Writingbolt's Creation

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There’s no better example of how excessive the USA can be–at a time when news reports focus on all the foreign nations struggling–than the “great” (American) holiday lights contest. Every single entry begs the questions…

What is their electric bill like?

Exactly how much land do they own?

How long does it take to set all of this up?

Where on Earth do they store it all (without losing their minds and stomachs)?

and

What must their neighbors think?

…who all live across the country road in cardboard-cutout houses only one square high, compared to the theme park of lights across the street. It’s as if there’s no life for miles, just a giant plot of land and all the utility you could want.

What astounds (and nauseates) me is that not one “family” knows how to organize their display in a fashion that would actually be both dazzling and artistic as a whole, as a larger image rather than a bunch of little stuff you have to look for and wonder how much time was spent assembling all of this…every year.

EVERY “home” (and I use that term loosely) has to have a plot of land littered with excessive collections of something…snowmen, “Santas,” Nativity sets, elves, bears… It’s as if every participant gets worried some competitor will inject more objects into their display.

I can’t help wondering how not one group can see how less could be just as appealing, more sane and more conscious of the state of the nation, as well as the world. If you could take away about fifty pounds of lights and all the clutter of plastic figurines and stuffed animals, you’d still have a well-lit display with plenty of color covering just as much turf. You’d have less to put away every year (if you can even put it away) and less set-up to look like you built a city just for one lame televised contest. And, you wouldn’t make the USA look like a decadent target for nations with less (yet plenty of weapons and foot soldiers).

There isn’t a genuine artist (other than maybe technical wizards) among the lot, not one who can’t resist the urge to lump on excess (and make me puke inside). It’s just…overload. It is NOT amazing in enough ways, even if parts of each display have merit. You spoil the whole by injecting clutter and madness.

The house that is covered in lights and programmed to “dance” to computerized music…was cool back in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Now, it’s played out.

I may never win such a contest. And, that’s okay. I don’t NEED it. I don’t want it, either. I’d rather have a home that’s a more tasteful display with moderate use of color and lights than a farm or theme park full of plastic clutter and hazardous wiring. I get why this is happening…because some people like to dazzle and be dazzled. But, there are better ways of doing that. This show doesn’t learn from the past…or anyone. It just tries to add more.

A “man of the faith” claims to have made a display that suits all faiths? HA! And, what a wealthy (priest) he is, with a display dripping in crosses and steeples. Makes you think. Makes you think he doesn’t need $50,000.

I’m out.

Bah hum-bulb. Someone call the Grinch; he’s got a job to do.