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The holidays are a time filled with good tidings and joy and the looming threat of capitalist pressure. I understand that certain people express their love through the exchange of tangible items, but there is too much pressure involved when it comes to the holidays. In reality, the holidays should be spent recovering, honoring culture and spending time with people you love.

Instead, our current society pushes the idea that the only way to accomplish these things is to consume. With Christmas being one of the world’s most celebrated holidays, companies spend millions on digital advertisements to keep consumers buying.

I believe in the saying that you cannot put a price on love. Because of this, it is always strange to see ads for holiday edition jewelry, which are often engagement-related. Of course, shiny objects to remember your loved ones by are nice but we have to realize how absurd it is to advertise the legitimacy of people’s love as their ability to buy and give. The societal expectation that gifts must be exchanged puts superficial stress on relationships.

I have heard countless people talk about the need to watch their spending in the months leading up to the holidays just to ensure they have enough money to buy everyone in their life holiday gifts. It is common for people to skip meaningful experiences to buy gifts.

The holidays are difficult on relationships and even tougher on individuals’ mental health. A survey conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Health shows that 64% of people with mental illness suffer worse from their conditions during the holiday season. This stress caused by the pressure to consume can lead people down dangerous mental paths. With stress comes more irrational decision making, leading to impulse buying by consumers. Companies then exploit consumers by preying on stress-buying habits.

In this ongoing cycle of spending, corporations are the only winners. Their greed feeds on people, manipulating us to spend absurd amounts of money on gifts and draining people mentally and financially. As soon as the next holiday rolls around, the ads start playing, the music comes back on and there seems to be no other choice than to keep up with the spending. Here in Syracuse, the city is home to the eighth-largest mall in the United States. If you have ever been to the mall, you understand why it is hard to believe that there are seven malls ahead of it in size. With 239 stores, underground valet parking and indoor race tracks, the mall’s overbearing stimulation has people from all over New York State in its vice.

Big spending also has immense consequences on the environment. Production of new items for decor or presents drastically increases carbon emissions. The environmental impacts caused by rapid consumption are felt most by marginalized communities. Holiday cheer for some equates to lifelong harm to the quality of life for others.

Christmas and other winter holidays glorify capital, which upholds colonial agendas of erasing non-white, wealthy cultures to gain money and power. By distracting Americans during the holiday season, corporations are able to falsify ideas of how mainstream holiday traditions came to be. They omit the fact that all the production and consumption takes place on stolen land, and the fallout of their pollution degrades underrepresented communities.

To add to the insult, chopping down carbon sequestering trees makes it more challenging to offset the impacts of capitalist production. There is always an argument for plastic trees, but those too will eventually end up in a landfill with the rest of our society’s nonrecyclable gifts.

Capitalism is the main reason our nation and the world see environmental degradation and discrimination. We need to fight back against these harmful systems that holiday traditions help along by pushing positivity. Gather with people you care about, acknowledge why we are in the privileged position we are and honor the people whose land we are coming together on. Liv DuFine, a junior at Syracuse University, said her favorite form of gifts to give her friends were DIY ones she makes herself. The energy it takes to make a gift is not overlooked — your friends and family will love it.

If giving purchased gifts is your preferred method, they can be meaningful and sustainable. Visit locally owned shops, preferably ones offering second-hand items. If you do not have the desire to make presents, or it does not work in your schedule, give the gift of time. The most important thing all of us can do during the holidays is create beautiful, even simple experiences with people.

Conor Sarasin is a Junior Environmental Studies Major. His Column appears bi-weekly. He can be reached at cjsarasi@syr.edu.

Published on December 13, 2022 at 2:25 am