Oh come all ye' guilt trips.

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Joy to the world.

Well, it's officially the christmas season as viewed by the local populace.

November 16th- not too shabby, only half a month off this year.

What am I talking about>??

The guilt ridden ads have hit the local craigslist, "free christmas tree wanted."
"Need money for kids presents."
"Food for christmas."
"Free car"?

What is it about "The holiday season" that lets people act needy more than the usual? Is it really the only time of the year they expect people will comply with this ransom?

The single mom card comes out in droves..

Then there's the tv ads// Oh my the tv ads.

"This christmas, help a child in need.." (sad song plays)

As if citizens of the western world are looking forward to giving a portion of their measly incomes to some organization that will take half off the top before sending the slim pickin's to a little african boy.

And why does the duty fall on the taxed workers anyways? This has never made sense to me, it's not a hard problem to solve- it's ok to be "charitable" but in reality, your 50$ isn't undoing world poverty. And the people who can- wont./



I used to love the holiday season. Till I realized that people (and corporations) have finally figured out a way to exploit people via their yearly behavioral patterns.



I wonder how much unused gym equipment will be sold this year.

Ho ho ho.

One advantage that I get from the fact that I grew up feeling shame, not guilt. Incidentally, this seems to be a Western thing. I wonder, then, do China/Japan not have these fundraisers on their holidays?

To answer the OP's question: It's because "'tis the season for giving" means that if one doesn't bleed themselves dry for somebody else, they are a "Scrooge" and are somehow especially evil for looking after themselves during the "Holiday season." Add to that the fact that it's often cold (at least to normal people) in the winter and you would be even more wicked to let some poor single mother with 8 kids be cold, hungry and - let's not forget - presentless.

I purchase items for those in need off the trees they have in the store, but it has nothing to do with the holidays or guilt. I do similar things all year. People have always done this and other charitable contributions without the heavy guilt trip.

And we wonder why we have such a depressed society...

I am one of those "needy" people, but because of stuff like this, I'm too ashamed to ask for help. But thanks, anyway.

I'm not talking about being in need (people are in need throughout the year), I'm talking about the guilt-trip (like the OP stated) that corporations, religion and society puts on others, especially during the holidays. I have already mentioned I donate money, items, and time to several charities year-long (not just the holidays). I simply loathe how people look down on someone who didn't throw a dollar in the collection bucket, when you know the person laying on the guilt did not give jack s**t to charity. Somehow that makes us all demons and the people criticizing angels. That hypocrisy is what burns my buns. I grew up poor and had next to nothing aside from three outfits I got at a surplus store and whatever toys someone gave me, so I hate more than anything when these people say that if you don't give enough (meaning $1000+), you are a greedy person and have no clue what it is to be poor. I have had charities tell me that a donation of $25 was simply too low and they would only send an envelope with a pre-pledged amount of at least $75. What if somebody only has a small amount to give? Whatever happened to "every bit counts?"
Talk about greed.

How about the "feel-good" ads for corporations who say that for every 100 units of their product sold they'll donate $50.00 to some disease research? They either raise the price or reduce the size of the unit to offset their "donation".

P. S. The place where I work is huge, but it is run entirely on donations. Most are $10 or under.

I stopped letting others send me on guilt trips when I realized that none of them ever wanted to come along.

I enjoy Christmas and its true meaning.

Well I see it as no different than giving stuff to charity or doing toys for tots. I am just glad I do have money to buy for my son and I decided on a $100 budget for him and that includes his birthday too for presents. I am also glad for fake trees we have.

For the last 12 years, my wife and I have hosted at least one person each year who would have otherwise been homeless. As soon as this one completes his degree, we'll probably take in another one. We like helping people in ways that matter, rather than just dropping money in a kettle and hoping that the person holding the kettle isn't planning to use it all for hookers and nose-candy.

On one of those morning shows (in the UK), they were discussing charities and how if you do give to some charities you may be put on a sort of "mug list", meaning once you have given and they have your contact details they will continue to bug you for even more money. This is ungrateful and wrong on so many levels. This ruins things for those that need help and those that wish to give, with the ones who need help feeling like dirt and the ones wishing to give feeling like a fool. Meanwhile people will turn on those who need help or those who wish to give, and the bad apples get away with it.

You celebrate the winter solstice?

I wish I had time to dig up Linus's soliliquoy (sp?) on the true meaning of Christmas from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (a popular yuletide cartoon here in the US) from the dark recesses of Youtube where it is hiding, but I don't. Help me out here guys, and remember that CockneyRebel is English and likely has no clue what I'm talking about.

I'm pretty sure "Mick" is from Canada and therefore has to have been exposed to "Peanuts" TV specials at some point in their life. Anyway on that I'm also pretty sure they mean how God wanted to show how he really doesn't want to kill us and hitched a ride to Earth through the womb of Miriam.


The people who consistently give and those who do it when they can are usually not the type to broadcast it and SAH don't need prompting from Big Charity, and could care less whether they get to write their name on a paper balloon or heart and tack it up on the wall. With everything in life there are Talkers and there are Doers. The Talkers really need to STFU on this one.

I for one am just glad not to see those animal abuse ads all over the place at the moment.

Bravo! That's dedication, you mean you adopt random strangers for a whole year??


See, that's the kind of thing that matters. I know usually consumerism makes people hate christmas but I think the bigger problem is that it takes a special time of the year for everyone to get involved..

You may have a point about the cold weather.

Maybe it really is just depressing enough because of the lack of light- who would've thought, the giving season was just a chemical imbalance!

A few days to a few years. It's part of our "Engagement Vows".