Today in work study my boss and I were discussing the problems with Black Friday. To us, Thanksgiving is the biggest family holiday of the year. Black Friday is beginning to encroach on Thanksgiving because the stores are opening earlier and earlier. Families start lining up early Thanksgiving day and even the day before.
As said before, I work at a movie theater that shares a parking garage with Target and these fools were lined up since Wednesday. Bringing the family to Target doesn't make Thanksgiving a family holiday. It was fun to wake up at 5 AM to get to department stores for 6 AM but now the stores open at 3AM and some even at midnight.
Also children have no place dealing with the insanity of Black Friday sales. Leave them at home, asleep. Then to hear of a woman using mace on people who get in her way of shopping is ridiculous. Children do not need to be in that kind of environment.
Is this the environment that we created for Christmas? Angry woman harming others to buy a flat screen TV for half off? Really? Honestly I would rather get a card with a hand written note in it than a PS3 that my mom had to beat up some dude to get.
I have never actually gone Black Friday shopping, but I totally agree with you Samantha that Christmas is definitely infringing upon Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteI know this because my Dad has been the owner of a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm for 20 years of my life, plus some. (Note: Choose-and-cut is exactly what it sounds like, my Dad grows the trees and the customers choose which tree they want to be cut down). We even get business on Thanksgiving day! But we close early on that day, so we still get our dinner time.
It seems that Thanksgiving is what Christmas should be-- that being a self-less holiday in which family and friends get together to enjoy each others company. Don't get me wrong, families DO spend time together on Christmas, but look at all the build up towards Christmas! The fact that at least one person seems to die nearly each year during a Black Friday sale is absolutely unacceptable-- and for presents no less!
The most disgusting part of it all is how Black Friday sales are advertised on television as if everyone is happy. Sure, that's the way to sell a brand, but it's revolting how falsely the advertisements portray it all.
Isn't Black Friday just a mirror for our version of capitalism--who cares as long as I get mine!
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that people shouldn't have the right to shop for less on Black Friday; I'm just stating that because the shops are opening earlier and earlier it infringes on family time. As long as family comes first, if you are crazy enough to shop, go right ahead. Just don't mase anyone.
ReplyDeleteBUY BUY BUY! This is our new competition: who can buy most successfully. Just as in the animal kingdom it's about who can hunt, eat, provide, and reproduce successfully. In a capitalist consumer age, it has evolved into getting the best price on a flat screen at Best Buy. Advertisements and irresistible deals have led these people to employ their animal instincts in a warped capitalistic environment.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of anything good to say about Black Friday. It is becoming another 'holiday' based purely on consumerism. This year a Wal-Mart employee in Long Island was trampled by the shoppers and actually died of asphyxiation. No one stopped to help this guy. What's happening to people? We'll pepper spray and trample people to save a few dollars. How do people not realize how crazy this is?
ReplyDeleteI never understood Black Friday. My local news at home had a segment where a woman and her family where camping outside of Best Buy since Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Then I hear the stories about people dying. Families have to grieve on Thanksgiving because people were too damn greedy to help a person out. It scares me how many people get trampled and killed. Have people really gone this low? Are they completely oblivious to anything besides shopping? I wonder how the people feel after someone is killed because they stepped all over them.
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