Black Friday--shop till you drop

[Lightning Rod]

It's Black Friday, the day that retailers wait for all year long, the busiest shopping day of the holiday season. As I write thousands of early Christmas shoppers are climbing up each other's backs to reach the bargain rack, and fender benders are happening in the parking lot of every mall across this great nation. It's a madhouse.

This piece of American culture completely evades me. Why would anybody want to subject themselves to this commercial frenzy and endure long lines and heavy crowds in order to spend their money on useless imported items? It's just beyond me.

Of course shopping in general on any day of the year rates on my list of favorite things to do, somewhere midway in between root canals and prostate exams.

That's why I am blessed to have a teen-aged cultural consultant. She turns thirteen tomorrow, She has a pocketful of birthday money and she went to the mall today, on Black Friday. Better her than me. I'd rather hear about it than endure it.

Happy Shopping.

[mnaz]

oh, the humanity...


the ritual obsession to buy even more stuff,
because, well... just because...

I don't get it, either. So sue me.

[Lightning Rod]

mnaz,

your blessing is that you are 'in motion'

you don't want to worry with dragging possessions around

so, like me, you don't understand the value of possessions

I think we are both blessed by our ingnorance.

[mnaz]

'In motion', over complete stasis... yeah. gotta stay with it.


I can't say that I don't have any valued possessions, nor that I will never desire certain of them. But I count among my valued possessions the fact that I don't have too many of them. A little goes a long way, surprisingly.

[mtmynd]

What is this anti-capitalist drivel I see being spilled between you two guys?!?!? Santa can't make everything, for Christ-ma-sake! Chinese are small, short, elf-like like and despite the slanted eyes, they do a bang up job of making the shit that we American's love to pass on to our loved ones, plus they make the Communist government even more powerful! A match made in Capitalist Heaven!

I bought a new stainless steel 10" frying pan from Amazon Tuesday and got it today! It was a substiture for a teflon coated piece of shit that wore out in only 2 years!! How much of our consumption is merely replacement for poorly made goods in the first place?

[hester_prynne]

Like I said in a post below, the whole thing is insulting. Caught some guy on tv today declaring it "No buy day today". Consoled me a little.

I wish they had an event for consumers, to get us out of the red and into the black!
Heh.

Even when I had tons of money to spend, I never liked doing the Christmas Deeds until a few days before the day.

Now it just adds to the panic of not having enough.......! People are shopping and I'm worrying about keeping a roof over my and my daughter's heads despite working my ass off!
And I wasn't anywhere near the Katrina Hurricane!
Go figure!
LOL!
H

[e_dog]

this just in:

holiday shopper mugged by assailant who took her brand new XBox.

mugging sponsored by: Xbox advertising team.