Andrew’s Christmas Special Christmas Special Ft. Andrew

I think UM hopeful elements within it. I don't know about the rest of you. UM. And by the way, I'm joined by Garrison and Christopher. I'm very excited we get we get to finally talk about the issue that I've been wanting to talk about ever ever since we started the show. How telling your kids that Santa exists is actually child abuse? This is very exciting. I'm glad we can have this civil discussion to to to cover these these hard hitting topics that are impacting us most.

In trying to say this like a Santin's abolitionist or something. Yes, I think the fact that we condone lying to children in this way every Christmas is. I'm sorry, but that's that's so politically unrealistic. I don't know how you have a platform. I can't take that seriously. Um, it teaches our kids not to trust us. Um. It starts. It is really an extension of the great Man theory that Santa as this man, is the only one capable of delivering all these presents. I think it's I think it's

quite trying to say so. It's a manifestation of patriarchy. That's right, it is, it is quite. It's it's quite problematic. Um. You know those elves are not getting paid. You know that Santa has tried to bust unions at his workshop every year. Um, I don't think this reindeer are treated very well. Um. There is a whole, a whole lot of issues here. Yeah, it's a normalization of the surveillance state.

It right on the shelves, classic, Yeah. Elf on the shelf came to rise after the Patriot Act was introduced to condition American children into thinking it's okay to always be watched. This is it's it's this, this, this is sick. Parents are culpable in promoting this myth. Um. I think this needs to be addressed. You know what, I think, you know what I think. I think you all need to be Christmas pilled. I don't know about show, but I love I love Christmas, and I think, um, I

think it's I think we need to take a Christmas bill. Um. You know, of course the actual gift getting hasn't been the best, especially we want to get past it. It just like, okay, this is what it is. That but you know, the the unity and the joy and the excitement, I mean what about that? You know, the color, the food and the drink, getting people together, um, catching up.

You know, celebrated in many different ways, religiously and non religiously, and of course it's not even celebrated at all, um in some places and with some people. Um. And you know, there are other religious observances and holidays around this time. They don't like Kinnaka and concern whatever else. But you know, I think a lot of us are most familiar with Christmas, and I think we're you know, mostly familiar with the origins of Christmas. That's not the kind of episode we're

getting into here. Um. I think you know, we all known about Jesus and you and sat Anlia and all that fun stuff, knows it about Charles Dickens and Scrooge and of course the die diagram of Scrooge and cringe and you know whether or not those two concepts will a laugh. But I want to look more to these sort of you know, ideas of what Christmas is, what it means, you know, UM, and really how a lot of our society's issues come to the forefront around this

time of year. Um, the scourge of Scrooge is particularly apparent. I mean, for many, Christmas is basically capitalism on steroids. For one, UM and Santa have to sort of promote that from an early age as a propaganda tool of the capitalist as I'm sure would UM would. Thank you, Thank you great. Well that's the episode everybody again. I hope you I hope you have a good holiday season.

Oh wait, I think Andrew is more to say. Yeah, I think we're wrapping up a little bit EARLYI there, you know, but you know, we can't talk about the fact that, you know, Santa really is UM a big fan of this like ultimate now you know, the GDP growth full of inducing this this pro growth ist capitalist production for production sake, consumption for consumption sake, like the idea that Santa expects children to write and request something

from him every single year. Um, that he he, he stakes an entire holiday upon his own business and upon his own you know production, whole industrial apparatus a center around this one event, um. And I mean the sort of consumption we see here on Christmas season, it's like it ramps up, you know, online stores, department stores, malls just posting with with people, um, looking to bye bye

bye all around the world. In America, at least twenty nineteen so Americans spent over one trillion dollars just in the Christmas season. I mean, it's just glorious excess, honestly. And of course there's also the excessive you know, decorating and shopping and drinking and the US and sort of arrites with those things. And that sort of over indulgence

is part of what's seriously harm on the planet. Not to you know, blame individuals and exclusively because you know, obviously the sort of thing is encouraged by you know, advertising and by the entire industries that builds around around this this idea of consumerism. But the holiday is basically, you know, it's become this thing where the focal point

is to indulge, to splooge, to consume um. And you see a lot of Christmas movies too, I mean Christmas of the Crowns is when particularly iconic example, and all this, you know, consumerism, it feels like we lose sight of the purpose, you know, of the gift giving. I don't think we've lost our selves less nature. I think we've lost some of the heart within it. I think it's by design a natural tendency to care for the people

in our lives, a sort of exploited um. You know, we're expected by the systems, are super hyper competitively in the spirit of coupitlism. But now we have to be super generous and caring around this time of year, but just in a way that just so happens to profit campus anyway. It's like, yeah, yeah, be generous, be caring and stuff by this gift for you know, you know you loved one, and I will pocket the change. And

I don't think it has to be that way. But the commercialization of what we wants, who the days is, you know, it tends to do that. And of course with all these soup kitchens and canned food drives and Red Cross Santa's outside groceries pulling and for some donations. Um and by the way, it don't donate to Red Cross, that kind of problematic salvation Army do not do not donative salvation salvation my bad, it's I think that's confusing them. Red Cross just takes credit for anarchist projects in the

relief of disasters and salation. Harmy hates gay people, so it also has also has shot anarchists. I think they don't talk about very much. Well, m that should probably be an episode. Yeah, there's another way of that, but yeah, yeah, you know, it's like all this stuff is happening, and it's like this sort of performance of all of a sudden we care about um, what's the name of that little kid from Christmas Carol, Tiny Tim? All of a sudden, we care about tiny Tim in a system that literally

requires an impoverished base of people. You know, poverty is certainly this virtue that we we look to help to meliorate. To be careful, you know, we we want to uplift the tiny Tims. We want to warm the hearts of the Scrooge McDuck's of the world. The rest of the year. It's just like, oh, well, in this underclass is a

patrol and the class needs to exist. I think the extension of our tendency towards mutually throughout the year and across bonds of kid and on kind of like, um, it's something that we should pursue UM to prefigure a gift economy UM, not just around a particular season, but year round. I think that is both while exercise to look into and of course I think an ideal you

would want to see. I guess we could call us my Christmas wish UM readjustment to this sort of consumption around this time of year, the one that is done with a sort of ad growth mindset. One of his cognizance of local condition is the one that seeks to reduce food miles soccalizes the production consumption. So that's I guess wish number one. Christmas wish number one. Let's um, let's make a gift economy rather than a capitalist gift

consumption day. And of course I think our next Christmas wish on this topic would be a wish for work abolition. You know, with all that consumpation happening around this time, yet it really does a number on the service and manufacturing and delivery and so and so forth workers around the world. You know, work sucks in general, but its extra sucks around this time of year. Um, you know,

with sweatshop labor, with retail hell. Around this season, it's really the opposite of peace on you for a good chunk of the working class. You could call it the season for overworking. And it's not just for um, you know, gears, token oppressed group, you know, the elves, like the other workers that are being exploited that we should probably be championing. Yeah. We we talked about this in a couple of China

episodes that I did. But one of the big reasons for the sort of huge like workers up risings in China in the last like a few weeks was that like basically a bunch of people got locked into a factory because Fox Gone and Apple were trying to hit the Christmas like production targets, and people started fighting the cops because they were like, this actually sucks. I don't want to be stuck in here being lied to by how much I'm going to get paid so that these

companies can have their Christmas sales. I mean, yeah, definitely. I think it's completely fair to say that the worker elves are very mistreated. Um. But with the exception I think of specifically the elf on the shelf elves. I don't think those count as workers. Elves are cops. They only function as snitches for the surreal state. So yes, the elf workers are are mistreated um and should unionize and and should should deserve way more support and possibly

even the abolition of of work. But the ELpH on the shelf elves are not workers. I think that's a that's an important distinction. Yeah. Yeah, it's like the the class strator is more than anything exactly, Yeah, very blatantly. So yeah, it really is, you know, the season for you know, with all this, it's very interesting that that's really what triggered the protests in China. I mean, I would love to see celebrations and festivals have given in any sort of an archic society. But it doesn't fail.

No's at the right that these festivities um built on the exploitation of others. I mean, what kind of celebration is it to be had when people are suffering in such a capacity to produce that sort of celebration. And speaking of suffering. I think, um, there are a lot of people who suffer through family around this time of year. And I think some people actually appreciate having to work through the holidays because it means they don't have to deal with said family. And I mean family is a

big focus and the sort of culture of Christmas. But you know, unlike the greeting cards and the billboards and stuff that everyone's family is picture perfect, and holiday is often open a lot of wounds and heightened read for a lot of people. Um. People continue to hear people um, and toxicity and intoxication is brought under one roof during Christmas celebrations, bigotree abuse, that sort of thing. It's not

a fun time for some people. And I think it's important, uh, in this season and in general, to let go of this sort of patriarchal and restriction designation of family in favor of something that is more subject to choice, to agency, to consent to you know, more expanded forms of kinship, bringing people together who care for and enjoy and want to share each other's company, you know, create a new traditions, to build new bonds of solarity and care. Um. I think,

you know, opportunities like these. Seasons like these enable us to demonstrate the veracity of the liberation that can be had in our projects. I think it's something that a lot of people need around this season because mental health boways seem to worsen around this time of year. They often toxic culture of Christmas could be clearly bad people's mental health, you know, with loneliness and depression and suicide and the struggle to care your basic needs, let alone

enjoy the season. And it takes some big tool on people's well being. I know it's easy to say or just go to therapy and whatever, but with the inaccessibility of therapy and the fact that you know, therapy is not necessarily a salve for material conditions. UM. There needs to be a social safety net in place. They must be healing in community and not just an eolution UM.

And so I think the season is another opportunity for us to reflect on that and to you know, try to avail ourselves to those whom we feel my peace suffering at this time and if you yourself for suffering, and it's trying to reach out and sort of engage in that sort of mutual mutual aid and mutual support. I think there's a lot that we can reframe and reconsider surrounding Christmas. I mean, for a season of kindness

and given it unfortunately hoots a lot of people. Um, but that can change, you know, through solidarity, through generosity, through kinship, solidarity organized in the bottom of the extension of the principle of mutually into everyday life. Redirecting our generosity he around this time from giving to the pockets of billionaires to given to the people. Um. To display our capacity for well doing, to think locally, to think d I y, to think meaningful rather than to just

add another thing to the Amazon card. And of course not just physically giving gifts, but as being generous with our time and our love and our care because we do need each other. Um, not just in this time, but in general. I think bred Santa had some entertaining

suggestions of the season. To bred Santa, of course, being Peter Kropotkin, he figured that we should all pose as Santa Clause perhaps there as a subversion of what he represents as a capitalist, but all pools as Santa Claus or as St. Nicholas, and to infiltrate the stores and

give way the toys um. And one postcard Krobakin route that of the night before Christmas, we'll all be about while the people are sleeping, we will realize or Cloud will expropriate goods from the stores because that's fair and distribute them widely to those we need care. So yeah, Merry Christmas and half your holidays to all and to

all are good. Fight for freedom. You can of course find me on YouTube at androids um dot com slash and underscore saying true, and if you want, you can support me on picture on dot com slash saying true. That's it for me for this year. For it could happen here, See you all next year. Great destroyalist icon Santa Claus. Oh it could happen Here is a production

of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool zone media dot com, or check us out on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for it could Happen here, updated monthly at cool zone Media dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening