Another example of how corporations and big media can make the sheep do anything they want. Convincing people to piss away $50 to $100 on a corporate sponsored fake holiday is our version of successful capitalism. In the 60’s and 70’s this was a one night affair for little kids. Now it is a two month production of hype, mass consumption, and adults acting like idiots. Actually, they’re not acting.
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.” – Edward Bernays – Propaganda
Americans will spend a whopping $7.4 billion on Halloween products in 2014, according to the National Retail Federation. $2.8 billion will be spent on costumes, of which the animal, Batman character and witch are going to be the most popular. Americans are also planning on splashing out a whopping $350 million on costumes for their pets. Most pets you see walking the streets on Halloween night will be dressed as pumpkins, hot dogs and devils!
78 percent of people in the United States plan on dressing up this year, with 20 percent making costumes by themselves. In 2013, 158 million people celebrated Halloween in the US and this will rise to 162 million in 2014. Average expenditure will come to $87 for young adults compared to $77.52 in total. Nearly 47 percent are going to decorate their home or yard while 33.4 percent will throw or attend a party. 77.1 percent of Americans plan to hand out candy to trick or treaters.
You will find more statistics at Statista
My daughter was in the Adams Family play at school last night. My wife and I dressed up as banksters.
Well, that only comes to about $24 per person …. about $100 for a family of four. Not every single dollar that comes into a household needs to be spent wisely. C’mon, let’s allow for a little frivolity. Life is short.
We spent about $40 on candy …. pumpkin popcorn balls (they were a big hit!), Almond Joy, Kit Cat, and 3 Musketeers …….. the latter 3 were individual wrapped pieces … I put one each in a Halloween “spooky” napkin with ghost pictures, and tied it together with orange and black ribbons. I called it pretty good this year having only a few packets left over.
I turned out the lights in the house, leaving only the front porch light on — indicating we have candy. Kids ring doorbell …. I quietly sneak up to the door …. and then rip it open and yell at the top of my lungs, “AAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!”. It scares the living shit out of them …. most scream with real fright …. only had one little girl cry this year …. and one boy left the house running for his life screaming “Mommy!!!”, he never came back …… and ALL the parents laugh their asses off, no complaints whatsoever. In fact two groups CAME BACK for a second helping of Stucky Fear!
I do this every year, so I’m surprised it has any effect since 95% of the trick-or-treaters are from the immediate neighborhood. I have fun. The kids have fun. The parents have fun. All for $40 … and well worth it.
I don’t celebrate pagan holidays. The masses have herd mentality and will go along with any trend the hidden hand puts forth as the “thing to do”. I spent $00.00 on candy and decorated zip. Global warming failed to kick in where I live and the temp was too much for the poor little kiddies.
Yeah …….. well, you can blame the IRISH!!!
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Trick-or-treat! How did Halloween happen to come to the U.S.?
As European immigrants came to America, they brought their Halloween customs with them. Because of the rigid Protestant belief systems of early New England, celebration of Halloween in Colonial times was extremely limited. It was much more common in Maryland and the Southern colonies.
As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups, as well as the American Indians, meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” public events to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds.
By the middle of the 19th century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.
In the second half of the 19th century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions fleeing IRELAND’S potato famine of 1846, helped popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally.
Taking from IRISH and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft.
At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day.
Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes.
Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of their efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the 20th century.
By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time.
By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Because of the high numbers of young children during the 1950s baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they more easily could be accommodated.
Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating also was revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. Families could help prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday.
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20091028/news/910279993?template=printpicart
Bea Lever says: I don’t celebrate pagan holidays.
How about easter and christmas?
Easter and Christmas are pagan holidays.
Just received this email from our School District:
This is an important message from the North Penn School District.
Towamencin Township Police have asked that we send an advisory to our parents concerning a report of dangerous candy received in Towamencin Township.
The Towamencin Township Police Department is currently investigating an incident
involving a razor blade found in a wrapped candy bar received while trick-or-treating in the area
of Woodlawn Drive and Walnut Lane in the township. While there were no injuries resulting
from this incident, the Towamencin Township Police Department is expressing concern for
others who may have received such a device. Residents are strongly encouraged to check all
items for foreign objects and report anything suspicious to police immediately. The Towamencin
Township Police Department is actively investigating this incident and encourages anyone with
information to call the police at 215-368-7606.
While this incident appears to be limited to the neighborhood listed above, we ask all parents and guardians to check for any foreign objects and report anything suspicious to police.
Thank you.
“we ask all parents and guardians to check for any foreign objects and report anything suspicious to police.”
Please, it is 2014, and we are enlightened Americans — let’s use the term “undocumented ingredients”.
$100 says this was a hoax, but I am sure the local SWAT will begin door-to-door searches nonetheless.
As a sign of the economy, not a block from where I live, there is this elderly couple. I had a run in with them a few winters back (I blocked their snow-blown sidewalk, and the old man demanded that I move my van–although I was only going to be parked there for a few min). I noticed haloween night they had a sign on their screen door that said “No Candy This Year Sorry :(”
Fuck you Yellen!
“The Towamencin Township Police Department is currently investigating an incident involving a razor blade found in a wrapped candy bar received while trick-or-treating in the area of Woodlawn Drive and Walnut Lane in the township.” ———- article posted by Admin
In one word: bullshit.
Once, Halloween was a community event. Kids ran around the neighborhood in the dark collecting homemade cookies and candy apples.
Then reports spread that people were putting razor blades in apples. Hospitals opened their doors offering to x-ray apples. Then reports went around that people were poisoning apples. And soon churches began to sponsor neighborhood Halloween parties so that kids wouldn’t have to go out in the dark.
Fact is, there has NEVER been a single instance of a razor blade in an apple. Figure about 40 million kids trick-or-treating and they each hit 25 houses …. over the last 30 years. That’s 30 BILLION homes visited without a single instance of a razor blade, or any other such nonsense.
There HAVE been two instances of poisoned apples given to kids at Halloween. In both cases it was a parent trying to kill their child and disguise the murder by pretending the poison came from Trick-or-Treating.
Unnecessary Fear.
Speaking of which ….. how ‘bout them haunted houses? Novelist Neil Gaimon says,
“Fear is a wonderful thing, in small doses. You ride the ghost train into the darkness, knowing that eventually the doors will open and you will step out into the daylight once again. It’s always reassuring to know that you’re still here, still safe. That nothing strange has happened, not really. It’s good to be a child again, for a little while, and to fear—not governments, not regulations, not infidelities or accountants or distant wars, but ghosts and such things that don’t exist, and even if they do, can do nothing to hurt us.”