Fnord Incorporated

xmas/thanksgiving is a consumer farce

October is almost here.

Soon you will be buying things again.

i wonder what time it is appropriate to start selling christmas items? we are after all in a war. wouldnt it be good for everyone if we all started buying shit we dont need before mid october?

since the 30’s thanksgiving has been a marker not only of our american beginnings (though twisted to be peaceful) but is also a marker of when consuming is considered “appropriate”

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In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that Thanksgiving would be the next to last Thursday of November rather than the last. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought this would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would aid bringing the country out of the Depression. At the time, it was considered inappropriate to advertise goods for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.

However, Roosevelt’s declaration was not mandatory; twenty-three states went along with this recommendation, and 22 did not. Other states, like Texas, could not decide and took both weeks as government holidays. Roosevelt persisted in 1940 to celebrate his “Franksgiving,” as it was termed. The U.S. Congress in 1941 split the difference and established that the Thanksgiving would occur annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes the next to last. On November 26 that year President Roosevelt signed this bill into U.S. law.

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i are not a writing genius today so i are making this a short update.

just something i was thinking about. am i just a grinch? an asshole?

farce
1.

a. A light dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect.

b. The branch of literature constituting such works.

c. The broad or spirited humor characteristic of such works.

2. A ludicrous, empty show; a mockery: The fixed election was a farce.

3. A seasoned stuffing, as for roasted turkey.

farced, farc·ing, farc·es

1. To pad (a speech, for example) with jokes or witticisms.

2. To stuff, as for roasting.