Err, is there even a disagreement going on here? I don't think anybody is arguing that people in some lesser developed nations are struggling to survive, and that most in the western world have it much easier. I haven't seen anyone disputing either of these points... I'm also a little high and a little drunk, so what do I know?
holy shite people really want their crap and i'm just chillen here with stuff i've had for years and years now.
Black Friday should be turned into a sport or competition. Call it BARGAINDOME. We lock two bargain hunters inside a WalMart, Best Buy, or Toys-R-Us. Throw in some weapons like sledgehammers, maces, and chainsaws. An announcer on the loudspeaker says "We know you won't break the rules, because there aren't any". The spectators gather around the store windows chanting... "Two shoppers enter, one shopper leaves Two shoppers enter, one shopper leaves"... The winner gets all the best deals.
Its already been proven that the deals on black friday are no different than any other time. Its all marketing broooooo.
Exactly. "I'm hungry" has a whole different meaning to Americans than it does to millions of other people in the world. My late father was a young man during the Great Depression. Him, along with my aunt and uncle lived in an apartment. My aunt stayed in the apartment baking all day, and my dad and uncle sold the baked goods on the street corners. THERE WERE NO OPTIONS for them. No welfare, no food stamps, no subsidies for anything. You were on your own, and nobody cried about it. You just did what you had to do to survive. They didn't even have a radio. Kids today cannot even relate to any of that.
I see it as similar to the Roman Empire during its last days. From Wiki: "Bread and circuses" (or bread and games) (from Latin: panem et circenses) is a metaphor for a superficial means of appeasement. In the case of politics, the phrase is used to describe the creation of public approval, not through exemplary or excellent public service or public policy, but through diversion; distraction; or the mere satisfaction of the immediate, shallow requirements of a populace,<sup>[1]</sup> as an offered "palliative." Juvenal decried it as a simplistic motivation of common people.<sup>[2]</sup><sup>[3]</sup><sup>[4]</sup> The phrase also implies the erosion or ignorance of civic duty amongst the concerns of the common man. Rest of article
I wish that was the case. Truth is, people end up spending the same amount of money buying more shit. Very few people buy stuff on sale and then don't buy more stuff to use up their disposable income.
Another "only in America": The relatively new invention (they didn't exist 30 or so years ago) of building and renting out storage cubicles so Americans have some place to store their "stuff." Their basements, garages, attics are stuffed with junk so they take some of their excess disposable income and rent space to store their junk. Houses are 50-100% larger today -- with no more occupants -- than when I was a kid. Yet there still isn't enough room for our (mostly worthless) material possessions.
Maybe on average. My house is fucking empty. My bedroom has: 1 foam mattress pad on the floor. 1 fitted sheet, 1 top sheet, 1 blanket. 4 books. 1 overhead light, 1 lamp sitting on the floor. That's literally every possession I keep in that room. The weirder thing than consumerism is people getting on the internet using their consumerist-pleasure toys to bash consumerism. Huh? I mean, you can tell from my statement that I'm hardly into collecting worthless shit around myself. But still, I'm a fucking hypocrite if I come on the internet and say "consumerism sucks" (and I do say that, and I am a hypocrite for it) because what the hell am I even using to type about it? Where to draw the line? Maybe consumerism is fine and people suck.
7 Black Friday deaths since 2006 and that's a sign that this country is fucked? If anything, that's more inspiring.. I would of figured it to be a lot more than an average of one person a year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25150109 its not just the US theres nothing wrong with living in the USA i wouldn't trade it for the world ! yeah theres crazy citizens here - bah they are everywhere... now ya wanna talk govt thats a whole other can of moldy beans
The site seems a little skewed. I don't think you can really count car crashes as deaths due to black Friday and 3 were attributed to that. One was a heart attack that no one noticed and 2 more were shootings (which I'll hesitantly count). That means that in reality there's been 3 deaths in 3-5 years (I realize there's more articles for '08-'10, they just aren't shown). That's a lot less than I'd have thought...
yeah i agree on both for the number of insane fuckerz out there shopping i thought it'd be more as well... as far as what they count that does seem a bit suspect but whatever...
You do you, Black Friday shoppers. If that's your idea of a thrill, who are we to stop you? I just think it's fucked up that people are willing to batter and fight other people for something as trivial as a television set. And mere hours after partaking in a day designed to count your blessings and thank one another for all that you have. Speaks volumes of a culture, dunnit?