Tikkun (https://www.tikkun.org/author/a_brueggemannj/)
Each meal is a moral statement. What other elemental, biological act involves such a public expression about ourselves and our relationship with the world? What we put in our mouths literally shapes who we are. We are what we eat. But we are also how we eat: the content and process of our consumption help define us.
Here we go again. “School Bans Santa over Religious Concerns.” “Christmas Concert Cancelled in Hawaii.” “Charlie Brown Violates U.S. Constitution?” The War on Christmas is afoot! Fox News is correct – there is a sustained effort under way to discredit the sacred truths of this holy day. The only problem is that they have fingered the wrong culprit.
Diffuse cultural values shape our choices in layered, contingent ways. This is especially true in the context of shocking human behavior, like we saw in Tucson. Attempts to account for specific human actions via sociology are, by definition, “half-baked,” but the patterns are not random.
In this project Wright seeks to document, in a manner intelligible to a broad audience, the main problems of capitalism and the realistic possibilities for overcoming them.
As I join many in my community in the annual post-feast January slim-down, it occurred to me that this is a fitting moment to reflect on how expansive market culture is damaging the health of our families.