I've been seeing this a lot more this year, either because the idea is more popular, or I have more friends who're aware of the issue. The basic notion is that retailers requiring employees to work on black friday (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29 for you who aren't from 'Merika
TM) takes them away from their families on Thanksgiving, so shopping on black friday is bad.
OK, hold up. I get that retail giants abuse employees. They do this 24/7, 365. I get that they do it *more* around major shopping holdays, and Black Friday does tend to be particularly egregious. So, for that, I can see the deal. I can also see the argument against gross consumerism.
However, the issue of "taking workers away from their families on Thanksgiving" seems a little bit off, to me. See, Thanksgiving is an American holiday where we celebrate the fact that we stole our country from its native people via all kinds of horrific violence and genocide, but this one time we supposedly had dinner with them first. We celebrate this day with out families, and we celebrate it via gluttony.
Black Friday is a day where we can find extra-cheap ways to prepare to celebrate the birth of the baby god sent to earth for us to kill so we can be saved from ourselves, and we celebrate it on the anniversary of a pagan holiday, and we celebrate it by worshiping a saint whose image has been bastardized by coca cola, and who we lie to our children about being a magical man who will give us things out of nowhere if we are good, because he has a whole bunch of slaves (it's ok that they're slaves- they are a different race than us) sequestered on the north pole who enable him to be so generous and give kids things they usually don't need in the first place. This is, by the way, supposedly a christian holiday, clearly- and we know it is because people of other belief systems are affronted by the way talk of it puts the christian religion unwantedly in their faces. And, a reminder of scope: least over here in the US, we have "Christmas music" playing from halloween (or earlier) till New Year's. There's ridiculous pressure to buy a whole bunch of shit to show your family your love (the "true meaning" of christmas in america being something about love and togetherness- neither the original religious meaning, nor the practical consumerist meaning, might I add). Far more pressure, I'd say, thank thanksgiving.
So, in short, black friday is a day to celebrate consumerism in the name of loving one's family, whereas thanksgiving is a day to celebrate gluttony in the name of loving one's family, and in both cases, the hype is pushed by giant evil corporations who abused their employees.
The fuck would the main issue with having employees work on thanksgiving be that that have to pick one over the other? They're both bullshit; let's get angry about the overarching system, please.
Or maybe I'm missing the point.
Anyway, I have celiac, so I'm off to go sit and awkwardly watch everyone else eat a dinner I don't dare touch, while they all strongly imply they think I have some kind of hilarious eating disorder. (I'd
rather be earning money today, personally, but hey, whatever.)