Black Friday: Enjoying It By Not Being There

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I took a drive this morning, mostly as the last few days have been uneventful and I like to start the car every day or two.  I didn’t go to any major retail chain, beyond a quick trip to the grocery store.

I’m avoiding Black Friday.  Of course now apparently there’s the fear of Brown Friday, which I guess is a thing now where people have rather . . . fecal abuse heaped upon a retailer.  I’d like to make a witty comment, but really, it’s difficult.

If you’re morbidly curious there are roundups of Black Friday madness all over.

I’ve decried Black Friday for some time, and I just did again.

However, something has struck me – I think we’ve made Black Friday a reality show.  We discuss the horrific excesses, we show the video clips of the insanity, and it all feels a bit too familiar.  It’s another case of morbid curiosity, and the peculiar rush we all get from talking about how bad it is.

Look, if people hate Black Friday madness – and I do – maybe it’s time to come up with a positive alternative.  Not an anti-Black Friday statement or whatnot, but some post-Thanksgiving holiday.  A day of giving, a day of greatfulness, a day of sanity, a day of donating our leftovers, something.

It’d be a lot more functional, because I’m tired of criticizing Black Friday, and Istill haven’t gotten all my bile out.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Fan To Pro Promotion: New Media Rights

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Here at Fan To Pro we want to help YOU become more aware of other projects out there for progeeks like yourself.  Well just as we were discussing how to do this, New Media Rights fell into our lap.  It’s legal assistance for gamers in convenient video form, and they’ve got a fundraiser campaign!  Check it out below!

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Hating Black Friday 2012: The Hatening

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Last year I went on about how I hated Black Friday.  To sum up last year, I felt it:

  1. Distorted economic planning.
  2. Was stressful on businesses.
  3. Was a giant cultural distorter.
  4. Wasted mindshare on things like . . . me writing about it.
  5. Distorted perspective.

None of my areas of concern really changed, and repeating them is kind of useless.

So I’d like to turn this around and ask – do I see Black Friday going away?

. . . and the answer really is no, not without specific effort or changes.

Black Friday is integrated into not just our economy, but our culture.  It’s there, it’s expected, it’s assumed.  As much as people (like me ) complain about it, it’s just something we do.  There’s a lot of inertia behind the idea.  I see no reason for it to stop.

It’s fascinating to imagine something economic like this being a cultural fixture, but there you go.  The mutant offspring of Christmas greed (which we’ve been decrying for decades), bargain-hunting, and watching-the-car crash is just something we do.  Much as we also rant about it (which is strangely its own traditions).

Now could I see it going away?  Maybe, but it’d have to be conscious.  We’d have to as a country and a culture, or at least part of us, move against the insanity of the day.  We’d have to get businesses to go along with it.  In short, there’d have to be a kind of movement.

Do I want one?  Actually, yeah.  The entire holiday distortion of the economy can’t be healthy, and I’m not sure it can last in its currently exponetially-insane-ifying state.  Also it’s really annoying and distracting.

OK, you go start the movement. *I* am tired ranting.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.