Media Meditation #3

Media Meditation #3
What Happened To Thanksgiving?



I had a Feed moment the other day as I was in the Blue Mall on Church Street. With Halloween having just passed, as I was walking through the mall I was expecting to see Thanksgiving related decorations in preparation of the upcoming holiday. Or perhaps with the consumer driven Black Friday approaching, advertisements of “the big day”. What I was not expecting was the halls decked out for Christmas. Yet the reds, greens and silvers were all throughout the mall walkways. As I entered the first store I found myself bombarded by winter colors and Christmas music playing in the background.


As I hastened my shopping for the day, I found myself thinking about Feed. Christmas has become the most commercial consumer driven holiday we have. With the exception of Black Friday, Christmas shopping has taken over the thing we as consumers spend the most money on. I find the commercialism of a holy holiday disgusting. As I was going through the mall and seeing more and more shops displaying Christmas related themes in their windows I was less and less inclined to stop in to look for something. I felt like the shops and the mall itself was attacking me and forcing me to accept the THINGS for the holiday instead of enjoying the holiday before it. Because of that, I wanted to rebel, much like Violet did.

Amidst all the Christmas commercialism I had to ask what happened to Thanksgiving? In fact, what happened to traditional holidays? Thanksgiving is often directly associated with Black Friday and the crazy shopping experience that goes along with it. Christmas is discussed as who is giving what to whom, how big the package is and how pretty the wrapping. The fact that the shopping aspect of Christmas has completely overrun Thanksgiving and ignores the real value of the holiday in its quest to make a profit shows the direction humanity has taken. I am not the only one who feels this way. I have had many discussions with people about how the message of the holidays has been forgotten in the rush to make and spend money. I googled Christmas Commercialism and immediately received tons of responses, both supporting and opposing it. The first site was a blog by Stan Guthrie that really put the idea in perspective. I can only hope that others who google the same thing take the time to really read what Stan wrote in his blog.