Today's Black Friday question

Friday 26 November, 2010 at 10:33 am Bomani Blog 2

Today is Black Friday. Chances are you’re reading this post on your smartphone while your shopping partner watches your back. It’s real in the streets, man.

Now, I’m not a big Christmas shopper. My friends and I have never been about gifts, really. When you really give each other money rather than loan it because you know it’ll come back, you don’t really need to trade presents to say what’s what. Plus, most of us are broke.

Anyway, I say that to say it’s gonna take more than a sale to get me out there today. I am curious, however, about why you are out there.

The question: are people really out there buying gifts — other than those for children — or just stuff for themselves?

I know y’all aren’t as charitable as you claim to be. Half of y’all ain’t got nickels to rub together, but you’re out there right now running up the Visa. Now are you really out there running up the bill in the name of somebody else? Are you really trying to make somebody smile at a 20 percent interest rate?

I truly have no idea, but I’m dying to know. I do have a really hard time believing, however, that folks are throwing hands behind gifts. That’s really not how we tend to get down.

Now, I’m not a “Christmas is too commercial” person. I mean, it’s as commercial as I can imagine, but I guess I’m used to that sort of thing. This is America, Jack. But I do wonder what it means when sales that are ostensibly there so you can buy gifts — the Christmas spirit, I guess — and folks are getting themselves Playstations.

Juan

Where did that video footage come from? That mess is wild
http://14hive.org John K

Are you talking, sociology, cultural anthropology or economics?

The sociologist would say it’s all a bell curve and, in our egocentrism, we perceive things to be skewed toward ourselves. I consider myself to be ideal and so I don’t understand why others don’t act like me.

The cultural anthropologists would criticize us for spending so much on PlayStations when many of the rest of us go hungry. I give just enough to charity to support my desired sleep habits; the rest I spend on videogames. Obviously, that’s not enough.

The economist would concede that we have tendencies to supply and demand and that these tendencies are guided by scarcity. I track my checking account on-line and hope that the check card purchases and automatic payments amount to less than the direct deposits.

So in an effort to make you more like me, I try to keep the focus on the real Gift of Christmas and the nativity scene. If you find that offensive, then you probably don’t want to talk to me at Easter.

If you want to make me more like you, let’s hear it.

JK