I have an urge to write something about this Black Friday after seeing this article that has 3 videos of shoppers at a major grocery store in South Africa - http://www.thesouthafrican.com/watch-shoppers-break-down-checkers-door-for-black-friday-deals-video/
My first thoughts on this were, these people are either idiots, or desperate for a good deal. I have no real issue with Black Friday, and believe people should be able to do what the hell they want, but when the behaviour is similar to a drug addict looking for a good deal on a fix, and your actions and the actions of others collectively hurt or impact on fellow beings as it has in the article above, then I have a problem.
Black Friday is not a South African thing. It is a poisonous American thing that has reached our minds. It took a while. I remember last year there were one or two incidents, but I don't ever recall a situation like in the article I am referencing. Along with Halloween, Guy Fawkes, and other days are have zero relevance to South Africans, marketers have managed to plant the seeds into our people and nurtured the environment in such a way that this kind of reaction was always on the cards.
Let us get this straight, Black Friday is purely a marketing gimmick aimed at perpetuating the consumerism behaviour that drives a fundamentally flawed system, and the timing of it is classic. In America, it falls the day after Thanksgiving. Anyone see the irony? As the image describes, all you have to do it explain the concept to someone who hasn't been infected, and they will see it clearly. No retailer markets Black Friday because they care or love you.
The issue is not the day of course. The real issue is that these people have this incredible desire on a day like today to get a good deal on items they may or may not need. This is a sad state of affairs, and no one should have to trample over another human being to get frozen chicken for a good price. The powers that be have created a system so desperate for most of us that many resort to unnatural behaviour for survival. What happens when survival is more real than a sale?
What's probably more ironic is that the retailers probably mark down the items to what they really should be worth, but for the other 363 days of the year, they mark the shit out of it to screw you, giving you one day a year to feel good about buying something.
The timing is perfect here in South Africa with today being payday.
To go back to the topic, the disease has spread. It is clear. A few years ago I read a stat that South Africa was the most westernised nation on the planet. If it isn't true anymore, it is today. And I am not having a dig at Americans and their behaviour, I am just pointing out a behaviour that was created in America to take advantage of the financial and socio-economic issues it has, which has been spreading across the world ever since.
If you are going to take advantage of Black Friday, please be careful, and care about others around you. Nothing is worth the safety of you and others.
Image - http://weknowmemes.com
Article - http://www.thesouthafrican.com/watch-shoppers-break-down-checkers-door-for-black-friday-deals-video/
I refuse to participate in Black Friday!
Good for you. I made this declaration when I first heard it was being observed here in South Africa.