Start this off by saying, I’ve never read A Christmas Carol. I’ve seen the old Disney cartoon from the 80s with like .. Goofy as one of the ghosts. And like, I’m familiar with the trope or whatever, right? So, I watched the Muppets version last night and like… I don’t think Mr. Scrooge, in this version, is as bad as everyone makes him out to be.

He was gonna make everyone work on Christmas, but he was coming in too. Do any of y’all have a boss like that, in the trenches with you? I’ve had literally dozens of jobs over the past 20 years and I don’t think I ever have.

He had money, but he wasn’t like .. super flashy. He wasn’t some billionaire CEO, asking for a bridge to be disassembled to accommodate his mega yacht, while employees can’t afford their mortgage.

I chatted with the BF, who has read the source material, and he did somewhat confirm that Scrooge was a miser, a penny pincher. You remember the extreme couponers on TLC, or the people who use one square of toilet paper? He’s like that, right?

Does that make him a villain? In some crunchy, eco friendly communities, he might be heralded. Instead of turning the heat up, yeah, go and put on a sweater.

In today’s crazy economy, Scrooge would be unaffected, I feel. So like… Do we need to make him feel bad for those choices?

The Muppets show him being at school, not going home for the holiday, so probably a rocky family situation, focusing on learning and being the best and excelling academically, so he could do so professionally and like… yes, maybe he put money (which is a huge component of stability) over personal relationships, but maybe he felt that is what he needed to bring to the table and wanted to ensure he was good, before getting hitched or whatever. Like.. is he worse than someone who is super flakey and scattered with a shit credit score, buying a house they can’t afford?

I get generosity is good but if Scrooge was a single parent, we would applaud his spend-thriftiness. Just because he’s a single dude, he has to be a gregarious spender? I get he was all .. bah humbug, but maybe that’s because he had financial goals and the holidays can make it really, really hard to stick to those.

I think maybe the modern day equivalent would be maybe someone who prioritizes social media clout above all else. Having all the money and doing nothing with it is just as empty as having a million followers, but no true friends. Even going with this comparison though, are clout chasers bad? They are maybe misguided, and maybe compensating. But like… I don’t know.

I’m not saying be Scroogey. But if people aren’t feeling it, if people aren’t doling out gifts, if people wanna bah humbug the whole thing like… maybe they just have different goals and different backgrounds and maybe they just aren’t vibing, which isn’t villainous, in my opinion.