SF Gate columnist Mark Morford hates Black Friday, and he’s written an over-the-top Network-style screed against it, backing it up with some cringe-inducing YouTube clips of giddy, running Americans swarming into retail outlets last Friday morning.
I don’t even know what Kohl’s is. I’m guessing some sort of mass-crap superstore, like Best Buy or Target or T.J. Maxx or a weird amalgam of all of those and it doesn’t really matter because last Friday they opened at 4 a.m. for the mad rush of Black Friday shoppers, because if there’s one thing you want to do when your body is groggy and sleep tugs at your heart and your dreams have turned vacant and sad, it’s grope cheap waffle makers before sunrise.
In the second half, Morford draws a loose connection between America’s overwhelming consumerism and our hunger for oil, which is now leading petroleum companies to develop environmentally damaging bitumen extraction refineries in Canada in order to produce synthetic crude.
Until there’s a profound shift in how we approach the world, in how we view the goods we buy, in how Black Friday and the rape of Canada are grossly, inextricably connected, we cannot effect much change. Much as I love the green movement and the Buy Nothing movement and the Slow Food movement and all the rest, in the face of the countless billions still to be made by raping the planet for oil, they’re merely the equivalent of trying to water the rainforest with an eyedropper.
“Black Friday Die Die Die” [SF Gate]
(Photo: Associated Press)
More From Consumerist
-
Animal Shelters Make ‘Black Friday’ Literal, Adopt Out Black Pets For Free
-
Remember To Send Us Your Black Friday Photos And Horror Stories
-
Another Study Confirms That Black Friday Isn’t Always The Best Day For Deals
-
Dissident Walmart Workers Threaten Strikes And In-Store Protests On Black Friday
-
Small Businesses Hoping To Cash In On Big Box Stores’ Early Black Friday Openings
ha ha. It’s good to see that Mark Morford stirs up the crowd no matter where he is mentioned. I really like his columns (although he has been focused on Bushco for a little too long now). So It’s good to see him spreading his wings a bit.
His columns appear Wed & Fri in the SF Chronicle. If he writes something way over the top, you can count on the letters appearing demanding his head on a pike contrasted against those saying he is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
What a sourpuss. Just your typical misanthrope, picking on what he perceives as the antics of others to detract from his own profound hatred of himself. I’m just glad he dines only on rarified air, expels only sweet perfume, and needs not to deign to the commoners’ *gasp* level of existence.
@Oneon1isto: The middle class was started by manufacturing. Do know any history??? It has affected EVERY corner of our country- from Milwaukee (which lost Master Lock, AO Smith, Allis Chalmers, etc.) to small areas like Nicholas County, Kentucky (Jockey underwear plant- which BTW is now one of the poorest areas in the country.) Not just the big meccas of industry.
These jobs paid MUCH higher wages than service industry jobs- so if you replace low paying jobs with higher paying jobs what is the result??? Americans are not earning more than ever. From 2003 to 2006, factoring in inflation, Americans earned 2% less than the three years earlier. Also consider that in the 70′s, the average wage was ~$15/hr, in 2000 that number was ~$18/hr. Taking into account inflation, we are by no means earning more now than then. But that also doesn’t account for the over 100 million people in the US without college educations (the people now relegated to the service industry) who have seen substantial DECREASES in their pay from the 70′s to today.
Since I was born and raised in a manufacturing city, I will tell you that YES, MANUFACTURING HAS BEEN THE CRUX OF THE MIDDLE CLASS! It was a very desired job in A LOT of communities. You must lead a very sheltered life not to know any of this.
I mean this not as a dig, but as an observation, but I really think you’re misinformed about much of the reality of manufacturing in the US. “Americans” didn’t move away from manufacturing- the wealthy took manufacturing away from us, so they could make more profits. It has only benefited the few at the top- you know that small number of people that saw their income raise buy over 400% since the 80′s… corporate execs… A direct comparison goes like this… In 1980, execs averaged about 26 times the pay of the average worker. That number has reached over 500 times the average worker in today’s market. So there is a DIRECT correlation between outsourcing and the poor in America…
@mthrndr: Why wouldn’t you compare it to oil? Let’s connect the dots here…
Didn’t Bush tell us it was our duty, that we owed it to the victims of 9/11 to go out a spend???
And of course it was Iraq that was behind 9/11 (according to Dick and Bush) so we invaded them… for oil. There nice and neat.
Speaking of Bush:
How to start each day with a positive outlook:
1. Open a new file in your PC.
2. Name it “George Bush”.
3. Send it to the trash.
4. Empty the trash.
5. Your PC will ask you, “Do you really want to get rid of George Bush?”
6. Answer calmly, “yes,” and press the mouse button firmly.
7. Repeat daily.
Look If you Dont want to go shopping on black friday thats fine.
Then you should stay home.
But The way I see it is Black friday forces the stores to try offer the best price.
I did most of my shopping Black friday and got GREAT DEALS.
Because of Black friday my family is going to have better preasents.
GOD BLESS BLACK FRIDAY
@goller321:
Classic economic theory (see Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, invisible hand, etc.) suggests that we should be handing off tasks to those who have an advantage in doing them. Many Asian countries are densely populated and can produce things much cheaper (and sometimes better) than we can. I realize that not everyone laid off from outsourced factory jobs is going to be a business tycoon, but I believe most Americans are capable of realizing more potential than low-wage factory work. As much as my parents may not like it, gone are the days of 30 years working on an assembly line for a pension. Fact is, we live in a global economy and Americans CANNOT compete with many other countries on per hour manual labor costs. We’re going to have to evolve. Those individuals/organizations that don’t will be left behind. As I’m preparing to again enter the labor market, I’m finding that without a college degree, one is severely limited in their options. Should I stand and complain that all the work is being taken by college graduates? I could, but it would be futile. Rather, I’m working on my degree and plan to start on my MBA immediately after my BSBA. We’re an entepreneurial nation and I’m hoping many Americans will wake up to this fact and take the bull by the horns rather than complaining that things “aren’t the way they used to be.” I could write a lot more, but I won’t. Just know that I’m from low/middle class America (Central KY) and I understand where you’re coming from. Please consider the points I’ve made, too.
This guy is an idiot. He does not live in the real world. I wish I had plenty of money so that I didn’t have to shop at “mass-crap” stores. People like him take up too much of our oxygen. Go away!!!
P.S. I love Black Friday. I always get awesome deals!
San Francisco: We’re angry and we have no idea what we’re talking about!
He hate’s Kohl’s for opening at 4AM? Good thing he didn’t know about CompUSA; they opened at 9PM the night before!
If he actually learned what Kohl’s is, he’d probably like it. It was founded by the family of a Democratic Senator from WI, Senator Herb Kohl.
@whitjm5: I consider your points, but the problem with “free market” theory and other economic theories are that they simply do not apply or take into account real people. Why are Asia countries able to produce for so much less? Because the workers are forced to work at slave wages in unsafe working conditions.
The notion of a “global economy” only serves the elites of the world. The people doing the actual work, whether it be the children’s sweat shops or the fruit pickers out in the field never see the true benefits that their labor provide. NAFTA, CAFTA and other such trade agreements only work well for the executive prospering from the misery the bring to the lower classes.
We, as a nation, by shopping at WalMart not only condone this practice but financially support it. If Americans wanted to do something about it we could. “Gone are the days” only because most people are too stupid, or short sighted to see that our government has sold us out to the corporations that buy their votes.
As for the realizing more than, it is not as easy as it sounds. Firstly, not everyone is cut out for college, second college is fast becoming unaffordable and finally those service sector jobs will start drying up real fast, leaving even more people out in the cold. The only reason we haven’t gone into a recession yet is because we continue to live on credit. Like the housing market, that will implode on itself and we will be shown what a country without manufacturing really looks like.
@hamlet: Again… missing the point. Most of those “deals” you find are often unnecessary purchases. We have become a materialistic society, it’s too bad you’re too self involved to take an introspective look at yourself. Personally, I wish people like you would stop using the air…
@GOLLER321: When you make your points in a hysterical, over-the-top, demonizing manner, you OF COURSE put people on the defensive. People will not even consider changing the way they do things if you yell at them and demean them. This is what you and more particularly, the author of this article are doing.
@goller321: I typed out a massive response and then just sighed and hit “delete”.
Considering that the US used to be economically supported by the industrial revolution and now supports a larger population at a higher cost of living and with all the trimmings (low infant mortality, low unemployment, etc.) we’re doing fairly well with the shift I’d say.
Like WhitJM5 stated, you’re fighting relative advantage between countries, that in the long run produces far more jobs.
And you lost me when you started spouting the “government has sold us out to the corporations that buy their votes.” That’s another argument entirely, and one that kinda outs you as a tad angry. Corporate lobbies are but one piece of the many forces that drive legislative decision making, and pale in comparison to many social lobbies and Unions (read: LABOR UNIONS). Unless a group of corporations bands together and pushes lots of PAC funds directly into a candidates re-election coffer, you’re unlikely to see the amount of influence you believe is there.
@goller321:
Thank you for the well thought out response. I won’t argue too strongly against what you’ve said because I’m still learning a lot about economics myself. In Thomas Friedman’s “The World Is Flat”, he points to call centers in Asia where college students take those jobs to get a leg-up in their societies. Obviously, I find slave and child labor disgusting practices, so I’m not arguing for that. Let’s imagine though, that without a college degree or experience, you decide to try your hand at owning a business (many have done this with great success). You buy & re-sell widgets in your local community. Are you going to buy widgets in the US where you only see profits of $2 per widget or from Central America where you can realize $5 profit per widget? Generic example, I know, but bear with me. As long as their is an opportunity for profit, there will ALWAYS be different classes of people. The good thing about a free society and capitalism is that I can be a lower/middle class boy from Kentucky and still move my way up. In a socialistic society, there is no opportunity for upward mobility, no incentive to produce or contribute as a member of society. I don’t hear you really arguing for that type of system, but you seem to rail against capitalism withou proposing better alternatives. FTR, I HATE when corporations or whomever takes advantage of the ‘little guy’ and I agree that America’s dependency on credit in order to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ may ruin us. Thanks for the dialogue.