Self-medication is not only morally permissible in my book, but it is necessary.
How do you shift from permissible to necessary? I'm not seeing the step(s) in between.
Now, try to change the rules on kids at this point. You can't.
Why not? Sometimes people need a reality check, and sometimes not getting what you want/expect/demand is what is actually best for you.
Let's face it. This is fucked up. And, to get through our expensive and hectic lives we take enhancement medications, which keep us going and cranking out that American work ethic.
Not all of us are medicated. Not even all soccer/etc. Moms I would expect. But maybe this indicates something is wrong with our work ethic, and has nothing to do with the medication itself. Of course, it is odd that cocaine-in-a-can is now just standard.
So, am I a Luddite? Maybe. But, the alternative really sucks.
There are worse things in the world than a girl who knows how to chop wood, and fish. Besides, people who can be happy without all the trappings are (I would hazard to guess) going to be generally happier than those who can't. When the stock goes belly-up she'll still be golden.
My dad even pointed that if you don't have gifts that children like, then they will start to cry. Gratitude doesn't seem to be part of the picture. But, you can't change the rules on kids who have grown up expecting this
This is such a negative way of looking at things, and if it were the only thing that happens, Christmas as we enjoy it would never have succeeded as a holiday. The true joy of Christmas is the joy and excitement you see in your kids faces when you give them presents. It takes them till about 2 to realize what is happening, and then its like a light switch. And seeing that joy makes you want to give and give... especially it seems for grandparents. That you can give so much its overwhelming seems never to occur to some. And when you give too much, you get what you are talking about. But the heart of the matter is seeing joy in the faces of people you love. The line between feeding that joy and greed may be blurry.
Gratitude is expressed all the time, at least by my kids, on Christmas. Not the faux "you need to write a thank you letter" kind, but the heartfelt unprompted kind.
I certainly never understood any of this until my kids were older. It is surprisingly hard to make adults happy with the presents you get them, but kids are happy with just about anything. Even just unwrapping the darn box.
I know, totally off topic.
Also, I want to note, as silly as consumerism is, it is at the heart of our economy. Take away the excess, and our production of goods and the selling of them will contract. That economic contraction is the essence of a recession/depression. And when we no longe buy, more people are laid off, unemployed, and they now can no longer make their house payments, by presents, etc. Same thing happens when we have no access to credit. If the economy has been fueled by credit, the elimination of that will shrink the economy, and there we go again. It may be a virtue to live within one's means, but for an economy that grew because people were living beyond their means, it means, so to speak, economic contraction.
Hanno--
I agree that the joy of seeing children excited by gifts is worthwhile. I also love the idea of giving.
I wonder, however, (and you have pointed out how blurry this is), at what point you fail to teach children the joy of giving if you give them too much.
I think we can both admit--your clear-eyed analysis of the economy nothwithstanding--that the excessive consumerism of middle-class/upper middle-class Americans is problematic.
One economist pointed out to me (over 7 years ago) that at some point consumers would have enough TVs or whatnot. But, this collapse is ultimately about greed and the sad truth is that to ameliorate this problem, we have to get people buying more shit (like a new gaming machine or the new iPhone or a new HDTV) in order to get it back on its feet.
To me, this solution is symptomatic of giving ADHD drugs to students and soccer moms--you are maintaining the status quo--not revisioning the way things are.
What actually is greed? It cannot be the mere desire for goods. Is it when the desire for goods leads to bad results? It is not merely immoral results, for the economic crisis is not a moral crisis. People wanted a home, or a nicer home, and all the analysts are telling them they can get a loan and refinance in a few years when their house is worth more, and so get something for nothing. But that advice is not greed. And many people followed it without any problem for years, even, without a problem. Is the assumption that the price of housing always going to go up greed? No, surely a desire, and not merely an assumption, is at the heart of greed.
Is greed, to use Plato, the appetative part of the soul ruling over the rational part so that folks do not question the assumption? But if almost all the analysts agree getting the quick loan now with a teaser rate will pay off, is it all that irrational to listen? There were voices saying there is a housing bubble, and an oil bubble. Is greed not listening? But there is always someone saying that the sky is falling. Is it greed when we do not listen to them when they are right?
I suspect a similar view underlies Plato's vision of the soul in the Republic. That is why the virtuous person is lead not merely by reason, but the form of the good. She knows what truly is good, and hence does not listen to the plausible but false advice of the sophists. Unfortunately, we do not know the form of the good, and never will. So recognizing when we are greedy and when we are rationally appetative is not easy.
The diagnosis of greed is always 20/20 hindsight.
You're making a lot of generalizations about the whole of society based on your particular personal experience this Christmas. Sounds like you should stay home next year, and mail gifts you can afford...saving all that airfare in the process...to say nothing of the cost of all those prescriptions. No need to feel bad about not keeping up with all the other Jones's (or whatever your particular family's name may be).
In Praise of Idleness, by Bertrand Russell. Just a different perspective.
Spaz, if you are a luddite, I'm an anachronism!
On a meta-note, I am starting to notice that an untended blog is like an untended garden, only worse. The weeds start to creep in among the blossoms, but instead of cute little garden gnomes, you get nasty trolls.
I think I agree in principle with your concerns about consumerism, etc. Perhaps like Hanno, I am also a bit more optimistic. I think the issue is perhaps not with a lack of gratitude, but where the gratitude is focused.
So consider a couple of anecdotes about my own holiday experiences. I grew up in a Christmas-celebrating family, and every year we followed certain rules about opening gifts - namely that we had to take turns, and open them one at a time. That way, you get a chance to thank the person who gave you the gift after each and every one. Gift giving is just as much fun as receiving because you do get that opportunity to see an excited reaction, etc. to a gift you picked out.
The other anecdote is from this past Christmas. The daughter of one of my cousins saw this remote controlled dinosaur somewhere (tv? store? not sure), and really, really wanted it. She told everyone else in the family that Santa would bring it for her, and she even gave it a name. This toy, however, cost $180, and there was no way my cousin and his wife could get it for her. They were very concerned that she would cry, etc. when she didn't get the gift. What happened? Well, she got some other toys, and had so much fun playing with them, she never mentioned that dinosaur toy again.
I'm not sure that kids do not have gratitude at the gifts they receive. Rather, I think one concern we should be mindful of is whether they are thankful for getting these gifts rather than also being thankful for getting gifts at all. That, I think, is an important concern. If one expects Christmas, even if they are not so temperamental to demand certain gifts, the child might not understand how fortunate they are to live in a situation in which their family can "spoil" them so.
It's understandable for kids to grow up with those expectations - if you get toys every December the 25th, well, that's life! Seeing that this is not life for everyone else is a much more difficult lesson to internalize! I think the concern I have here is at heart the same one you are discussing Aspazia, the point of difference, however, is that I think gratitude is part of the Christmas picture. It's just that we also need to be sure to be emphasizing gratitude in all the ways we ought to be thankful.
Luddite? No, it makes you one of us dirty fuckin' hippies. Congrats Spaz. You know the Dead is back together and touring this spring -- see you at a NY show?
Spaz at a Dead show...now THAT I'd like to see! (It'll never happen...there's hippie, and then there's Deadhead, and Spaz was traumatized by West Coast Deadheads at an early age.)
There are not drugs enough in the world to entice me to go to another Dead show as long as I live. 
I'll bet there are...
One has to be enticed?
I'm disappointed by your anti-Dead remarks.
I think that our children will generally grow up with the expectations we help them develop.
Children can and do learn that Christmas is not about big store gifts. Maybe if you learned to love the Dead more, you would understand this point.
Oh no, Deadhead trolls! Is it possible?
Anon is "I." Computer's not helping me out today.
Well, Deadheads are followers, after all.
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