Must EVERYthing be a philosophical exercise?

That's one of the gripes non-Randroids have about Objectivists -- that everything, from choice of music to paint color to the decision whether or not to support school fundraisers is viewed through a philosophical lens. Objectivists, and indeed honest followers of ANY philosophy, before making any decision, tend to stop and ask themselves "Is this consistent with my moral values and my sense of life?"

Outsiders, especially those on the Left, who view ideology as a negative, are often frustrated by this and wonder, sometimes aloud, if it's really necessary.

It's called consistency. And yes, it is.

The half-year or so I spent in Houston began with me apartment-sitting for an old friend as he attended Political Philosophy Camp in California. When he returned, he regaled me with tales of the Vagaries of the Inconsistent. In one of these tales, the camp had attended a Lukas Foss concert, in which Foss stole from Bach, ripped apart the piece, and put it back together with parts of, among other things, the theme from the Addams Family. In short, he was the Peter Keating of music. He made Frankenmusic. I've since listened to some of his work. Just awful. Literally makes me want to vomit.

Later, when asked at camp about the concert, my friend voiced his disdain for the music in just such terms, and he was interrupted by some chick (who, being at political philosophy camp, should have known better) who griped that with him, EVERYthing was a philosophical exercise.

When my friend told me this story, it finally crystallized in my mind that it is the uncompromising consistency that the Left hates, and that pragmatism is itself an ideology.

All of this is the lead-in to this article I found, a philosophical defense of Thanksgiving.

I, of course, refer to the day as Black Friday Eve. But that's more of a protest against the whole Stepfordness of the entire holiday season (you must have a merry Christmas or else! What's wrong with you?) than it is of Thanksgiving. I've just chosen to pick my own "un"- holidays -- Black Friday and Kwanzanalia (which begins with the winter solstice and ends with Jan. 1). Next year I may extend the unholiday season to include Samhain and Dia de los Muertos (the Day of The Dead.)

Those days fit better into my S.A.D. Black Friday, for instance, gives me an excuse to dress like a THE/DAN or a faggy goth kid and spook the Stepford shoppers. The question is, is there a place in my unholiday season for a day that celebrates both capitalism and the genocide of some of my ancestors?