Trying to keep these wise words in mind (courtesy of Viggo Mortensen) as the holiday shopping season approaches.
“THANKS FOR NOTHING
The obsessions with shopping and bargain-hunting, relentless hawking and covetousness, on the day after Thanksgiving (not to mention throughout much of the year, regardless of holiday excuses) have reached appalling levels. Occasionally attempting to save money by making financially-sound purchases of truly necessary goods is a sensible strategy for consumers. However, it seems that there is now a level of senseless buying for the sake of buying, actively and strategically encouraged by the media and the government in the U.S., that far outstrips that of previous years. Worse than the often mindless desperation and credit-breaking scavenging of shoppers is the constant trumpeting in the media of the early-bird, “black friday” or any day’s overspending as a means of temporarily buoying the foundering U.S. economy. It is hard to believe that this is a sound approach to reviving national or personal economies in any meaningful, lasting way. At current levels, this mania is simply grotesquely superficial, reeking of insecurity and, at heart, belying a fear of life, death and the present we all share. It is as untenable and unhealthy, morally and financially, domestically and internationally, as the ever-burgeoning U.S. weapons manufacturing industry.
Happy Holidays.”
