This is a guest post by Amanda D. Quraishi. It was originally a Facebook?update, and is republished here with her permission.
I hate Black Friday.
I think it’s everything that is wrong with America today.
It’s a day that is made up specifically for the purpose of encouraging crass consumerism, using a religious holiday as an excuse. Let that sink in. Holy Day Sales.
It’s not just about shopping. It’s about sacrificing time with family and friends that used to be for watching movies and playing games to go into the cold, electric light of big box retailers and going into debt buying shit that your family will forget in six months to a year.
It’s about being FIRST IN LINE. It turns purchasing gifts into a bloodsport (literally) where each year people are injured and/or killed. And despite the injuries, stores are more than happy to keep plugging Black Friday.
Because what matters to them are hordes of people who need a deal badly enough to be there at 5am for their fucking ‘door busters’.
Black Friday is evil. It doesn’t need to exist.
From Thanksgiving to Christmas there are 29 days to buy your shit. You don?t NEED to shop on Black Friday. Big fucking stores need you to shop on Black Friday so they can put themselves in the black. Get it?
This has nothing to do with anything except commercialism and consumption. It’s manufactured by marketers to make you think you’re getting deals when it’s really just a few things marked down to get you in the door.
I hate Black Friday.
If you absolutely MUST shop for holidays this weekend, go shop locally for Small Business Saturday. Or visit the Armadillo Bazaar or any place where you can buy something real and meaningful made by the person selling it to you.
Buy gifts that last for years, even generations. Or buy the materials to make something beautiful. Bring back American dollars to American manufacturers, artists and artisans. Gift the gift of services (massage, salon, etc.)
Stop the Pavlovian drooling over the ads that come too soon and the promise of love that comes with a purchase. It’s a lie.
About the author:?Amanda Quraishi is a blogger, interfaith activist and technology professional living in Austin, Texas.?
She is the Technology Solutions Specialist?at?Charity?Dynamics, a marketing & technology consulting agency that works with non-profit organizations on national fundraising campaigns.
She also leads a populist-based interfaith initiative at?InterfaithActivism.org,?and is the Principle Web Media Strategist for?BlogathonATX. You can read more from Amanda on her blog.