America’s holidays go hand in hand with capitalism. Once October comes around the corner, stores are chockfull with Christmas decorations leading people to believe Thanksgiving already passed. However, as people are enjoying Thanksgiving meals alongside friends and family, they are simultaneously bombarded with countless advertisements for Black Friday on the TV. Commercials present what appears to be a day of madness where stores open at bizarre hours since deals are supposedly second to none.
Wal-Mart for instance opens at 4am here in Houston, and I am sure there will be a vast amount of people dying to get inside and snatch the offers. I remember last year, when my family drove around Best Buy out of curiosity. Needles to say we were in shock. It was only 10pm, the line outside the store was massive, and people had brought tents in order to camp out for the following morning. My opinion is quite simple: I don’t see the need to camp out in front of a store only to save some cash. For all of those thrifty buyers out there—I applaud your efforts, but think you are partially insane. What is sad about this is how materialism outweighs the holiday spirit. People are so caught up with getting a bargain that they easily forget what the holidays are truly about.
I agree with you. On black Friday, materialism outweighs the holiday spirit. Thanksgiving is the time of the year when people should be spending quality time with their family and friends, but instead most people decide to stand in a line and wait there for 10 hours.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that shocked me about black Friday shoppers is the loss of humanity. The shoppers are so caught up in buying their favorite products that they do not care if they trample over a person. I recently saw a video on TV, where a man was almost crushed to death when a store opened early and all the shoppers ran instead. The crowd simply jumped over the man, and not one shopper tried to help him or stop the crowd from jumping on him. The man would have probably died if the security did not step in.
This is truly a debatable question: Does all this Black Friday hype mean some Americans have sold out to crass materialism? Or perhaps they are people who are unemployed or laid off and want to get the best price on some electronic gadget their kid wants for Christmas. We could blame the stores for encouraging the buying frenzy by opening at 4:00 AM, but in this economy, they want the income. That's why it's Black Friday, right, to get businesses into the profit column. I was more in agreement with you, Kevin, until I read Alexius's post on this topic (which I see you commented on), but then I started to see some other sides to the story.
ReplyDeleteKevin, I think you bring up a really good point, but what about the families that are tight on money? On Black Friday, the few dollars the parents are able to save here and there can help go towards another present. Though for some people, it's not worth the hassle, for others it truly is. Though Black Friday may represent the material aspect of the holidays, I think it is a wonderful way to jump start the celebration. After all, the Black Friday stories always make for a good laugh over your holiday meals.
ReplyDeleteMy family doesn't have much money and Black Friday is really the only time where we can afford gifts for others. It's not about being materialistic. It's about making the most of that dollar. A day like Black Friday can truly only be appreciated by people who don't have much to begin with. My little cousin will have a happy Christmas because my family cared enough to stand outside of a store and wait anxiously for sales.
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