By Justin Muszynski
Black Friday has simply gotten out of hand and it needs to end. It’s the one day of the year where a supposedly civilized culture has the right to act like a pack of wild animals.
You hear stories every year over the holiday weekend about people being trampled or beaten for the sake of a TV that is on sale. I personally think the idea of Black Friday is great. People can purchase extravagant products that they can’t normally afford by simply getting up a little earlier. It helps cut down on the costs of our Christmas shopping making an expensive holiday that much more affordable. But we’ve taken it a few steps too far.
When people are being seriously injured or even worse, killed, you know something’s wrong. The fact that these activities are going on as a part of Thanksgiving is even more troublesome. Whether or not you agree with the history of Thanksgiving and the true story that it was founded on is irrelevant. Today, it is meant to be celebrated as a day when you spend time with your family, take the time to be thankful for all you have and remember those less fortunate.
The modern day Thanksgiving, however incorporates none of these principles. Instead, retailers are encouraging shopping to occur earlier and earlier. Many stores opened their doors Thanksgiving night this year. One would think this would deter buyers, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. People came in flocks to various retailers looking for Black Friday deals despite it only being Thursday.
When people act in this way they negate the entire idea of the holiday. It’s also oxymoronic. One day we’re thankful for all that we have and the next we’re trampling over people to get our hands on all the goodies that we can as if we were fighting for our own survival.
And despite the efforts by the police, they can only do so much to keep shoppers safe. In the end it’s up to us to decide if we want to continue this ridiculous path that we’re headed down. It wasn’t long ago that Black Friday only called for you to wake up a few hours before the store opened at 8:00 am. In the last five years or so people have made a spectacle of it.
They line up prepared with tents and grills as if it were a tailgating party. Some have gone as far as to bring a generator and a heater. I have no problem with people who look to make a party of something as trivial as shopping, but it just contributes to the madness that goes on once the doors open.
The weird thing is that this has happened right around the same time that online shopping has exploded. One would think that this would deter people from physically going to the stores, but it has seemingly had no effect whatsoever.
What’s sickening is that there are people in other countries starving to death and they act more civilized than Americans do on Black Friday. This says a lot about America as a whole and the level at which we are spoiled.