a time ..." is a total load of hooey.

tumblr_mwxnqcSKda1qewacoo1_500.jpg
 
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I didn't used to think so....I've always enjoyed both the secular and religious sides of Christmas. I used to love the Black Friday start to the Christmas/Holiday season. However, last year and even moreso this year, Corporate greed creeping in and destroying Thanksgiving...they have pushed me over the edge. I am definitely not going to spend like I have in the past because I am disgusted with the quest for the almighty dollar. I am personally going to boycott every store that is open on Thanksgiving and will do my shopping at the businesses that are waiting until Friday - Nordstrom, Costco to start.....
 
disneydude said:
I didn't used to think so....I've always enjoyed both the secular and religious sides of Christmas. I used to love the Black Friday start to the Christmas/Holiday season. However, last year and even moreso this year, Corporate greed creeping in and destroying Thanksgiving...they have pushed me over the edge. I am definitely not going to spend like I have in the past because I am disgusted with the quest for the almighty dollar. I am personally going to boycott every store that is open on Thanksgiving and will do my shopping at the businesses that are waiting until Friday - Nordstrom, Costco to start.....
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If no one shopped, the stores would remain closed. Companies reacting to demand is nothing new...
 
AlabamaPaul said:
If no one shopped, the stores would remain closed. Companies reacting to demand is nothing new...
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True to a certain extent....but it goes both ways....if the stores remained closed, no one would shop and the workers could spend Thanksgiving with their families.
 
disneydude said:
True to a certain extent....but it goes both ways....if the stores remained closed, no one would shop and the workers could spend Thanksgiving with their families.
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No, it's only one way. If there were no customers, the stores would remain closed...
 
AlabamaPaul said:
No, it's only one way. If there were no customers, the stores would remain closed...
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Not really....if the stores remained closed, there would be no customers. Not only is commercialism destroying Thanksgiving, it has really cannibalized black friday as well.
 
AlabamaPaul said:
If no one shopped, the stores would remain closed. Companies reacting to demand is nothing new...
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:agree: I won't be shopping, but our weather has a lot to do with that, too.! brrrr...

Happy Thanksgiving, AP! :2wave: Haven't seen you around much!
 
disneydude said:
Not really....if the stores remained closed, there would be no customers. Not only is commercialism destroying Thanksgiving, it has really cannibalized black friday as well.
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Demand seeking fulfillment will always win out as everyone wants to get something for "nothing" almost...
 
polgara said:
:agree: I won't be shopping, but our weather has a lot to do with that, too.! brrrr...

Happy Thanksgiving, AP! :2wave: Haven't seen you around much!
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A Happy Thanksgiving to you pg. I've been laying low from debate sites recently as I tired of the SOS...
 
I think the left has destroyed the real meaning of Christmas and that is very sad.
 
What is the "Spirit of Christmas" anyway? Getting together with family, and all that. How could commercialism ruin or stop that? It can't. The idea that it can is ridiculous.
 
The question is kind of silly.

Did the Christmas night Mass lose its special meaning for the Catholic faithful because there are minimum-wage santas and elves prancing around the neighborhood malls?

Does the custom of giving to the less fortunate around this time of year suffer from the obsessive need to procure the coveted toy for my own more fortunate niece?

I don't see how.
 
Navy Pride said:
I think the left has destroyed the real meaning of Christmas and that is very sad.
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What did it use to be, what did the "left" do to the original and what is it now? Doesn't seem to have changed from the 70's when I was a kid... but maybe they ruined it before that? Help me out.
 
disneydude said:
Not really....if the stores remained closed, there would be no customers. Not only is commercialism destroying Thanksgiving, it has really cannibalized black friday as well.
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how has commercialism destroyed Thanksgiving! What the heck?!
 
Christmas is the excuse I have for not visiting my annoying family 364 days out of the year.
 
Navy Pride said:
I think the left has destroyed the real meaning of Christmas and that is very sad.
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I think the trouble started when Karl Marx grew that beard and the European working classes mistook him for Santa....
 
Bodhisattva said:
how has commercialism destroyed Thanksgiving! What the heck?!
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Commercialism also has destroyed the Easter, the Diwali, the April Fools Day, my own birthday, and everything in between. Game over, we have lost.

Once it was all like: "Honey, I have just clubbed this possum, and I will make the stew, because it's your special day" - intimate and authentic. And now? "I've reserved a table at your favorite Japanese place"....

It's just not the same.
 
AlabamaPaul said:
If no one shopped, the stores would remain closed. Companies reacting to demand is nothing new...
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No, no, no!!! You simply MUST stay with the rhetoric of the root of all evil being corporations. Its THEIR fault. People dont WANT to go shopping...but they MAKE them. Its THE EEEEEEVIL corporations I tells ya!!!

Of course, no one ever said jack dammit about theaters being open on Thanksgiving. Thats different....
 
Cyrylek said:
Commercialism also has destroyed the Easter, the Diwali, the April Fools Day, my own birthday, and everything in between. Game over, we have lost.

Once it was all like: "Honey, I have just clubbed this possum, and I will make the stew, because it's your special day" - intimate and authentic. And now? "I've reserved a table at your favorite Japanese place"....

It's just not the same.
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Yeah... I guess you are right. I only have a 30 second memory span due to commercials and simply forgot.
 
Bodhisattva said:
how has commercialism destroyed Thanksgiving! What the heck?!
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How? By Starting the black friday sales all day on Thanksgiving....which means that workers, who would normally be able to spend the holiday with their families, now have to work. Its not enough to have black Friday? Now they have to have Black Thanksgiving?
 
VanceMack said:
No, no, no!!! You simply MUST stay with the rhetoric of the root of all evil being corporations. Its THEIR fault. People dont WANT to go shopping...but they MAKE them. Its THE EEEEEEVIL corporations I tells ya!!!

Of course, no one ever said jack dammit about theaters being open on Thanksgiving. Thats different....
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The reality is.....given the choice, most people who most likely prefer to shop on Friday, rather than Thanksgiving....but they WILL shop on Thanksgiving because the corporate world has moved the sales from Black Friday to Thanksgiving. Given the choice....most workers would prefer not to have to work on Thanksgiving, but if they want their job, they now have to. Sorry....whether you like it or not....it IS corporate greed that is driving this.
 
Xmas is critical to the economy ... everything else takes a back seat ...
 
Higgins86 said:
Was in Wal*mart today and was shocked to see xmas tree's up, xmas music playing and the staff wearing xmas hats! Xmas has been very commercial for a long time as we all know but is it getting too much? Its only Nov 15th and it is already being shoved down our throats, I mean what about thanksgiving? This will be my 3rd thanksgiving and you hardly even hear about it!
Growing up I used to get excited on Dec 1st seeing all the decorations being put up and hyas it got closer you used to get that nice warm feeling inside knowing xmas was just around the cornor. Nowdays they start so early that by the time xmas actually comes I just want it to be over with and all the good spirt and magic of xmas is lost. I was brought up a catholic and I have to say its very odd for me that there is not even a sign in the stores that it is a relgious holiday just full of tacky snowmen and cheap toys.
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Commercialism has damn near ruined everything including Christmas.
 
jeau said:
:mad: its Christmas not Xmas you have taken christ out of it, it was started by the birth of jesus
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The birth of Jesus was in the summer. The early church just co-opted a pagan festival to make their holiday more popular.
 
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