I agree that we are bombarded with marketing for any and every holiday or special day
that can possibly be profitable. I also must confess to enjoying almost any excuse to
share fun and time with family, friends, and (gasp) even students. I usually do my
fall critical thinking demos of psychic experiences as Nosretep the skeptical psychic
wearing skull necklace, safety pin thru nose, and sometimes carry a severed hand
(fake...I think). I then do some psychic (magic) tricks and afterwards, talk about
serious and not-so serious efforts to study such things.
During Halloween I may also bring up (in some classes) issues of death denial and
cultural ways of dealing with those dead. This is an interesting theme that can
involve aspects of life-span development, cultural supersitions, religious beliefs,
coping with loss, research on "terror-management" ideas, etc.
I also agree that we do not have to succumb to the consumeristic emphasis or
pop-cultural marketing themes, but can make use many of these holidays as times for
meaningful discourse, sharing values with family, or,even scarier, they can be seen as
opportunities to learn of the history of such holidays or special events (for ex.
halloween and christmas http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown2.htm
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/william_edelen/christmasmythology.html or
maybe just enjoy the excuses to party! Gary Peterson
Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D.
Professor, Psychology
Saginaw Valley State University
989-964-4491
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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