1,111 words / 5:45

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Translations: Danish, French

Did the system cancel your Thanksgiving? Time to cancel their Black Friday.

Even though I am an unbeliever, the Christmas season is my favorite time of the year. Christmas, like dogs, brings out the best in people. It awakens a desire to beautify one’s world and adorn one’s soul with good deeds.

The worst kind of evil is not merely harming people, but harming people by exploiting their goodness. A pickpocket merely steals your money. A con artist who steals your money by saying that he is collecting donations for a good cause also penalizes virtue and undermines the trust that is the foundation of civilized society.

That is why I despise the commercialization of Christmas. There is a whole economy of “fourth quarter” industries that depend on Christmas giving. Advertisers whip us into materialistic frenzies, so we rack up huge credit card debts. Traditionally, Christmas shopping begins after Thanksgiving. But recently, it has been creeping back toward Halloween. If capitalists had their way, of course, we would be listening to Christmas muzak and pushing shopping carts in midsummer.

But there is a limit to when Christmas shopping can begin. If religion had anything to do with it, the absolute limit would be Easter. But economics is the deciding factor here. And in economic terms, Christmas shopping cannot begin until consumers have paid off their credit card debts from the previous Christmas.

The Friday after Thanksgiving is now called “Black Friday.” Traditionally, a Black Friday marks a massacre or disaster, and for consumers, I suppose it is. Merchants may be in the black, but consumers end up in the red.

It is too soon for White Nationalist politics in the United States. But racially conscious people still want to “do something.” The best thing we can do is make ourselves strong as a community. And the best way to do that is to become as independent as possible from the existing political and economic system. The Christmas season is the best time to begin that process, because it is the time when we spend the most money on the dumbest things in the dumbest way in the least amount of time.

So it is time to STOP shopping for Christmas.

Take a holiday from holiday shopping.

Stop running yourself ragged running up debts.

1. Don’t go into debt. Freeze your credit cards. Literally. Go to the kitchen, fill a container with water, put your credit cards in it, and stick it in the freezer. Don’t even think about thawing them out until January. And when January comes, resist the temptation and see just how long you can go without them.

2. Give the gift of freedom. Make a list of the people with whom you exchange gifts. If you have enough ties, enough sweaters, enough useless “novelty” items and your friends do as well, call them up and propose that you let one another off the hook.

3. Regift. Admit it, the thought has crossed your mind. I have done it countless times, usually with sweaters. A lot of people buy gifts just to buy gifts. What are the chances that they know you well enough and have the time and the taste to find you the perfect gift? This means that the first time around, many gifts do not reach the right recipient and end up unappreciated. Regifting is a way of helping them find the right home, at no additional cost and with the added benefit of reducing clutter. I start thinking about regifting well in advance (on the previous Christmas day, truth be told), whereas many people choose gifts at the last minute.

4. Create, Reuse, Refurbish. Can you make your own Christmas cards, wreaths, and ornaments? Do it. Were your garden and fruit trees unusually productive? Consider giving preserves or pies for Christmas. If you have a particular talent for making bread or brewing beer or bottling wine, give those for Christmas. Old furniture is usually better made than new stuff. Learn to refinish and reupholster. Do you bind books? Offer to rebind a friend’s favorite book. Do you sew, knit, crochet? Make something. Between now and Christmas, you have plenty of time to do any of these things. You even have time to pick up new skills.

5. Teach, Encourage, Empower. Do you have talents and skills you can teach your friends? Give them “gift certificates” (hand-made, of course) entitling them to lessons. Do you play the piano? Offer the children of your friends some introductory lessons. Do you know how to maintain and repair your car, your air conditioner, your bicycle, your appliances, your plumbing, your lawnmower? Well, most of your friends don’t. They spend hundreds of dollars every year repairing or replacing items that they have not maintained properly. Give them lessons, and you will help them save money and become more independent. Are you a great cook? Give your friends cooking lessons. People spend enormous amounts of money eating out. When they can make better food cheaper at home, they will not need or want to.

If you still have gifts to give after running through the above list and you are compelled to go shopping, consider the following rules of thumb.

6. Buy from local, small businesses, not big chains.

7. Buy goods made by white people around the world, not non-whites.

8. Patronize artists and craftsmen, not mass producers of plastic junk.

9. Keep your money in the racially conscious community. Buy from racially conscious publishers, booksellers, and other merchandisers. Readers, please post links to racially-conscious or simply nice, white businesses, artisans, etc. in the comments to this article.

No, I am not Scrooge. I am not the Grinch. I am not trying to steal your Christmas. I am merely suggesting that we celebrate Christmas intelligently and creatively, in ways that enrich us as a community rather than impoverish us, in ways that empower rather than weaken us. Decommercializing Christmas and reconnecting it with family and community will actually make it more meaningful and fun than ever.

Merry Christmas from everyone at Counter-Currents!

Source: Greg Johnson’s Confessions of a Reluctant Hater

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