Stomped to Death 2011

This post was originally posted on November 28, 2008 but seeing that it’s Black Friday and already we are hearing reports of shopping rage on this day dedicated to paying homage to the God of Consumption, it’s still timely. May you have a wonderful weekend and stay safe if you do have to shop!

Today is Black Friday, a day where folks seem to lose their collective minds all in the name of a bargain. I must confess I have never in almost 36 years on this planet ever went out to shop on Black Friday. I came from humble folks aka po folks so the day after Thanksgiving was spent watching TV and eating…nice simple shit. Even when I got grown and came into a few shekels of my own I have never felt compelled to go out and experience the madness, shit I hate crowds so today is just not my day.

Now I admit every few years I see something advertised that almost makes me wanna get up at midnight, but no I like to sleep too much to deal with crazed folks trying to catch bargains. That said, in recent years it seems Black Friday has disintegrated into madness which is the point of my post. It seems this morning a Wal-Mart clerk on Long Island was trampled to death by a pack of folks who were described as almost taking the hinges off the door. Now if this shit wasn’t real, I would be laughing.

What kind of society are we when the spirit of the holidays is summed up by how much useless shit we can buy? Seriously, I was reading about a woman today whose idea of scaled down living was buying a 33 inch telly on sale at Best Buy…damn, that says a lot about us and why we are collectively fucked financially as a nation.

Seems no one remembers living within their means, we are on a quest to consume even when it can kill us. On this Black Friday, my heart goes out to the family of the Wal-Mart worker whose life was lost because we as a society seem to have lost our common sense.

As for me, I am going out to the tree lighting my town will hold tonight, take in the lights and sounds, maybe slip by Starbucks for a delicious hot chocolate and then come home and finish getting my eat on.

3 thoughts on “Stomped to Death 2011”

  1. I admit it I love a good bargain, but you couldn’t pay me to shop on Black Friday. Frankly, I don’t get it. Fighting traffic, crowds, road rage over a parking spot all to save $20. I am spending today cleaning up the mess my Thanksgiving guests left me with. Why didn’t they help me last night? They were to busy going thru the Black Friday ads; they brought them with plus went thru mine making their lists and planning their strategies. One guest received a text from a friend around 9:15 p.m. His friend was 400th in line at Best Buy. He wanted the $200 Sharp T.V. The store didn’t open ’til Midnight he didn’t think he had much of a chance. He would have been better off staying home helping mom with the dishes.

    • Wow! I must admit I can’t even imagine sharing a meal with people and bringing ads along to pre-plan my shopping! Seems like we have lost our minds, I remember when the holidays were a time to people together, not a time we rush the actual experience to get to the stuff. Sorry you were left with the clean-up.

      I know I rant a great deal but like you I like shopping, just not on a day where things will be crazy. In most cases it’s been proven there are no real deals but people seem to miss that point.

Comments are closed.