Adam Smith, the True Grinch Who Made His Millions Stealing Christmas

Speculation about how Christmas has lost its true meaning begins to circulate about this time every year. This teasing before Christmas is just as commonplace and unremarkable as the traditional exchanging greeting cards. However, many others felt that Dr. Seuss's Grinch wasn't the one who stole Christmas.
It wasn't until the 1940s that economist Karl Polanyi noticed the crime. Polanyi brought attention to a spectacular occurrence that disregarded everything that had gone before in his classic essay, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of our Time. This event was without precedent in history. During the nineteenth century, the market emerged as the primary institution in our society. As a result, the exchange of commodities and services became an essential part of human life, almost the whole purpose of being alive. The crime's solution is in comprehending the character of this metamorphosis.

However, those who have reaped the benefits of this crime in recent times have become experts in deceit. By assembling teams of experts, they are able to effortlessly obfuscate any effort to uncover the truth by using intricate political rhetoric and economic theories. To sidestep this problem—in true detective Goran fashion—we bring attention to the fact that the unifying denominator all political, social, and economic institutions is the people.
Experts' strategies include describing these systems as though they were apart from humans. Here we have one of the oldest methods in the book that allows the system to grow into its own person, complete with desires, needs, and aspirations. You must keep in mind that these structures are not inherent to us; rather, we construct them. The only thing they care about is making sure enough people like each other to live and work together, so they can lay the groundwork for that.
How individuals engage with one another is the most important factor. From the dawn of time, people have sought to discover the most optimal means of communication. We have been trying to figure out what it is about human nature that makes us social beings rather than solitary hermits, since we want to know what makes people trust and like each other.
After we identified these qualities, we elevated them to the status of virtues, which manifested themselves in our capacity for kindness and love. The concept of self-sacrifice has been at the head of this list of virtues for ages. To rephrase, we discovered that the surest approach to win people over was to demonstrate our reliability by consistently looking out for their best interests and never causing them damage. Friends are people we can trust implicitly like this.
We found out that there were different degrees of trust. Friendships grew stronger when we could trust one another more. When we built a relationship with someone we could depend on no matter what—even if it meant we may lose out personally—that was the pinnacle of trust.
It was our discovery that a bond might be formed between two people so powerful that they would both be willing to lay down their lives for the other. It was referred to as love.
Love was the ultimate standard that society needed. Our research showed that communities united in love are not only very robust and sturdy, but also more powerful than the sum of their individual pieces. As individuals, we were frail and powerless, but when we banded together as a society, we became so formidable that nothing seemed impossible.
The key to advancement was our ability to work together in this fashion. Thus, it is possible to view human history as a progression toward ever-increasing degrees of collaboration, starting with the clan and progressing through the village, the city, the nation, and finally the entire globe. The Christmas season is a time to rejoice in the unveiling of this mystery and to honor its foremost guide.
A foundational act upon which trust, friendship, and love are created is the unselfish act, and gift giving serves as a reminder of this. The more generously we give, the more we will receive, and this is a truth that is put into practice when we receive gifts. The key to living is this.
In the years leading up to the Great Transformation, we were under the impression that we had mastered the art of communal stability. Disagreements and arguments, even wars, were inevitable; nonetheless, these arose over minor points; fundamental human relations concepts were never in question.
Think of the uproar that would have ensued if a group of medieval philosophers had proposed that this social foundation was so flawed that its complete dismantling was the only viable choice. That a whole new system based on fundamentally different principles was required to supersede it. According to them, the concept of selflessness and sacrifice had become irrelevant. The polar opposite of selfishness, so the new school of thought said, was the virtue that would prove essential in creating a trustless society. Despite the initial shock and contempt, Adam Smith's theories eventually found expression in his magnum opus, Wealth of Nations, which garnered him the title of father of economics—a social science.
This new economic system, these theorists said, could use the market to turn society's vices into virtues. Because of their essential role in propelling this new society forward, they argued that ostentation, narcissism, and avarice should be celebrated rather than condemned.
individuals in this capitalist society were told not to be selfless, generous, or philanthropic because these traits made individuals reliant on others. Parasites, never able to reach their full human potential, these individuals were a drain on society. Therefore, the selfless, generous, and selfless-hearted were the worst kind of do-gooders. They meant well, but in their naiveté they caused immense harm to both the people they were attempting to assist and society at large.
Many still can't or won't even try to make sense of these ideas. I have never seen a parent who would knowingly indoctrinate their children to value selfishness and materialism above generosity and kindness. Even after being brainwashed for almost a century, the majority of us still think egotisticals, avariciousness, and arrogance are bad traits to have. Having these qualities as a foundation for genuine friendship, much less love, is incomprehensible.
The notion of self-sacrifice, the gift of Christmas, has been stolen, but we still hold the market as our core institution, despite our persistent concerns. Now that our material needs—and even our survival—are dependent on the market, many of us have no choice but to lead double lives. Whereas we strive to live according to the principles of charity and love in our personal and familial lives, we are compelled to adhere to the law of the market, which translates to self-interest, in our interactions with others.
When you're juggling two identities, it's challenging to be a consistent parent. The children observe their parents and society's idols acting in complete opposition to the rules that they hear their parents teaching them. Furthermore, parents have an extremely difficult time doing their jobs when society's heroes are avaricious, conceited, and prideful.
Because we are social beings who require consistency in our ideas, leading two lives at once is extremely challenging, if not impossible. At some point, we all end up believing the same thing, and since meeting our most fundamental needs is dependent on the market, we gradually begin to subconsciously conform to its norms. We are becoming a society of the lonely, the divorced, and the unhappy because selfishness has become the defining feature of Western culture.
All market transactions, according to Polanyi, were just extensions of social interactions because the market was intrinsically linked to society in the past. So, it was not the only factor, but rather an incidental by-product, of people connecting to people and being susceptible to the same considerations, with profit being the sole and only consideration.
With the rise of greed-based economics, the market was divorced from its social setting, turning the tables on the norms of human interaction. People were forced to compete with one another in this new environment, which drove voluntary cooperation and altruism out. A new kind of man, the Economic Man, was idealized as having the traits of avarice and self-interest, which accompanied competitiveness.
Great production gains were achieved under the new economic system, but at a tremendous social and environmental cost. The human race lost its formerly dominant social role and devolved into a mere commodity in the market. People were reduced to nothing more than a means to a goal for others when interpersonal relationships were viewed as extensions of commercial transactions. This marked the end of the Great Transformation. The gift of Christmas was not just taken; it was exchanged for mindless materialism through this deceit.
We present the perpetrators with the undeniable proof of their crime and the consequences, following in the finest tradition of Detective Goran. Millions endure daily hunger and lack of basic necessities while a privileged few enjoy life's finer things. All the violence and crime on our streets, the persistent and careless degradation of our natural environment, and the dishonesty and falsehoods that are presented as political discourse.
The moment has come to reveal the fraud, apprehend the perpetrators, and recover the Christmas bounty.
No way!

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