Is Black Friday Really Like This?
Mollie Hemingway, Ed. ·
Nov 25, 2011 at 6:44am
I used to be a world-class shopper. During a previous career and at a time when I had a differing set of priorities. Now, I'm an embarrassment to my sex. I can't stomach the idea of fighting with people on the day after Thanksgiving (the first day in the war on Advent, by my lights) for something called "door busters."
Twenty people, including children, were injured when a woman at a San Fernando Valley Walmart store used mace against other customers in what authorities referred to as a "competitive shopping" incident.
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Feb '11
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
No, Black Friday isn’t like this. Most people are friendly. Very few would shop if they thought they might be maced.
And there isn’t a war on Advent, either. America generally follows a low-church calendar. That’s the tradition. Thanksgiving-to-Christmas marks an important period in a low-church calendars. If we wanted to make it follow the western liturgical season, we’d be the aggressors in the culture war. But it would be a pain in the neck for everyone, unless we changed the gift-giving date to Epiphany. Then we could all be as solemn as we wanted during Advent & go out shopping during Christmastide.
Edited on Nov 25, 2011 at 7:03amApr '11
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
Arresting the perpetrator for assault seems like a logical solution and might work as a deterrent to others.
Jul '10
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
"He clamed Wamart for failing in crowd control:"
Of course someone would blame Wal-Mart.
"I don't care. I'm still getting my TV,"
Of course yer still getting yer tv.
(cbsnews needs an editor)
Jun '10
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
I happened to walk through a Walmart early Thanksgiving morning. Every aisle was filled with pallets (each with a different item). Each pallet had a sign that said, "The items on this pallet will not scan until 11:01 PM [or 10:30 PM or 11:31 PM]."
I can only imagine the carnage and ill will that ensued.
I'm an avid capitalist, we can we count this as a sign of cultural decline?
Edited on Nov 25, 2011 at 7:03amFeb '11
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
Jimmy Carter: "He clamed Wamart for failing in crowd control:"
Of course someone would blame Wal-Mart.
Who else should be responsible for the general safety and security of Wal-Mart’s customers?
Nov '11
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
At the risk of sounding like some kinda lefty anti-capitalist fluff-head, the Black Friday phenomenon strikes me as having become excessive--dare I say--too materialistic, consumeristic, too trivializing of human experience.
On the other hand, I like nice stuff and have a slight case of gadgetitus, which compels me to acquire cutting edge electronic devices, hand tools, and Ronco items. I feel almost patriotic when purchasing a large piece of durable goods, feeling blessed in these tough economic times still to be able to "contribute" to the recovery by making substantial expenditures at the consumer level. Because I know the economy needs my spending, I'm consciously trying to avoid the "hunker down, cut household expenses, and save" mentality that it seems everyone else has adopted. The women in my family have spent many joyful hours shopping together while we men renew our bonds in front of the TV watching football. Not terribly original or interesting, but it works pretty good for us.
Yet, I do worry that there's no longer a sufficient counterweight to materialism, consumerism, in the American polity. Do we still count our blessings? Do we even realize how blessed we still are?
Jul '10
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
SMatthewStolte
Who else should be responsible for the general safety and security of Wal-Mart’s customers? · Nov 25 at 7:05am
Themselves? Or is personal responsibility too much to ask for today?
Feb '11
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
The following conditions seem sufficient to justify marking it as a sign of cultural decline:
(i) Today’s culture is responsible for the macing;
(ii) Yesterday’s culture would not have been responsible for the macing (e.g., it wouldn’t have ‘produced’ a customer who would mace other customers); &
(iii) There aren’t other overriding factors.
I reject (i) and think (ii) would be irrelevant.
But those are only sufficient conditions. They aren’t necessary (as far as I can tell). Perhaps you can think of some other reason to justify the claim that this is a sign of cultural decline.
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
I have to admit that one of the unexpected benefits of following the traditional Christian church year is that when I begin my shopping after Christmas, things are so inexpensive. We give our kids gifts throughout the 12 days of Christmas and are able to do this because of the low prices.
Not a pain in the neck at all!
May '11
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
I heard from a few friends who chose to be out in that madness last night that there were several separate fights at various stores around here. There is no monetary savings great enough to coerce me to enter that fray of idiocy.
Aug '10
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
I'm surprised that nobody has accused "Black Friday" of racism.
May '11
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
Was the woman the wife of the cop at UC Davis?
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
You may be interested in the book "The Sacred Santa: The Religious Dimensions of Consumer Culture" by Dell De Chant. He argues that our country is as religious as ever, but that the new religion is consumerism. Today is truly the most important day in that religion. Will we appease the gods by buying enough? Watch how the nightly news portrays the day's sales -- it's just like an offering to a god. Our whole fate for the year is wrapped up in today's sales. Our new cathedrals are the malls. The priests are the shopkeepers. Some of the devoted get carried away, sure, but in a way it only serves to prove how important this day is.
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
And a few quotes from The Sacred Santa:
"'The Sacred Santa' is based on the contention that Christmas has not lost its religious significance, only its CHRISTIAN religious significance... Rather than a desacralized holy day or purely secular one, in this book I propose an understanding of Christmas that sees it as not only decidedly religious but perhaps the best example of religiosity in our culture." (Pg. 2-3)
"The substance of this argument, then, is that the culture we increasingly understand as POSTmodern, while certainly antithetical to the modern, may not be such a novel cultural system after all. Our culture may actually be quite PREmodern and have more in common with the grand imperial cultures of late intiquity than any seen in the West since the advent of Christianity. To overlook this possibility may overstate the extent to which Christianity still functions as a viable religion and understate the sacredness of our seemingly secular world." (Pg. 6)
Aug '10
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
Meanwhile, it simply seems strange that stores would discount their goods BEFORE Christmas. Christmas is the prime shopping time, so shouldn't prices be HIGHER in the weeks leading up to the big day?
Feb '11
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
Mollie, I meant it would be a pain in the neck if we didn't change the gift-giving date. It may also be worth clarifying that I wasn't saying that doing this on our own would make us aggressors in the culture war.
J Carter, I'm talking about the general safety & security of the customers, not the safety of each customer taken individually. Any public or private police force has responsibility for the former, for instance.
Edited on Nov 25, 2011 at 9:03amNov '11
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.: And a few quotes from The Sacred Santa:
"'The Sacred Santa' is based on the contention that Christmas has not lost its religious significance, only its CHRISTIAN religious significance... Rather than a desacralized holy day or purely secular one, . . . an understanding of Christmas . . . as not only decidedly religious but perhaps the best example of religiosity in our culture." (Pg. 2-3)
Nov 25 at 7:43am
Yes, considering what "poor" meant to my father (a swamp indian who, as a child, often did go around hungry and barefoot and who knew nothing of indoor plumbing) compared to what "poor" means nowadays, considering how much Christianity meant to him compared to what it means to us younger folk, one thinks there very little true poverty of materials things, but a growing poverty of spirit.
Whether or not carried out religiously, shopping can't fill that void.
Feb '11
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
I had to read Sacred Santa in seminary. I’m sure that a good sales season can’t bring eternal salvation to anyone. But I remain completely unconvinced that our ‘culture’ treats it like it should.
You can look at the way people treat Christmas shopping as if it were idolatrous. But it doesn’t follow from this that it is idolatrous. Likewise, I can stand on the 42nd floor and look at people as if they were mindless ants. It doesn’t follow that people are mindless ants.
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
SMatthewStolte:
You can look at the way people treat Christmas shopping as if it were idolatrous. But it doesn’t follow from this that it is idolatrous. Likewise, I can stand on the 42nd floor and look at people as if they were mindless ants. It doesn’t follow that people are mindless ants. · Nov 25 at 9:11am
Agreed. I do think that some people treat the Christmas shopping season as a sacred, holy time. But some people are just shopping. I do think it's helpful to think about how we treat this time.
Dec '10
Re: Is Black Friday Really Like This?
Avoiding things like this is one of the benefits of being antisocial.