Since the end of the cold war, metropolitan elites everywhere have identified progress and modernity with the cornucopia of global capitalism, the consolidation of liberal democratic regimes and the secular ethic of consumerism.
It was indeed a merry Christmas in Dubai, the tiny, striving Arab emirate that, year round, expresses something of the all-Santa-no-manger essence of the modern, secular holiday: lightheartedness, panting consumerism, glittering shallows and, for those who seek them out, depths as well.
Or have these symbols been emptied of content, no more than a glittering backdrop to the West's newest faith, consumerism, and its secular cathedrals, shopping malls?
After that, the ritual of preparing for Santa's arrival was just another piece in our mish-mash of a Christmas celebration, which included our favorite elements of traditions from the foreign countries we had lived in as a military family, some secular Christ-admiring, and a healthy dose of American consumerism.
Similarly, Miracle on the 34th Street raises the issue of mental illness, while it also contrasts Santa Claus, the secular mystical figure of the season, with post-war American consumerism and loss of hope.
As a parent, however, I've come to believe that the secular form of Christmas is a sad ode to the rampant consumerism and out-of-control capitalism of American society.
The ensuing vacuum has generally been filled by a secular alternative.In some places it is shopping, appropriately if you believe that consumerism is a new religion, and remember that the shrines of old often had a market close by.
The secular society for him was one run by men in lab coats peddling a new demonic religion: consumerism.
Is it consumerism run amok?
