Speaker 1: H Hello, Ulu, welcome to another episode of It could
Speaker 1: happen here with a twist. Um, this is the holiday
Speaker 1: special answer for it. UM. So you know, buckle up,
Speaker 1: you know Santa might make an appearance. UM. But I
Speaker 1: don't want to take a moment to discuss, you know,
Speaker 1: this whole idea of Christmas. This practice is globally celebrated
Speaker 1: cultural festivity, and I guess on the not to be
Speaker 1: stereotypically leftist, but the issues I have with it alongside um,
Speaker 1: I think some of the ah best UM and most
Speaker 1: I think UM hopeful elements within it. I don't know
Speaker 1: about the rest of you. UM. And by the way,
Speaker 1: I'm joined by Garrison and Christopher. I'm very excited we
Speaker 1: get we get to finally talk about the issue that
Speaker 1: I've been wanting to talk about ever ever since we
Speaker 1: started the show. How telling your kids that Santa exists
Speaker 1: is actually child abuse? This is very exciting. I'm glad
Speaker 1: we can have this civil discussion to to to cover
Speaker 1: these these hard hitting topics that are impacting us most.
Speaker 1: In trying to say this like a Santin's abolitionist or something. Yes,
Speaker 1: I think the fact that we condone lying to children
Speaker 1: in this way every Christmas is. I'm sorry, but that's
Speaker 1: that's so politically unrealistic. I don't know how you have
Speaker 1: a platform. I can't take that seriously. Um, it teaches
Speaker 1: our kids not to trust us. Um. It starts. It
Speaker 1: is really an extension of the great Man theory that
Speaker 1: Santa as this man, is the only one capable of
Speaker 1: delivering all these presents. I think it's I think it's
Speaker 1: quite trying to say so. It's a manifestation of patriarchy.
Speaker 1: That's right, it is, it is quite. It's it's quite problematic. Um.
Speaker 1: You know those elves are not getting paid. You know
Speaker 1: that Santa has tried to bust unions at his workshop
Speaker 1: every year. Um, I don't think this reindeer are treated
Speaker 1: very well. Um. There is a whole, a whole lot
Speaker 1: of issues here. Yeah, it's a normalization of the surveillance state.
Speaker 1: It right on the shelves, classic, Yeah. Elf on the
Speaker 1: shelf came to rise after the Patriot Act was introduced
Speaker 1: to condition American children into thinking it's okay to always
Speaker 1: be watched. This is it's it's this, this, this is sick.
Speaker 1: Parents are culpable in promoting this myth. Um. I think
Speaker 1: this needs to be addressed. You know what, I think,
Speaker 1: you know what I think. I think you all need
Speaker 1: to be Christmas pilled. I don't know about show, but
Speaker 1: I love I love Christmas, and I think, um, I
Speaker 1: think it's I think we need to take a Christmas bill. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, of course the actual gift getting hasn't been
Speaker 1: the best, especially we want to get past it. It
Speaker 1: just like, okay, this is what it is. That but
Speaker 1: you know, the the unity and the joy and the excitement,
Speaker 1: I mean what about that? You know, the color, the
Speaker 1: food and the drink, getting people together, um, catching up.
Speaker 1: You know, celebrated in many different ways, religiously and non religiously,
Speaker 1: and of course it's not even celebrated at all, um
Speaker 1: in some places and with some people. Um. And you know,
Speaker 1: there are other religious observances and holidays around this time.
Speaker 1: They don't like Kinnaka and concern whatever else. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us are most familiar with Christmas,
Speaker 1: and I think we're you know, mostly familiar with the
Speaker 1: origins of Christmas. That's not the kind of episode we're
Speaker 1: getting into here. Um. I think you know, we all
Speaker 1: known about Jesus and you and sat Anlia and all
Speaker 1: that fun stuff, knows it about Charles Dickens and Scrooge
Speaker 1: and of course the die diagram of Scrooge and cringe
Speaker 1: and you know whether or not those two concepts will
Speaker 1: a laugh. But I want to look more to these
Speaker 1: sort of you know, ideas of what Christmas is, what
Speaker 1: it means, you know, UM, and really how a lot
Speaker 1: of our society's issues come to the forefront around this
Speaker 1: time of year. Um, the scourge of Scrooge is particularly apparent.
Speaker 1: I mean, for many, Christmas is basically capitalism on steroids.
Speaker 1: For one, UM and Santa have to sort of promote
Speaker 1: that from an early age as a propaganda tool of
Speaker 1: the capitalist as I'm sure would UM would. Thank you,
Speaker 1: Thank you great. Well that's the episode everybody again. I
Speaker 1: hope you I hope you have a good holiday season.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, I think Andrew is more to say. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think we're wrapping up a little bit EARLYI there,
Speaker 1: you know, but you know, we can't talk about the
Speaker 1: fact that, you know, Santa really is UM a big
Speaker 1: fan of this like ultimate now you know, the GDP
Speaker 1: growth full of inducing this this pro growth ist capitalist
Speaker 1: production for production sake, consumption for consumption sake, like the
Speaker 1: idea that Santa expects children to write and request something
Speaker 1: from him every single year. Um, that he he, he
Speaker 1: stakes an entire holiday upon his own business and upon
Speaker 1: his own you know production, whole industrial apparatus a center
Speaker 1: around this one event, um. And I mean the sort
Speaker 1: of consumption we see here on Christmas season, it's like
Speaker 1: it ramps up, you know, online stores, department stores, malls
Speaker 1: just posting with with people, um, looking to bye bye
Speaker 1: bye all around the world. In America, at least twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen so Americans spent over one trillion dollars just in
Speaker 1: the Christmas season. I mean, it's just glorious excess, honestly.
Speaker 1: And of course there's also the excessive you know, decorating
Speaker 1: and shopping and drinking and the US and sort of
Speaker 1: arrites with those things. And that sort of over indulgence
Speaker 1: is part of what's seriously harm on the planet. Not
Speaker 1: to you know, blame individuals and exclusively because you know,
Speaker 1: obviously the sort of thing is encouraged by you know,
Speaker 1: advertising and by the entire industries that builds around around
Speaker 1: this this idea of consumerism. But the holiday is basically,
Speaker 1: you know, it's become this thing where the focal point
Speaker 1: is to indulge, to splooge, to consume um. And you
Speaker 1: see a lot of Christmas movies too, I mean Christmas
Speaker 1: of the Crowns is when particularly iconic example, and all this,
Speaker 1: you know, consumerism, it feels like we lose sight of
Speaker 1: the purpose, you know, of the gift giving. I don't
Speaker 1: think we've lost our selves less nature. I think we've
Speaker 1: lost some of the heart within it. I think it's
Speaker 1: by design a natural tendency to care for the people
Speaker 1: in our lives, a sort of exploited um. You know,
Speaker 1: we're expected by the systems, are super hyper competitively in
Speaker 1: the spirit of coupitlism. But now we have to be
Speaker 1: super generous and caring around this time of year, but
Speaker 1: just in a way that just so happens to profit
Speaker 1: campus anyway. It's like, yeah, yeah, be generous, be caring
Speaker 1: and stuff by this gift for you know, you know
Speaker 1: you loved one, and I will pocket the change. And
Speaker 1: I don't think it has to be that way. But
Speaker 1: the commercialization of what we wants, who the days is,
Speaker 1: you know, it tends to do that. And of course
Speaker 1: with all these soup kitchens and canned food drives and
Speaker 1: Red Cross Santa's outside groceries pulling and for some donations.
Speaker 1: Um and by the way, it don't donate to Red Cross,
Speaker 1: that kind of problematic salvation Army do not do not
Speaker 1: donative salvation salvation my bad, it's I think that's confusing them.
Speaker 1: Red Cross just takes credit for anarchist projects in the
Speaker 1: relief of disasters and salation. Harmy hates gay people, so
Speaker 1: it also has also has shot anarchists. I think they
Speaker 1: don't talk about very much. Well, m that should probably
Speaker 1: be an episode. Yeah, there's another way of that, but yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like all this stuff is happening, and
Speaker 1: it's like this sort of performance of all of a
Speaker 1: sudden we care about um, what's the name of that
Speaker 1: little kid from Christmas Carol, Tiny Tim? All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: we care about tiny Tim in a system that literally
Speaker 1: requires an impoverished base of people. You know, poverty is
Speaker 1: certainly this virtue that we we look to help to meliorate.
Speaker 1: To be careful, you know, we we want to uplift
Speaker 1: the tiny Tims. We want to warm the hearts of
Speaker 1: the Scrooge McDuck's of the world. The rest of the year.
Speaker 1: It's just like, oh, well, in this underclass is a
Speaker 1: patrol and the class needs to exist. I think the
Speaker 1: extension of our tendency towards mutually throughout the year and
Speaker 1: across bonds of kid and on kind of like, um,
Speaker 1: it's something that we should pursue UM to prefigure a
Speaker 1: gift economy UM, not just around a particular season, but
Speaker 1: year round. I think that is both while exercise to
Speaker 1: look into and of course I think an ideal you
Speaker 1: would want to see. I guess we could call us
Speaker 1: my Christmas wish UM readjustment to this sort of consumption
Speaker 1: around this time of year, the one that is done
Speaker 1: with a sort of ad growth mindset. One of his
Speaker 1: cognizance of local condition is the one that seeks to
Speaker 1: reduce food miles soccalizes the production consumption. So that's I
Speaker 1: guess wish number one. Christmas wish number one. Let's um,
Speaker 1: let's make a gift economy rather than a capitalist gift
Speaker 1: consumption day. And of course I think our next Christmas
Speaker 1: wish on this topic would be a wish for work abolition.
Speaker 1: You know, with all that consumpation happening around this time,
Speaker 1: yet it really does a number on the service and
Speaker 1: manufacturing and delivery and so and so forth workers around
Speaker 1: the world. You know, work sucks in general, but its
Speaker 1: extra sucks around this time of year. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: with sweatshop labor, with retail hell. Around this season, it's
Speaker 1: really the opposite of peace on you for a good
Speaker 1: chunk of the working class. You could call it the
Speaker 1: season for overworking. And it's not just for um, you know, gears,
Speaker 1: token oppressed group, you know, the elves, like the other
Speaker 1: workers that are being exploited that we should probably be championing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We we talked about this in a couple of China
Speaker 1: episodes that I did. But one of the big reasons
Speaker 1: for the sort of huge like workers up risings in
Speaker 1: China in the last like a few weeks was that
Speaker 1: like basically a bunch of people got locked into a
Speaker 1: factory because Fox Gone and Apple were trying to hit
Speaker 1: the Christmas like production targets, and people started fighting the
Speaker 1: cops because they were like, this actually sucks. I don't
Speaker 1: want to be stuck in here being lied to by
Speaker 1: how much I'm going to get paid so that these
Speaker 1: companies can have their Christmas sales. I mean, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: I think it's completely fair to say that the worker
Speaker 1: elves are very mistreated. Um. But with the exception I
Speaker 1: think of specifically the elf on the shelf elves. I
Speaker 1: don't think those count as workers. Elves are cops. They
Speaker 1: only function as snitches for the surreal state. So yes,
Speaker 1: the elf workers are are mistreated um and should unionize
Speaker 1: and and should should deserve way more support and possibly
Speaker 1: even the abolition of of work. But the ELpH on
Speaker 1: the shelf elves are not workers. I think that's a
Speaker 1: that's an important distinction. Yeah. Yeah, it's like the the
Speaker 1: class strator is more than anything exactly, Yeah, very blatantly.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it really is, you know, the season for
Speaker 1: you know, with all this, it's very interesting that that's
Speaker 1: really what triggered the protests in China. I mean, I
Speaker 1: would love to see celebrations and festivals have given in
Speaker 1: any sort of an archic society. But it doesn't fail.
Speaker 1: No's at the right that these festivities um built on
Speaker 1: the exploitation of others. I mean, what kind of celebration
Speaker 1: is it to be had when people are suffering in
Speaker 1: such a capacity to produce that sort of celebration. And
Speaker 1: speaking of suffering. I think, um, there are a lot
Speaker 1: of people who suffer through family around this time of year.
Speaker 1: And I think some people actually appreciate having to work
Speaker 1: through the holidays because it means they don't have to
Speaker 1: deal with said family. And I mean family is a
Speaker 1: big focus and the sort of culture of Christmas. But
Speaker 1: you know, unlike the greeting cards and the billboards and
Speaker 1: stuff that everyone's family is picture perfect, and holiday is
Speaker 1: often open a lot of wounds and heightened read for
Speaker 1: a lot of people. Um. People continue to hear people um,
Speaker 1: and toxicity and intoxication is brought under one roof during
Speaker 1: Christmas celebrations, bigotree abuse, that sort of thing. It's not
Speaker 1: a fun time for some people. And I think it's important, uh,
Speaker 1: in this season and in general, to let go of
Speaker 1: this sort of patriarchal and restriction designation of family in
Speaker 1: favor of something that is more subject to choice, to agency,
Speaker 1: to consent to you know, more expanded forms of kinship,
Speaker 1: bringing people together who care for and enjoy and want
Speaker 1: to share each other's company, you know, create a new traditions,
Speaker 1: to build new bonds of solarity and care. Um. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, opportunities like these. Seasons like these enable us
Speaker 1: to demonstrate the veracity of the liberation that can be
Speaker 1: had in our projects. I think it's something that a
Speaker 1: lot of people need around this season because mental health
Speaker 1: boways seem to worsen around this time of year. They
Speaker 1: often toxic culture of Christmas could be clearly bad people's
Speaker 1: mental health, you know, with loneliness and depression and suicide
Speaker 1: and the struggle to care your basic needs, let alone
Speaker 1: enjoy the season. And it takes some big tool on
Speaker 1: people's well being. I know it's easy to say or
Speaker 1: just go to therapy and whatever, but with the inaccessibility
Speaker 1: of therapy and the fact that you know, therapy is
Speaker 1: not necessarily a salve for material conditions. UM. There needs
Speaker 1: to be a social safety net in place. They must
Speaker 1: be healing in community and not just an eolution UM.
Speaker 1: And so I think the season is another opportunity for
Speaker 1: us to reflect on that and to you know, try
Speaker 1: to avail ourselves to those whom we feel my peace
Speaker 1: suffering at this time and if you yourself for suffering,
Speaker 1: and it's trying to reach out and sort of engage
Speaker 1: in that sort of mutual mutual aid and mutual support.
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot that we can reframe and
Speaker 1: reconsider surrounding Christmas. I mean, for a season of kindness
Speaker 1: and given it unfortunately hoots a lot of people. Um,
Speaker 1: but that can change, you know, through solidarity, through generosity,
Speaker 1: through kinship, solidarity organized in the bottom of the extension
Speaker 1: of the principle of mutually into everyday life. Redirecting our
Speaker 1: generosity he around this time from giving to the pockets
Speaker 1: of billionaires to given to the people. Um. To display
Speaker 1: our capacity for well doing, to think locally, to think
Speaker 1: d I y, to think meaningful rather than to just
Speaker 1: add another thing to the Amazon card. And of course
Speaker 1: not just physically giving gifts, but as being generous with
Speaker 1: our time and our love and our care because we
Speaker 1: do need each other. Um, not just in this time,
Speaker 1: but in general. I think bred Santa had some entertaining
Speaker 1: suggestions of the season. To bred Santa, of course, being
Speaker 1: Peter Kropotkin, he figured that we should all pose as
Speaker 1: Santa Clause perhaps there as a subversion of what he
Speaker 1: represents as a capitalist, but all pools as Santa Claus
Speaker 1: or as St. Nicholas, and to infiltrate the stores and
Speaker 1: give way the toys um. And one postcard Krobakin route
Speaker 1: that of the night before Christmas, we'll all be about
Speaker 1: while the people are sleeping, we will realize or Cloud
Speaker 1: will expropriate goods from the stores because that's fair and
Speaker 1: distribute them widely to those we need care. So yeah,
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas and half your holidays to all and to
Speaker 1: all are good. Fight for freedom. You can of course
Speaker 1: find me on YouTube at androids um dot com slash
Speaker 1: and underscore saying true, and if you want, you can
Speaker 1: support me on picture on dot com slash saying true.
Speaker 1: That's it for me for this year. For it could
Speaker 1: happen here, See you all next year. Great destroyalist icon
Speaker 1: Santa Claus. Oh it could happen Here is a production
Speaker 1: of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media,
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