Black Friday
Published November 28, 2008 | 
And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds
Of what was everything.
Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything…
-pearl jam
I don’t know about you, but for me “Black Friday” is not a name that comes with positive connotations. I mean, when the market crashed in 1987 it was called “Black Monday” after all. The crash of 1929 was “Black Thursday”. Then of course there was the Black Plague in which took out between 30% to 60% of the population of Europe in the late 1300s.
These days the idea is that on Black Friday we’re all supposed to get up at 2am and rush to the shops to get great deals on gifts of Christmas. I’m sure there’s something a bit black in the idea of masses of people making a celebration of rushing and crushing each other to buy trinkets. Not to mention that this extreme episode of product gluttony takes place the day after Thanksgiving. I suppose it’s a bit of a ying & yang thing.
Of course the point of Black Friday is that this is the day when retailers supposedly get their books out of the red and back into the black for the year. Even that’s a bit iffy this year.
Well, if you’re going out shopping today, have fun and be nice to one another. For my part, I think I’ll go for a hike.
Update: Quickly enough this morning I can add a story like this. Worker Dies At Wal-Mart.
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2 Responses to Black Friday
Interesting that the Black plague has left us with so little in the way of modern after-affects given how horrendous it must have been. When you think that close to 90% of indigenous Americans perished through disease following Columbus’s arrival here, it’s amazing to think we’re here – and shopping – at all!
If it wasn’t snowing, I’d go paddling as well… A plague on shopping!
I’m either staying home or coming to Baraboo, but I am definitely avoiding the shops. I am not sure if I should stop somewhere for coffee!
I heard there was a Wal-Mart employee who was trampled to death today. It’s amazing how people can get so crazy over a few dollars off some stupid toy. I’ll get the toy tomorrow, thanks!