The horror that is Black Friday

i was sitting for the grandsons last evening after my son and his wife left around 7 to go get into line for a 9 p.m. store opening... i received numerous text messages from them reporting on the length of the lines and how far they extended... while there's a rather massive distance between them and me on the matter of black friday, they are clearly free to choose how they spend their time over the thanksgiving holiday and just because i find such an orgiastic display of materialism to be truly horrifying doesn't mean they have to share my thinking...

however...

the entire notion of thousands of people rushing to stores across the country to stand in massive lines for the chance to snatch up more stuff at bargain prices is perhaps the clearest demonstration imaginable of just how far off the rails things are in my country...

moreover, if people are going to get pepper-sprayed, it at least ought to be happening while they're protesting economic and social injustice, not for trying to grab discounted merchandise...

Early-bird Black Friday turns ugly with 'shopping rage' incident

Ten minutes after the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch [Los Angeles] opened, a female customer used pepper spray on other shoppers at the Black Friday sale, injuring at least seven people and forcing employees to evacuate a portion of the store, police said.

"This was customer-versus-customer 'shopping rage,'" said Los Angeles Police Lt. Abel Parga. He said one shopper was taken to a hospital after complaining of difficulty breathing.

Police officers, he said, were seeking a female suspect following the attack. Fire officials said they were treating about 20 people suffering minor injuries at the store, which is located on Rinaldi Street near Corbin Avenue.

Meanwhile, in Torrance, shoppers poured into a Toys R Us store, 50 at a time, when the doors opened Thursday night. Manager Ryan Smith said he figures there were 2,000 people on hand waiting to browse through the sprawling store. Within minutes, shopping carts began to fill up with Transformer action figures, Barbie dolls and video games.

South Bay-area resident Natalie Vyce, 36, was fourth in line with her son Jordan, 15, and they came prepared. "We have it all mapped out. You go in for what you need and you get out. You don't browse." She said she'll be out all night. Her next stop was Kohl's, and she planned to be back at Toys R Us at 5 a.m. when new items go on sale.

"The stores are all opening so early now that it's throwing off my strategy," she said, laughing.

"throwing off her strategy"... patético...

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