The Greatest Machine of Them All

Winter break is a time for rest. A time for relaxation, for fun, and to forget about all the stress and problems slapped in our faces by school. Well, until it's time to come back that is. January 5th, we all need to get our timecards handed back to us and punch in once more, facing the grueling grind until finals and then onwards. While a break might seem like a good thing at first, it does have the unfortunate effect of sorting our time into neat little boxes. Always obsessed with order, our society's gotta have carefully set times that it's okay to relax in. These are the hours you work, and these are the hours you play. After all, this is the only way to keep the cogs in the machine turning regularly.

Though this rigid structure might be helpful for keeping society at its maximum efficiency, there's still plenty of room to resent it. Namely on the grounds that efficiency isn't all that good. Stating that in today's world is seen as basically treason. The economic system is built on growth, and the only way to keep that growth at acceptably cancerous levels is by squeezing every drop of work out of our fingertips. Efficiency is the altar our society worships at, always with money on our minds. Well, what if we just all, y'know, chilled for a moment? Maybe even more than moment. Take a step back and re-evaluate our priorities. Why are we working this hard? Is it even for a cause we believe in, or is it for a nebulous promise of future enjoyment? A re-evaluation of the fundamentals of our system is long overdue, and asking these questions is the first step to that.

He sees you when you're sleeping...and all the time

Lets talk about the elf on the shelf. It's a fun concept at first, a children's book that also comes with an  fun doll to play hide and seek with, Christmas themed to boot. Looking closer at it, it suddenly becomes a lot less friendly. The elf on the shelf's book details how he reports back to Santa every night on the behavior of the children. Furthermore, if the children touch the elf, the magic is destroyed and they get no presents from Santa. This essentially puts the children in a microcosm of a fascist surveillance state.  With every move observed by the elf and punishment threatened at misbehavior, it conditions the children to follow authority merely due to being watched. The kids have never actually had Santa never visit them due to the elf reporting bad behavior, but the threat is enough. The spectre of no-Santa is enough to keep them obedient under constant surveillance, which the elf does through magic. Any attempt to resist the state...sorry, elf, by touching him results in the magic being destroyed and no presents given. Quite the interesting moral we're teaching these children at such a young age, that the tool of surveillance is so powerful that merely interfering with it delivers punishment.

Ah, Winter...I think?

Well, it's December now. Quite a raging snowstorm out there, right? Wait a second, that's not snow...That's not snow at all! It's mild outside, and I barely need a coat to walk to school everyday. What gives, old man winter?

This wacky weather is most likely the doing of some weird temperature factors, probably wind fronts and the like. However, it's a very good starting point for a discussion about climate change. Environmental concerns are oftentimes shoved to the side in favor of the next humanitarian crisis, with much more emphasis being placed upon the poor, crying faces of people by the media instead of the dangerous effects we're already beginning to see due to our irresponsible treatment of Earth as a species. Unfortunately, the planet doesn't have a face. It can't easily tug at our heartstrings, biologically programmed to care for those that look like us. To many, it's just the ground beneath our feet. But in actuality, it's far more than that. It's all of our homes, our mother, and our only provider. If we destroy it, we'll essentially be setting fire to the building we're standing right in the middle of.

While the warm weather might be nice now, it won't be nice all the time. Acknowledging our irresponsible behavior is the first step in solving it, and today's a good a day as any.