Busiest shopping day of the year, nexus of downtown Seattle commerce, the hard core of the retail core: Westlake Mall. And what do we have? Well, people doing their holiday shopping, of course. And getting ready for the ceremonial lighting of the Christmas Tree. But who are those spoilsports with the signs, already? Ah, that would be the protestors, the anarchists, the enemies of the public good. So nicely dressed, too. So polite, so well-groomed. Those signs, what do they say? Down with the capitalist state? No, they signs are actually encouraging commerce. "Buy More Stuff," they implore. "Hurry," they urge.
Irony, how clever! Performance art, for the third year running! A theme song! Who'd have thought up such an ironic and clever protest against consumerism? (Connect the dots, if you will; you'd be right.) Yet here's the surprise: in today's sputtering economy, consumer spending is just what we really need. We're all in on the joke.
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