Black Friday was always a Festival for Mammon, a bastion of commercialization and evidence of the crassness and materialism of the American people. The rush when they open the doors at Best Buy was something amazing to see, in those days when I was on dawn bargain patrol. We used to try to get a couple of hours of sleep then head over to the local Best Buy about or so in the morning to get in line for the 6 AM opening melee. Then the opening was moved to 5 AM and we had to pretty much spend the night outside the store.
Something changed for me when they they moved the opening up to midnight and bargain hunters had to devote all of Thanksgiving Day to the search for $197 laptops and $249 50″ TVs. Now, most of the stores are opening at 6 PM on Thanksgiving Day. My son, who is the assistant manager at an FYE in the local mall, will spend a good bit of Turkey Day selling records instead of giving thanks.
It is disgusting.
And there is ONE THING you can do about it. Only one. Signing a petition isn’t going to do any good. Blogging likely isn’t going to do any good either. Walmart and Best Buy and the local mall and all these other Mammon-worshiping corporations don’t care about any of that. They care about one thing – the money they make. So there is only one thing we can do.
DON’T SHOP!
Stay home. Don’t go. Stay home and have a turkey sandwich. Watch some football. Hang with the family. But don’t participate in the Black Friday/Thursday madness. If you are upset about the encroachment of Black Friday onto Thanksgiving Thursday, just say no!
No matter how much you complain, if you shop on Thursday your actions will speak louder than your words.
I’m not much for petitions and online campaigns. But I intend to show my disgust for “Black Thursday” by staying home.
I am with you. No black Thursday or Friday for me. Tomorrow is all about family and friends giving thanks. Friday we will be decorating the church for the start of Advent & Lottie Moon.
Tying this in with the other ongoing discussion, another reason to stay home Friday: many protesters have suggested boycotting Black Friday as a way to show disgust for how the grand jury process went.
Or could be that the rioters don’t need to go shopping on Black Friday to look for money saving deals deals because they’ve already completed their “shopping” via five finger discounts.
😉
Tarheel,
Really?
That comment was really unhelpful.
It was referencing thieving rioters specifically and exclusively as delineated in the comment.
OK, I’ll be the contrarian here and match your Black Friday irascibility. If Walmart and Best Buy are “Mammon worshipping corporations” why does it matter if you boycott them today or tomorrow but not the rest of the year? You think it important to exercise your personal freedom to stay home tomorrow and have leftovers but are exercised about other Americans exercising their freedoms to shop? Apparently, many Americans enjoy finding deals. It’s an adventure. It’s not disgusting. Seems we are displaying a serious case of schizophrenia Here. We are heavily, heavily invested in the capitalist system that has given… Read more »
William, either you think like someone who is young enough to be your son, or I think like someone who’s old enough to be my dad, cuz I agree with almost everything you write.
Some people won’t shop at JC Penny because they are supporting gay marraige …others use their $10 coupon to buy clothes at JC penny for their kids, attempting to steward their money wisely.
Both can be consistent Christians.
Yeah – I have had discussions like this with a family member who have boycotted Target because of their “pro-homosexual” stances , saying happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas, the banning of the Salvation Army bellringers at Christmas time (Despite the fact that they banned all solicitations and didn’t target the Salvation Army) and to finish off of their anti-Christian behavior they open thier stores Thanksgiving and at Christmas. This person strongly demands that The only Christian response is to never shop at Target again – however that’s relatively easy for them because there is no Target within 35 to… Read more »
I might have misread it, but I thought the point of the article was to not shop on Thanksgiving Thursday as Black Friday has crept into the holiday. As far as I’m concerned I won’t be ought on Friday either, but that’s each individuals choice. However, if you shopped yesterday for deals, then don’t complain about the devaluing of a holiday.
Why do we shop on Sunday? Can someone tell me why people are boycotting Black Friday because of Ferguson?
In general, I don’t shop on Sunday. I do eat out sometimes, so I’m a hypocrite.
Got a bird in the deep fryer in 8 degree Iowa chill.
Prior to his death, I had a few occasions to hear Truett Cathy speak. He talked about closing his stores on Sunday, but also admitted that he would eat out on Sunday. I thought it odd.
I hate shopping. My wife hates shopping. I am blessed.
One man counts a particular day as special and another counts every day the same. We aren’t commanded (or even encouraged) to celebrate overtly Christian holidays like Christmas or Easter, let alone Thanksgiving. We aren’t commanded to worship on Sunday nor are we commanded to ever refrain from conducting business at any time, including Sunday. These are all matters of preference and (sometimes) conscience and it is unwise to bind someone else to ours. If Christians are becoming too materialistic, then I suspect we exhibit it all year long. Besides, spending time with family is only good if you have… Read more »
Thank you Bill Mac! I’m with you. Its great for people to boycott Black Friday/Thursdays. Its ‘Merican! BUT, these are not God-called holidays. IF God says Don’t Shop on Thanksgiving (Like, if it showed up in my Bible one day and I’d never noticed it before) then you bet I aint shopping on Thanksgiving. But I’m still watching football!
LOL. Yeah stay home on Thursday and Friday to register your staunch objection to the goliath mammon worshiping retail stores – instead sit on your couches watching and thereby supporting NCAA/college football provided by your cable network neither of which, of course, are Goliath mammon worshiping corporations! 😉
Oh yea, and don’t forget the NFL!