Viernes Negro

Yesterday was what they call Black Friday. It always sounds to me like one of those terrible tragedies that goes down in history, like some massacre of citizens by government soldiers or an economic collapse. I think they ought to consider renaming it, because naturally it's nothing like that. In fact, the name is meant to describe something basically as good as those things are bad: it's considered the first shopping day of Christmas, and the month or so which follows tends to make the difference for businesses between a profitable year and an unprofitable one. It's Black Friday because the business then begins operating "in the black". Supposedly accountants have traditionally used black ink to mark gains and red ink to mark losses in their books. I can't confirm or deny that, but it's mildly interesting.

More than mildly interesting is the shopping hysteria which is as baffling as it is appalling. I don't really understand it, and I feel it shows us at our worst. As the clock strikes midnight to end Thanksgiving Day, the first stores are already open for business. I for one got up at 8:30 in the morning and spent the day binging on all the gastronomical trappings of the occasion. Apart from that and a brief hike, I mostly sat in front of TVs to watch football. It was a long, full day, and I cannot imagine doing anything but turning in at an eminently reasonable hour. Who would have it in them to troop out to the stores not early in the morning but that very night? It defies all reason.

It's bad enough that people would go out there at 5am or whatever obscene hour. I have plenty of reasons to get up very early, but going to a retail outlet to shop is never among them. Have you actually been out there shopping on Black Friday? It's brutal, and one would not have to venture out to know so. News accounts tell the tale each year. There are massive, crushing crowds, and for what? A store offers a limited supply of Blu-Ray players on sale, and it draws more people than a presidential visit. It's not just that there are so many people out there (although that is enough reason for me to stay in). Each one of them seems to carry themselves every bit as well as a mad dog. People die, and not just in some far-off land which fails to generate any outrage. In this alleged land of plenty, people have been trampled over as little as a TV set. You can count me out of that.

I understand that the Monday following Thanksgiving has been dubbed "Cyber Monday", as online retailers have evidently staked out that day to make their own splash. It has not been very long since this day's beginnings, so whether or not it will ingender violence remains to be seen. I admit that I cannot envision what form that would take for sure, although I would have to guess that the principal victims, if any, would probably be computer monitors. I can't say I approve in any case. I don't mean this to come off as the traditional bemoaning of Christmas being commercialized. Maybe it bothers me a little, but why would I waste my breath over it? When there are so many people content to expend their energy with the same bellyaching year after year, I prefer to devote myself to new bellyaching. Thus it is that I have chosen  Black Friday. How senseless is that? There's a whole month to get the job done. Be reasonable, for God's sake. Is a pretty good deal worth risking life, limb and stress of that kind?