The Abstract Nature of Santa Claus

38,000 miles of ribbon will be disposed of after Christmas in the US. The sale of batteries increased 40% during the holiday. 50 million Christmas trees were cut down

He that sees all sides
Cannot be but ironic
     Towards all
Without any inducement
     To participation
Inactive and faithless

Constant friction of illiberal minds wears out at last the best resolve of the more generous – Herman Melville

We tend to abstract nature as opposed to mystifying it or making it sensual

Our world does not follow a program, but we live in a world of programs – Colin Gordon “Afterword” – Power/Knowledge by Michael Foucault p245

When one is like another
The other is just another

The time demands… plans for international infiltration into the dry mass of those principles of knowledge and culture which the universities and their cripples have cloistered and made a cult – William Carlos Williams

Systematic knowledge – delimitation by label and number

Systematization comes upon the scene during an age which feels itself in command of a ready-made and handed-down body of authoritative thought – V N Volosinov –Marxism and the Philosophy of Language p18

They pulled in after dark and set to hunting for the very best spot – driving around and around, hollering at each other, and giving directions. This went on for thirty minutes at least but fortunately I was still up. I was sitting by the fire drinking my beer. They finally located their ideal spot; unfortunately for me it was only two spaces away. After they finally got all settled in, lowered the jacks, unrolled the awnings, hooked all the umbicals. They were no longer to be hear and I went to bed.

A war to create and maintain social order can have no end… War has thus become virtually indistinguishable from police activity – Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri – Multitude: war and democracy in the age of empire, 2004 p14

A couple of hours later I was awoken by lights flashing and people talking. I got up. There was a long line of vehicles on the road. Several men were riding around in a red pickup – around and around the campsites talking loud. The engines of all the vehicles throbbed – buses and diesel pickup (no hybrids here). They had been looking for the group campsite – they finally stumbled onto it – my bad luck, it was right next to me. A troop of Boy Scouts had arrived (what about their motto – always be prepared – perhaps they should sent out a scouting party). They then proceeded to set up camp. The boys were ok; their voices did not carry. Most of the adults had booming deep voices and proceed to bark instructions. The next morning one of them could be heard complaining “I wish I’d gotten to bed 30 minutes earlier.” What about me! Then someone began banging on a garbage can lid – time to get up. I was fortunately already up and having my breakfast by then and the RVers were shut away in their tin cans and oblivious to any noise.

“How does on man assert his power over another, Winston?” Winston thought. “By making him suffer,” he said. “Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough.” – George Orwell – Nineteen Eighty Four, 1949 p269

The world is my lauder
      I shall not want
      So long
As I got my do-ra-me

There is no morality to money… and immoral of people to think so – Lillian Hellman – The Autumn Garden