Kudos to Art Conrad of Bremerton, WA for stirring some much needed controversy. Conrad
apparently nailed a large Santa Claus to a cross in his front yard in protest of the commercialism of Christmas. Conrad is quoted by the Associated Press as saying that “Santa has been perverted from who he started out to be [. . . ] Now he’s the person being used by corporations to get us to buy more stuff.”
This cultural artifact could certainly be read in a number of ways; by replacing Jesus on the cross with Santa Claus, Conrad seems to be suggesting that Christmas is no longer about Jesus, but rather commercialism — with Santa Claus being the patron saint of materialism and the one who is now most worshiped. While Santa Claus seems to be dying for our sins of consumerism in this particular image, at this time of year, Santa Claus is daily resurrected in millions of advertisements and homes around the world.
The neighbors seem to be having mixed reactions, but I applaud Conrad for merely getting the conversation going. Mild-mannered commentary rarely stirs the pot of complacency as well as a good ‘ol fashioned controversy.
2 responses so far ↓
1 John // Dec 25, 2007 at 6:40 pm
waa….waa…waa….! So far I have not seen or heard of any jackbooted ACLU thugs marching into ppls homes and telling them that they cannot observe Christmas the way they want. You can protest the so-called “commercialism of Christmas”, by staying the heck out of the stores and not buying anything! Except for the basic needs of course. Every year the right-wingers stir up this phony “war on Christmas and Christians” so they can sell more books and get higher ratings. Does this sound familiar to all you Fox news fans and fans of Gibson, Hannity and O’reilly and all the rest of the nutball right wing conspiriacy propagators? Chill out Ladies and Gents! No one is out too steal your Christmas or your religion! Just stay at home and stop making life miserable for the rest of us!
2 Kristin Scott // Dec 25, 2007 at 9:33 pm
As I said in an earlier post, I’m not religious, but I do find the conversation interesting, particularly as it relates to culture and the possible ways in which consumerism informs or reflects contemporary ideologies around this historical “holiday.” And indeed, the best protest method for those who do believe that Christmas has become too commercialized is, in fact, to stay out of the stores. It’s curious to me, however, that the author above takes note of how the “right-wingers” and “nutball right wing conspiracy propogators” (of which I am neither) stir up “phony wars[s] on Christmas and Christians,” yet fails to acknowledge the possibility that advertisers (representing commercial entities) might essentially be doing the same, but towards a different end.
Like I said . . . definitely a good image to get conversations started.
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