Every year since I was a teenager, my mom has asked what I wanted for Christmas. After all, my reasoning doesn’t seem to require us to engage in, say, the Socratic method. Maybe the pressure to buy Christmas gifts for anyone is a farce, a scheme created by capitalism to get us to spend, spend, spend on things we don’t want or need. They accept whatever bad (based on how little they use them) gifts I buy for them. But I’m tired of participating in a capitalistic sham, and I’m tired of giving Christmas gifts my family and friends don’t want.

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