Christmas Consumerism

These advertisements are not spoon-feeding us complete lies, but they are clearly intended to manipulate. Every day, we sit prone for hours before television screens and passively absorb images and words intended to convince us that the purchase of certain products will satisfy something inside us, or in some way improve our lives. It might be different if these assertions were founded in some sort of rational thought. Personally, I find it difficult to justify how spending far too much money on an overpriced, unpractical vehicle or fashion accessory could provide any valid or spiritually sound sense of happiness.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the unselfish pleasure experienced by witnessing the appreciative excitement a well-chosen gift produces in its recipient. And I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with getting giddy when someone gives you a great gift either. As long as the reaction is true, there is no problem. The difficulty arises in determining for one's self exactly which reactions are in fact true reactions. We must learn to step back and question the nature of our desires in order to find out whether they originated from an ad we saw fifty times this week, or if they arose from honest, spontaneous emotion. Sifting through the overabundance of external information and influence to discover our true selves is the tricky part.

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