working black friday

This.

Sheep following a crowd without actually realising it. The problem isn't consumerism really, its what is consumed. But big corparations make things look attractive, with attractive price tags and slogans to lure people in. It is manipulation, and a lot of shoppers wouldn't realise that because they are so caught up in the game. From birth almost we have it drilled into our heads that to be successful we must have nice things, to be wealthy we must own, to be accepted in society and have friends we must look and act a certain way. This shit starts at such a young age that by the time we leave school we are driven to earn money and be the best or we fail.

Whoever is sat up at the top knows exactly what they want and its exactly what they are getting. Not many people will actually step back and think about or research this stuff, because consumerism is just the norm in the western world.. we are made to feel like this is how we survive, without the latest iPod or phone or whatever then we are outdated and boring, we need luxury sofas to sit on, we need 60inch TVs to watch even more adverts about even more crap...we need it, thats what is drilled into us daily, can't even walk down the street without seeing billboards of flashy crap, cant even listen to the radio without buy buy buy.. yes, only we can change it, but it will be so hard to break enough people out of the cycle to make any difference.

 

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Police say a Massachusetts man left his girlfriend's 2-year-old son in a car while he went shopping for Black Friday bargains, then went home with his new 51-inch flat screen television and left the toddler behind.

Police, alerted by store security, found the boy asleep in the vehicle in a Kmart parking lot at about 1:30 a.m. Friday.

They forced their way into the car and took the boy to the hospital as a precaution.

Meanwhile, they tracked the man to his Springfield home.



Hotwater

 

He could have been quoting Ghandi and they'd hate him. If you yell your message with insults from a bullhorn, NOBODY will listen to your message. You're just a jerk with a bullhorn to them.

Now if that guy had the fucking balls to step out of his vehicle and talk to these people one on one and have a civil discussion with these people, he may have changed a mind, or made someone reconsider for next year.

 

what, did he walk the tv home?

 

it's also possible that some people actually need to replace something and can't afford to buy it normally, so it's worth spending a few hours in a line up for it. not everyone who lines up to buy things on sale is an unaware moron.

 

So how long did you stand in line?

 

we don't have black friday here, so i did not stand in any lines.

we have boxing day though, which is when stores have sales the day after christmas to get rid of their overstock (at least that is why it started, i think). i've only ever gone out once, and it was so my wife could buy a laptop for school. we showed up about 10 minutes after they opened at 6am, bought the laptop for a few hundred dollars less than we could have otherwise, and went home. does that make me brainwashed by corporations?

 

Yeah, you just have to be tough.

I don't think you would honestly want the government to have the power to say to a company, "You can't run that ad because it makes your products and services sound too good and too interesting." That's the opposite of free speech.

Even 3000 years ago, you had vendors in open-air marketplaces using their best sales pitches to try and talk people into buying more. It's just as impractical to outlaw that as it is to pass a law against being a stupid consumer. We already have too many people in prison anyway.

If we really value free speech, we have to take the good with the bad.

This is an issue where parents need to step in and teach their children not to be gullible. I think even the average young child can grasp the basic concept that every advertisement is an attempt to persuade you into spending your money, so that somebody else can make more money.

As for dealing with peer pressure, that's a more complicated subject, but they need to learn about that too. It's hard to be different from the crowd, but there are times when you need to. Nobody is too young to start learning this.

It's also important for friends to support each other in not being sheep.

That is possible. No stereotype is 100% true.

 

Was the National Guard called in anywhere?

 

I didn't say anything about getting the Gooberment involved in advertising any more than they are now. (Yes there are rules already) I was pointing out that corporations are brainwashing the masses and I feel that is wrong... So I place full blame on the corporations and the media which supports this brainwashing, not on the people that are falling for this shit.

 

yes. though if you're outside a store telling people not to buy, there's a good chance security escorts you away

still, the message "you're to blame, not the stores/advertisers" is one that I don't think would be either successful or fair

 

A healthy mind would see that as a possible approach.

In contrast, it's difficult to improve a person's situation when, first, all one sees is the negative and when, second, one believes in his mind that every possible course of action that he could ever take to improve the situation is always seen as part of a scheme of some shadowy controlling group that is using him and others as dupes to make the world worse. Real dictators aren't even needed to achieve that. The person has psychologically imposed a dictatorship upon himself.

 

Look at these fucking idiots:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5qRs2dBoK0"]Black Friday Fighting Over Phones During WalMart 2012 VERY SAD!!!! - YouTube

 

I think they were a little busy elsewhere.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ_mdej9vko"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQW8eb1P3dk

 

I wonder how much I could make as a bouncer on Black Friday?

 

I actually did go to a store on Black Friday. I took Dad to a local nursery to purchase a grave blanket for Mom's grave. We went at 9 am and went in, selected our blanket and went directly to the cash register and checked out. No crowds, no waiting in line. That is my kind of shopping.

It was cold and windy at the cemetery but very sunny and beautiful.

 

Over the years, I've worked many times on Black Friday in small stores. It was always busy, but not insane. Some of those stores actually get hit harder on Christmas Eve. Procrastinators (especially men) think they are more likely to get good advice in a small store, if they don't know exactly what to buy for a gift.

I think this old Chinese saying sums it up best: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

If you're wanting voluntary changes from big companies, you'll be waiting until the end of time. Competition doesn't allow them to adopt a different mindset.

 

You'd probably just get shot.

 

that is not a chinese saying. somebody must have fooled you.

there's a difference between who should be blamed and who has to take responsibility.

people should treat other people the way they in turn would like to be treated. blame should always fall on those who abuse others

the responsibility for cleaning up the mess that assholes make falls on everyone else, because it's not reasonable to expect that assholes are going to change their ways