Part 11: Commercialization
I once gave my niece The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups for Christmas.
Prompting her mother, my sister, to say “Next you’ll be giving her The Teenage Liberation Handbook.”
I was mildly impressed, as I had only the barest awareness of such a book, having only seen it lying around while scuffling past some weird Anarchist Collective Presentation and… um… Organization Conference (???).
But it’s on some spheriod of “Homeschooling”, so it makes sense that the book bumped into her conciousness..
The problem here is that teenage is the new Bourgeoise, and I don’t know who said that and it only covers a few matters. (And I can’t say that I particularly care about any sort of Marxist ramnifications of such a statement.) By that I mean people listen to radio stations of music that they listened to as teenagers, pop-cultural artifacts bought by adults are largely aimed at that market (What is this “O.C.”?), and on and on. Basically, part-time job or not — a lack of responsibilities and a bit of disposable income (due to the lack of responsibilities: ie: free rent) and free time = the pop culture map is dictated by what is sold to a batch of high schoolers.
It gave me a queasy feeling when I was a teenager, easily brushed aside as “angst” and “hormones”…
In a way, once I realize this factor the whole of public education starts making sense. Questions ranging from: Why am I watching Channel 1? to Why are they herding me into a 90 minute pep assembly? Because it’s not entirely education… it’s something altogether different. It’s cultural indoctrination.
In the meantime, Christmas is for the Children…
This year’s list of “hot toys” includes the YMCA-dancing Elmo doll.
I hope nobody gave my niece (or nephews, or other niece) that toy. It is one reason to hate Christmas, by the way, and I guess when she grows up to read “The Teenage Liberation Handbook”… well… I don’t know.
The arguments that “Christmas is being ruined by secularists” falls completely flat at the first sight of Jesus Christ standing next to Santa on a manger scene.