Opinion by George McClellan:

When did “Black Friday” become its own holiday? Like a shadow of doom, It always falls on the Friday immediately after Thanksgiving. It signals the abrupt end of what should be our greatest traditional holiday, apart from forth of July of course, where American’s once gave thanks to God for the gifts He bestowed on our great country. Black Friday’s plunge us into a sordid world of mayhem, riot, assaults, thefts, screaming, shoving, hitting, snatching, pulling and, the odd report of gun fire here and there followed by the sound of sirens. Basically, greed!  Oh, the humanity!

The enormity of our obsession with this unofficial, totally commercial event, especially among women, if what one sees on the various local news channel video reports are correct, is not lost on the survivalist. We don’t go there; we will not participate; we will not put ourselves in harm’s way! I watch in amazement at the fist-fights between women over video toys for god’s sake, and the tugging and screaming, women against women for a piece of Walmart clothing that will soon be found at a thrift store. It boggles the imagination, it saddens the soul. The Islamists see this too and wonder how easy it’s going be for them to crush us for our decadence.

The stampede that occurs immediately store doors open, is akin to the Buffalo jumps out west, when the early American Indians used to supply their meat rations for the coming winters. In the pre-horse era of Indian culture they stampeded buffalo herds over a cliff and spent the next month or so jerking meat, skinning hides and restoring needed articles for the tribes survival. These days, I never see real Indians participate in these black Friday orgies. But, what a great excuse is provided for an American Indian to get her licks in against the evil whites and do so with near impunity. Black Friday’s could become, if they haven’t already, a fun ‘get even day.’

Black Friday’s shows the world crass Commercialism, American style. It has turned us into greedy, insensitive, thoughtless grabbers who have been propagandized since the advent of black and white TV, to believe that we can’t be happy until we have this or that or some other useless thing, always at special prices on this one day only. We are taught that one only needs to come to the store on that special Friday and happiness will be assured,.…. if anything is left.

When viewing the news videos of shopper carnage and mayhem, it’s clear that solipsism is alive and well. The hours spent by determined shoppers in a store that has run out of the important things in life create a dystopian environment where store floors are littered with damaged goods, clerks have retreated to their break rooms in fear, sometimes bleeding; while the feet of the odd unconscious shopper, protruding out from under a display table, ungraciously impedes others with their carts. The lucky shoppers, those as yet unwounded, run up and down isles, their paths obscured by the crap in their arms, making a mad dash for the check out lines.

Our lives have become visceral, appealed to by commercial stimuli that activates our feelings instead of our common sense. We are helped along with this notion by a constant day and night barrage of advertisement, reminding us we won’t be happy unless we buy their product.

Our technological advancements, mostly gadgets geared to entertaining ourselves, are simply amazing. What did we ever do without this stuff? How did we defeat the Nazi’s and Imperial Japan without the amazing technology each of us can easily afford today and have as our very own stuff? I remember, though, when our kids found greater joy and fun playing with the boxes the presents came in then the gifts themselves. Pogo once famously said: “I have found the enemy and he is us.” Shopping on Fridays is fine, but why do we need to make a holiday out of it? Remember, freedom is the goal, the Constitution is the way. Now, go get ‘em! And, please   visit: outloudamerica.com.(28 Nov 2015)