Black and Blue Friday

We’re witnessing another significant decline in culture, and it involves Thanksgiving. What is Thanksgiving? Gathering with family and friends, looking back at the good things that happened during the year, eating turkey and maybe watching some football. That’s more like what was Thanksgiving. Now it seems to be all about Black Friday’s bottom line. Black Friday (and its associated violence) is becoming the holiday, not Thanksgiving.

Cases in point:

A fight over a parking spot at a Wal-Mart in Claypool Hill, VA resulted in one man knifing another in the arm “so viciously that he hit bone.”

A man was pepper sprayed and arrested at a Wal-Mart in Garfield, NJ after arguing with another man over a TV. He then lunged at a cop trying to intervene, resulting in charges of aggravated assault against the officer.

A police officer’s wrist was broken while attempting to stop a fight between swarming Rialto, CA Wal-Mart shoppers. The doors were opened early and 3000 people bolted inside.

There were reports that a woman used a stun gun on another during a Franklin Mills Mall brawl in Northeast Philadelphia. 

Check out this link and watch the videos: http://nypost.com/2013/11/29/cop-shoots-shoplifter-near-chicago-amid-black-friday-chaos-others-hurt-around-country/

From Reuters: “A suspected shoplifter was shot by police in a Chicago suburb and a woman spat on another woman’s child in an argument over baby clothes.”

Check out this link and videos: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/29/us-usa-retail-blackfriday-crime-idUSBRE9AS0ON20131129

Check out this video at a North Carolina Wal-Mart:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101235261

 According to the website medicaldaily.com, Wal-Mart “took in over 22 million shoppers this past Thursday.” Check out the videos here: http://www.medicaldaily.com/black-friday-violence-2013-top-7-worst-displays-mayhem-caught-video-263983

 According to the New York Post, the hash tag #WalmartFights started to trend early. One of the best tweets compared the Black Friday masses to Spain’s Running of the Bulls, “but replaced with badly dressed people.”

 It’s not just Wal-Mart. Even the more upscale Macy’s broke a 155 year tradition by being open on Thanksgiving. 15,000 people lined up the Herald Square Macy’s for the doors to open at 8:00pm.

 So where does Black (and blue) Friday lead us? Nowhere good. Where is the traditional Thanksgiving trending? Severely downward. So what can we do about it? Simple. Stay home and enjoy our friends and family.