What's the true meaning of Christmas again?

Around this time of year, everyone always tells us to remember the reason for the season. We're always reminded not to get caught up in the presents and commercialization of the Christmas season, but now people are using the true meaning of Christmas to make even more money. That's the point of this cartoon. Everyone gets so caught up in presents, trees, and cards. We all need to be reminded that during this season that Christmas does not come from a store, but what has society done with the message? That message has just been turned into another money-making slogan.

I can't lie; I love the Christmas season. I love the hustle and bustle of buying gifts for friends. I love opening my gifts on Christmas, but at the same time, I agree with this picture 100%. You can find messages displaying the "true meaning of Christmas" on shirts, cards, and stickers. It's all just another way to make a profit during the holiday season.

The images used in this picture are brilliant. First of all, the customer who wants to boldly display the classic Grinch quote across a sweatshirt holds under one arm and a Visa in the other, not to mention his oh so festive clothing style. I think anyone looking at this picture can also take a lot away from looking at the salesman's face and body language. He looks at the Grinch movie as if he's saying, "Oh, please!" His hands look like their just itching to grab the customer's Visa card. One can interpret that the salesman does not care about the message of the movie, but if that message is getting him more money, he's interested. These details really help get the cartoonist's point across to the viewer. I have a feeling, however, that it's only a matter of time before someone commericializes the message of how we commercialize the true meaning of Christmas, because that just seems to be the way that our society works.

R.I.P. Sean Taylor

Jason Whitlock discussed his assumption that black men killed Sean Taylor. (This column was published prior to the arrest of the young black men). He stresses how in his opinion, today's hip-hop culture promotes violence, particularly among young African Americans. Whitlock shares how the violence will not stop until the aspects of the pro-violence culture are defeated.

I read this article about ten times. My first reaction was, "Wow. This Jason Whitlock guy makes me sick." At first I was angered that he was focusing on African Americans, because when I heard about the murder, race didn't come to mind. Then I scrolled over and realized that Jason Whitlock is an African American. So, I read the article again. Then I realized that he was focusing on the effects of the culture; it was then that I saw his point. Music, movies, and TV shows promote violence. Whitlock's right; nothing will change until fingers are no longer pointed, and people take matters into their own hands and fight the pro-violence culture.

I believe Jason Whitlock best used parallelism when he said, "Blame drugs, blame Ronald Reagan, blame George Bush, blame it on the rain or whatever." This strengthens Whitlock's point because the list of things to blame goes from drugs to 'whatever.' A person can blame violence on 'whatever', but the problem won't be solved until society starts looking at their own choices and actions. I think this is what Whitlock was trying to get across to his readers. Promoting a peaceful culture gets a little bit difficult when every other song, movie, or TV show consists of violence. The promotion of violence won't just disappear. He used parallelism to basically say, "Stop blaming everything else, no matter how big or small, and take some action."