Former sociology lecturer James Christie, twisting the words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, once quipped that humans are born free, but are everywhere in chain stores.
He might have added that some humans feel like resorting to chain saws — in order to carve a path through the crowds clogging the craw of December shopping malls.
Even worse are the commercialised carols that cheerily commemorate — as if you hadn’t noticed — that it’s the time of year to gawk and grab the merry merchandise on offer.
The mall melodies are the kind of clichÃ