I defended Black Friday

[phantom power]

I defended Black Friday (albeit in a tongue-in-cheek, pro-environment, pro-local business way) for a couple of reasons. One is that I'm not buying the sanctimonious anti-materialism that crops up in some sectors of the left in response to the holiday. It's liberal reactionary politics, in my opinion, and driven as much by a shuddering distaste for the aesthetics of the day as any genuinely thoughtful point of view. Plus, events like Buy Nothing Day make "materialism" a matter of personal moral worth and actually distract from larger, collective actions regarding our economy and the environment. (I suspect most participants still buy stuff for their friends and family, just on Saturday.) As a moral value, anti-materialism reeks of puritanism, because it brackets off certain pleasures as base and animalistic and therefore suggests we should be better than that. The parallels between leftists scolding me about how I don't know what I reallly want and need in terms of material goods and conservatives scolding me about how I don't really know what I want and need with regards to sex are just too uncomfortable for me. Plus, declaiming the pleasure of having a nifty new toy makes it a matter of individual worth, making it a culture war issue, allowing wingnuts to pretend they're defending the basic right to feel pleasure against nanny state liberals. There's multiple levels of irony there, but it's something to consider before you create more grist for their mill.

Plus, I just really don't like how most liberal commentators I see who address Black Friday sneer at people who try really hard to get the advertised deals, ascribing that behavior to madness and sheeplike conformity. Another possibility that I might offer, though it may burst your bubble, is that it's a lot of people who struggle to get by. The advertised deals may look like their one shot to get the cool new toy that others may take for granted. If you're not making a lot of money and Wal-Mart is advertising some really cheap game or toy or gadget to get your kid that will make up for a year's worth of not having the cash on hand to take her to the movies or amusement parks, I'm not going to judge you. I feel uneasy with any rhetoric that slides too close to wingnuts foaming at the mouth because they discovered that poor people have color TVs. In fact, the economic desperation of the times being what it is, the increasing frenzy around bargain goods was entirely predictable, as was the growth in at-home alcohol sales after the crash. People do not live on bread alone, and when times are tight, they look for ways to feel entertained and pleased that are more affordable.

http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/pepper_spray_for_your_convenience

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. It's consumerist bullshit BUT

for someone trying to stretch a dollar it may be their best chance.

[get the red out]

2. Sad

I just think it's sad that our economy is based on "black Friday" to keep the retail jobs going since we don't actually make any products anymore.

I also can't stand the media circus surrounding it. Shopping for sales the day after Thanksgiving is one thing, propagandizing it into being some kind of patriotic duty to do so is another.

[phantom power]

4. I think Black Friday represents one of those intersections of multiple trends

One obvious trend is consumerism improperly raised on a cultural pedestal (which is where the anti-black-friday movements are trying to exert their lever). Another is the decay of manufacturing in America, where retail and consumption in various forms are increasingly all we have left. Yet another is our ongoing Depression 2.0, where these kinds of sales increasingly represent a family's opportunity to afford anything at all. Yet another is this increasingly-creepy trend of violence in the service of personal convenience. Like some kind of zeitgeist of unleashed id.

It's one of those tricky things where issues are all related, but also not completely coupled either, and so it makes it hard to talk about. Different people will perceive various issues as being either more or less correlated, which causes people to talk past each other even though they are likely to agree on all basic points.

[NYC_SKP]

3. It doesn't matter, our society is in a state of confusion, a malaise, been that way for decades.

It will probably take a plague, a major world war, outbreak of a major virus or disease, climatic catastrophe, a meteor, or some combination of these to knock us out of our self-destructive ways.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to educate young people and encourage sustainable practices and values.

Consumerism is at the top of my attack list.

X-boxes and big TVs don't make anyone happy, except for corporations.

In fact, they are largely used to put people in a deeper state of cluelessness.

:patriot:

[Lorien]

9. Yep. One of the quickest ways to de-stress one's life is to ditch television. nt

[freshwest]

15. I'm reccing your comment. And that kicks the thread.

[customerserviceguy]

5. It's sadistic

Making people jump through hoops to get a few bucks off of some non-necessity is just a way to give a chuckle to the one percenters who run these megabusinesses. It reinforces their feeling of power.

What if stores had employees work at 3 AM to offer dollar-off discounts on the first 10 gallons of milk, or loaves of bread? Would you see it as harmless fun, or would it take on a more evil twist to you?

[Bake]

6. Bingo!

And we, the sheep, jump through the hoops every year.

I'd like to see the stores EMPTY on Black Friday. Just once.

Bake

[and-justice-for-all]

7. I did my part too..

I did not buy jack shit.

[onenote]

8. I understand why we think its horrible that the repubs want the economy to fail

and for jobs to remain unfilled.

What I don't quite get is why so many here think that its bad for Americans to spend. How exactly do you think jobs are going to get created if there is no demand for products, no consumption, no going to stores?

[Lorien]

10. If you really want to help the economy you'll spend at a small mom and pop

store, or Etsy, Craig's list, eBay, a garage sale...you won't spend on Chinese made electronics at a big box store.

[onenote]

11. And, in fact, I did exactly that on Black Friday (or Record Store Day)

But that being said, the person who gets hired to be a salesperson or stockroom clerk at Best Buy or HH Gregg is as employed as the person working at the mom and pop store, and they both are selling the same Chinese made electronics.

(And buying used stuff at a garage sale may help the person holding the sale make ends meet for a short while, but it doesn't create a job for them).

[Modern_Matthew]

12. I don't defend mass hysteria over cheaply made junk... no matter what...

I, too, like a good deal, but I don't do brick and mortar. I do deal shopping online, where sometimes I can even get it tax free. Before you jump on that, I find sales tax to be regressive.

[dtexdem]

13. Being anti-materialist is one thing -- being anti-media-manipulation is another.

And America's biggest industry is manipulating the public into buying, whether it's products or politics.

[firehorse]

14. SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISANS, CRAFTERS, AND DESIGNERS and give back to your community

I'm not against spending money and buying gives for loved ones. But I am for spending smartly.