Summary

The author, Remington Write, critiques the commercialization and societal pressures surrounding the holiday season, particularly Christmas, and advocates for personal choice in celebration.

Abstract

In the article "I Won’t Shop*," Remington Write expresses a strong aversion to the consumerist frenzy that characterizes the holiday season, questioning the necessity of Black Friday and the rush to celebrate Christmas immediately after Thanksgiving. The author argues that the public is manipulated by a century of advertising into participating in environmentally harmful practices, such as buying Christmas trees and unnecessary gifts, and adhering to a stereotypical winter holiday narrative that is incongruent with the experiences of many people around the world. Write emphasizes the importance of creating personalized celebrations and spending time with chosen loved ones, rather than succumbing to the obligations of mass consumerism. The article challenges readers to break away from the lockstep control of holiday traditions and exercise individual will to celebrate in a manner and timing that is meaningful to them.

Opinions

The author views the holiday season's consumerism, including the tradition of Black Friday, as an outdated and unnecessary phenomenon.
Write is critical of the societal expectation to participate in holiday traditions, such as buying gifts for acquaintances like administrative assistants or dogwalkers, considering it an obligation that detracts from the joy of genuine gift-giving.
The article suggests that the idealized image of a Northeast U.S. winter holiday is a fabrication of advertising, not reflective of reality, especially in different climates and cultures.
The author blames historical figures like Currier and Ives, and Norman Rockwell, along with a century of advertising, for perpetuating an unrealistic holiday ideal.
Write argues that the environmental impact of holiday consumerism is significant and that continuing these practices is irresponsible, especially considering the state of the environment.
The piece posits that the notion of celebrating holidays for the sake of children is unfounded, as the tradition harms the environment and indoctrinates another generation into mindless consumerism.
The author rejects the label of "Grinch," instead asserting that they celebrate in their own way and encourages others to do the same, free from societal pressures.
Write concludes by urging readers to reconsider their holiday spending, travel plans during inclement weather, and the need to consume traditional holiday foods, advocating for personal freedom in choosing how and when to celebrate.

I Won’t Shop*

And I won’t be jolly (*rant alert)

Somebody paid real money for this discarded tree / PublicDomainPictures

Black Friday? Are you kidding me?

How is that even still a thing?

I stepped away from the obligatory holiday madness decades ago and am astonished at how many otherwise seemingly intelligent people allow themselves to be railroaded into buying tinsel, plastic junk, unhealthy food, more liquor than any self-respecting army needs as well as participating in the mass decimation of fir trees, and spending time with people they don’t like.

I’m astonished that so few people seem to realize that they can create their own celebrations and spend time with those people they do want to be with any time they want.

The Season

The groans start about the time that the Halloween decorations come down and we begin to see the stores gearing up for The Season. So many people complain that retail rushes the season. Why can’t we simply enjoy Thanksgiving before having to go full tilt into Christmas preparations?

Better question: Why can’t we just skip all of it and sleep in?

The tree stands were already being set up on sidewalks all over New York the week before Thanksgiving, ready for the thousands and thousands of dead trees that people will pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for. The day after Christmas the streets will be piled high with all those trees.

Why?

Why are we so under the spell of this annual madness?

I blame Currier and Ives. And Norman Rockwell. And a hundred years of advertising.

There’s this indelible image that’s been created of a Northeast United States winter holiday complete with crackling fires, horse-drawn sleighs, rosy-cheeked little children, happy families, drifts of snow and (don’t forget) piles of gaily wrapped gifts piled around the tree. We’ve been fed this set of images for so long and in so many ways that people have actually come to believe this is what Christmas is supposed to be like.

Remember when someone had to tell the kids the truth about Santa?

Well, here’s the truth about that kind of Christmas. It never existed outside the fertile imagination of a storyboard artist in some advertising firm. It certainly never existed in Australia or South Africa or Southeast Asia where it’s still time to trim the tree and hang the stockings with care.

Those memories we cherish so of magical childhood Christmases? I don’t doubt that many of us did have idyllic holidays with loving family and a feast and lots of presents. Why do we still all have to do it at the same time? Why do we all have to eat the same thing? Sing the same songs? Hang the same decorations?

It’s for the kids

No, it’s not.

People without kids or with grown kids are still mindlessly jumping on a bandwagon that dictates further degradation of our environment which is already on the verge of collapse.

And do we really need to indoctrinate yet another generation in this ridiculous mass movement? Must we continue to be lemmings rushing to leap off the cliff, garlanded with holly and mistletoe?

Gifting isn’t gifting if it’s obligatory

Giving gifts is an innate human urge and one that should be celebrated, encouraged.

But if everyone is expected to make lists and buy something for everyone on that list including the new administrative assistant and the dogwalker and themselves, that isn’t gifting. That’s just an obligation that destroys the joy of giving.

I have three sets of knit hats, gloves, and scarves that were given to me by three different sets of higher-ups at the job I was working at last year. All three are still in their boxes. I can’t even regift them because they scream Obligatory Gift Because I Had to Buy Her Something.

Lockstep control

No, I don’t think there’s any murky conspiracy going on here because who needs to conspire to get people to fall in step, consume, decorate, travel, and otherwise all do the same things at the same time when it’s already happening?

I’ve long joked that if everyone “did” the holidays the way I do them the economy would crater.

Would that be such a bad thing?

Am I a Grinch? So I’m a Grinch.

But I’m the Grinch who has nothing wrong with her heart and doesn’t need caroling Who’s in Whoville to bring her around.

Now, return all that junk you’re spending your hard-earned money on, cancel the flight that’s going to have you stranded in some godforsaken airport during the worst weather of the year, put that turkey back (you just had one, for God’s sake) as well as the goose and the ham and lamb chops. And who eats figgy pudding anyway?

Just stop it.

All of it. Don’t you have any individual will? Can’t you celebrate what you want when you want? Do you really need to do what everyone else is doing just because it’s……Christmas?

And if you actually read all the way to this point: