Well, howdy there, internet people it spell again. So today, we're going to talk about a

Christmas carol and why it resonates. I've mentioned a few times that with some of our modern

politicians, that Dickens himself couldn't write characters like this and have them be believed.

That's led to some questions about one of his most famous works, a Christmas Carol. Every December

this story comes back around. It gets adapted, quoted, parodied, turned into cartoons, musicals, and stage plays.

And because it's everywhere, it's easy to miss what it's actually about.

It's like listening to one of those pop songs you grew up with and finally understanding the lyrics.

A Christmas Carol isn't a feel-good holiday tale.

It's a moral argument, and it's sharper than people remember.

When Charles Dickens wrote it in 1843, he wasn't trying to create a cozy Christmas tradition.

He was mad, furious really. Furious about poverty and

industrial England. Furious about how the poor were treated as statistics instead of people.

And furious about how comfortably the wealthy explained that suffering away. So, he wrote a ghost story, because fiction is

sometimes the only way to get people to listen to the truth. One of the most important things

to understand about Ebenezer Scrooge is that he isn't some cartoon villain, enjoying cruelty for its own sake. He has a very

tidy moral framework that just so happens to allow him to feel virtuous. He reflects the

ideas of the rich at the time and believes he's earned what he has.

He believes poverty is the result of personal failure.

He believes charity interferes with the natural order of things.

And when asked to help others, he responds within that logical framework.

That's what makes him dangerous.

He's not a monster.

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