I had another topic planned for this week, but as it’s Christmas Eve, how about a short Christmas-themed romp relating to Mr. Dickens's delightful tale, A Christmas Carol (first published 1843)?
The book is a lovely, feel-good story of Christmas Spirit and personal development written by a great author and interesting fellow, familiar with poverty and riches, who lived in a remarkably brutal era of conservative market utopianism. It’s surely a classic that remains topical even today. However, might misinterpretation be one reason it remains so popular and relevant today?
The story highlights systemic economic problems but not to suggest remedies, only as a backdrop for a modern fairy tale about real or imagined ghosts, time travel, and personal redemption. Mr. Cratchit and Tiny Tim may have benefited from Mr. Scrooge’s miraculous last-minute epiphany involving concern for others, but one doesn’t suppose Ms. Ratchit and Tubby Tom next door were so lucky, nor that many of Mr. Scrooge’s associates were similarly afflicted by helpful ghosts. I wonder if some may have supposed the point of the story was that all we can, or maybe should, do to fix the problems of a morally flawed economic system is to prevail upon people to become better, review their ethics. One should, of course, recommend to others what one supposes moral or ethical. However, in Mr. Dickens’ tale, it took the most remarkable and fantastical happenings to invoke change in Mr. Scrooge; he didn’t just read a book or an op-ed. One supposes Mr. Dickens added the ghosts for a reason.
I think of it whenever I hear any of the more “neoliberal” critics of our economic system, who endorse the language, concepts, theory of conservative economics, market utopianism, but then bang on about greed, as corporate greed. “Be less greedy!” Who needs ghosts, am I right? It would surely be nice if people one day became better than they are. But while we’re waiting for that remarkable day, I suppose we might try to muster the political will to address systemic economic issues via law, regulation, as Mr. Dickens implies might normally be required. Don’t just loll upon a divan like some Victorian opium addict, exhorting others to become better, dreamily waving one’s hand and murmuring, “Let the ghosts do it. All will be lovely then.” Arise, and use democracy to try to fix the things you suppose need fixing. And have a Merry Christmas.
