Thanks for not shopping (Baltimore Sun column)

[alp227]

Susan Reimer

6:00 a.m. EST, November 25, 2013

Please join me in not buying a darn thing this Thanksgiving Day.

Have an extra piece of pie, take a nap, watch a little football, drink too much, fight with your in-laws. Just don't shop.

"Black Friday creep," as they called it when it began a couple of years ago, has crept all the way into Thanksgiving Day, with at least one retailer opening before dawn Thursday and several others staying open straight through until Friday at midnight.

There is a finite amount of Christmas money out there each year, and stores are racing to the front of the line to grab yours. We should have seen this coming when Black Friday became Black-in-the-Middle-of-the-Night Friday.

...

And besides, don't you hate how this looks? To the world, I mean? Long lines of people — some of them fighting or trampling each other, even spraying each other with Mace — scrambling to buy stuff. If the Chinese did something like this, we would be shaking our heads.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-reimer-thanksgiving-day-shopping-20131124,0,2123458.column

[Shrike47]

1. I'm in. At least, no in-person shopping. The lure of the Internet...

[femmocrat]

2. No problem.

I won't be shopping Thurs. or Friday.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

3. Back in the dark ages...

we visited our grandparents for T-giving every year, and they bought us new winter coats on "Black Friday." It was a pleasant experience. Now? I wouldn't get near a freakin' mall or box store around the holidays.

[Skittles]

4. the easily-manipulated will be out in droves

it is indeed quite sickening