Losing Our Civility: "Black Friday"

Corporate America created "Black Friday" for one purpose: to make more money! In the current economic environment, Near Depression 2.0, the results are very predictable: Violence, very bad behavior, "class warfare" and a new norm "competitive shoppers!" That's how a local police chief characterized the pepper spraying shopper who would not be denied her bargains!

The whole scene is so depressing, with the shoppers fighting each other for every bargain with their neighbors, friends, strangers anyone who gets in their way of buying yuletide happiness. How do some of us get turned into near savages for a bargain?  Let's just speculate: high unemployment rates, lots of foreclosures, Republican debates, global warming, dead 401k's, bankrupt pension funds, OWS, and the list goes on.

So not only do we have the burdens of our own families, the stress of keeping our jobs, the pains of educating our children, the fear of rampant crime and the ever-looming threats of more wars and terrorist attacks, we also are held personally responsible for making sure our corporations make a profit! Without a sufficient number of shoppers who shop 'till they drop, and customers willing to pump up their credit card balances and, at last resort, do "layaway shopping," our entire corporate retail empire would fail and Black Friday would be a failure!

The vivid pictures of "shoppers gone wild" should have, by now, produced a reality show of some kind where individual shoppers would be sent out to compete for the best bargains, with a "winner-take-all" ending. Think about Survivor, Biggest Loser, Great Race...got the idea? All-out "competitive shopping, no holds barred, post-shopping interviews in the ER and finally the awarding of the Grand Prize in a glitzy laser-lit ceremony! And the Master of Ceremonies? SANTA CLAUS!