verbena-19

'Black Friday' Mayhem at U.S. Wal-Mart

I have never liked Wal-Mart, and after watching Robert Greenwald's movie documentary, "Wal-Mart: the High Cost of Low Price", my dislike was intensified. However, upon watching the 'Black Friday' shopping frenzy -- which turned into a mayhem in an Illinois suburb -- I am totally appalled!

'Black Friday' refers to the Friday after Thanksgiving in the U.S., when the Christmas shopping season officially begins. 'Black' meaning that this is when stores get in the black (as opposed to being in the red) with the high volume of sales.

This year, Friday November 25th, shoppers lined up for hours to have their chances at buying some greatly-reduced items such as electronics (computers, etc.) at Wal-Mart, which had been massively advertised. When the doors opened, shoppers pushed, shoved, trampled one another to get at the discounted 'sale' merchandise. People were pushed to the ground in the frenzy, fights broke out, computers were tossed in the air, injuries were sustained, and a person had to be taken by ambulance. Fights continued even in the parking lot, as some people wanted to take items purchased by an other.

Our CBC aired this story, but I do not think any of the American news channels did.

Wal-Mart's comment about this melee was something to the effect that they had record sales of US$ 8 Billion nationwide!

This reaffirms my thoughts about a society where mass consumerism is the 'end all and be all'. It is not a pretty picture... "Buy Nothing Day" would definitely not work for these people!

Talking about "Buy Nothing Day" -- which many of us observed here in Canada (for me it was especially easy, since I only buy what I need, and I don't need much) -- I've come across a novel website: buynothingchristmas.org. They rightly claim that Christmas has become far too commercialized, and advocate exactly what the name says: "buy nothing at Christmas, but instead spend that time reflecting about the true meaning of Christmas (or however you wish to reflect spiritually, I presume); make your own meaningful, not mass produced gifts; spend time with family, friends, loved ones ..." For those who have no family, friends or loved ones, if you have pets, spend extra time with them. If you don't have pets either, then volunteer at one of the homeless shelters in your area and help dish out the food. (I've spent many a Christmas Eve doing this, somewhat to the chagrin of my Mom, who'd have preferred me at her table.) I'm sure the Food Banks could use help too.

My kid brother came up with a good idea, and he's never heard of the 'Buy Nothing for Christmas' website. For the price of several blank VHS tapes, he will make copies of a family X-Mas video he'd made many years ago, when the nieces and nephews were still little, and the rest of us were much younger too. Everyone has forgotten that lovely gathering (and the video), so I'm sure they'll be pleasantly surprised to receive these thoughtful mementos of that long ago time.

I have never been one for frenzied X-mas shopping, and usually purchase inexpensive but useful items I feel others need. Since I'm not good at knitting or sewing, and don't have time for elaborate hand-crafted items -- at which I'm not much good either -- I'll have to think of something else ... Whatever I do, you can bet it won't involve trekking through crowded shopping malls. ~

posted by Annamarie at 1:09 AM