Nov
30
The new meaning of Black Friday
Sun, 11/30/2008 - 14:01
You probably heard: a worker at Wal-Mart was trampled to death (and others injured) during a mad rush on the store because of sales this Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Apparently, two thousand people were willing to wait in line for hours, and rush the store entrance at 5:00 am to get the best deals on plasma screen TVs and Nintendo Wiis.
I've been trying, ever since I heard about it, to wrap my mind around it. To understand why people are desperate enough for consumer goods that they are willing to not only wait hours in line, but trample people along the way.
Of course, I live a privileged life, comparatively. I may be losing my health insurance, but what is true is that the $200 price differential between a plasma screen TV last week, and the sale price this week isn't enough to break the bank (although it begs the question - if it is enough, should one be buying that thing in the first place?) I also don't have children or a partner who expect things for Christmas, so I have absolutely no externally imposed holiday shopping stress.
Given the deepening economic crisis, and impending collapse of our unsustainable system, I think maybe this should provide an object lesson to us. Is anything that anyone obtained on Black Friday worth even one death (or one injury)? Buy Nothing Day is, at least, one way to make sure you don't get hurt while out shopping on Black Friday. But perhaps it will be a way to move us from the unsustainable path that we've been on, to one that is more sustainable for the future.
I'm celebrating "Buy Nothing Christmas" - a relatively new tradition that I will continue from now, forward. I try not to buy anything except food and necessities between now and Christmas, and I'll be donating livestock from the Heifer Project in honor of family members, and creating a cool mix tape for friends. I want to celebrate Jesus' birthday (yes, yes, I know it's not really his birthday, but that's for another post) in a way that he might appreciate, not in a way that I can be sure he would distain.
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We decided to forgo family gift giving this year as well. Not only did it cut down on the stress of shopping, but it also made for an environment more condusive to conversation. Christmas morning became peaceful and more genuine. We loved the idea and plan to continue next year!
I made a pact with all friends years ago --we take each other off our stress list by NOT buying Christmas gifts for each other. We know we love each other and don't need a gift to prove it. Birthdays, we can gift -- Christmas, no thank you. I give Heifer gifts when I need to give a business Christmas gift. I celebrate the old Polish Christmas Eve Wigilia traditions and meal, which is very serene and dear to me. I'll have friends in for that. Christmas for me is all about the nativity and about peace.
like the idea that Buy Nothing Day can move from a stand against consumerism, generally, to a day of mourning the deaths that consumerism begets.
I recently went to a 'revival' of Rev. Billy. Nice choir and message.
http://www.revbilly.com/
He is certainly in agreement about the tragedy of the Walmart in my state.
Hi Aldon,
I like the idea of Green Friday, it certainly is a much better idea than Black Friday. And I love the idea of buying locally. But how do you buy things to help reduce consumption? I'm not clear how that works. How about not buying things to reduce consumption?
I wrote a similar post about Black Friday and Buy Nothing Day Friday morning, before I heard about the Walmart and Toy-R-Us fiascoes. However, I'm taking a slightly different position. I'm pushing for Green Friday. We've been buying as many things locally produced as possible. We've been buying as many things that help us reduce our consumption as possible. Perhaps most importantly, both of these ideas and more help us to get a little bit better connected to our communities, so we are less likely to trample someone on the way to some questionable bargain.
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