Black Friday is the worst period of capitalism.

Although Thanksgiving is a holiday with irreversible historical issues, it is promoted as a holiday to celebrate gratitude and appreciate the people, resources and environment around us. Thanksgiving is a holiday about peace, satisfaction, and finding comfort in what we already have, rather than seeking more. Of course, once Thanksgiving turns to Black Friday, this attitude is destined to be hit, and it will sound on the biggest day of the year for shopping, sales and consumption.

The turnaround time from appreciating the holidays we have to exclusively buying things we might not need is enough to shock anyone. Black Friday reveals one of the main values ​​of most American holidays-consumption.

The ability to market the holiday spirit allows some of the largest conglomerates in our economy today to benefit from the altruism and generosity that we hope to believe in the true meaning of the holidays. The motivation of capitalism is to maintain this kind of goodwill, and to maintain a hand with ordinary shoppers, insisting that the only way to truly participate in the holiday is to buy the next new shiny thing.

Although Black Friday exposes the irony of capitalism very clearly, because there is no interruption between Thanksgiving and a day dedicated to promoting and celebrating consumption, the entrepreneurial motivation that supports the "true meaning" of the celebration applies to every one we celebrate festival. After all, without a bouquet of red roses and a box of Godiva chocolates for your beloved, what is Valentine's Day? What is Easter without Cadbury eggs and Jordan almonds? What day is July 4th without burgers, fireworks and American flag-themed tablecloths, paper plates, and decorative cupcakes?

Without the marketing and shopping associated with each holiday, the economy we operate will be shaken. These seasons provide stable and predictable profits for companies that have been over-inflated to achieve growth, which justifies the performance of the holiday season filled with our catalogs, Instagram ads and billboards for months. 

Without this kind of financial compensation, the meaning of these holidays to us today will probably not be the same as today—if the value of these holidays is not exacerbated by capitalist ideals, the vast majority of Americans will still be grateful at Christmas. Are you on holiday? ? Without the support of the fantasies provided to us by countless advertisements, would we associate these holidays with such a grand and warm attitude? Without the encouragement of entrepreneurs, it is questionable whether these holidays have any meaning to us.

In addition, it must be recognized that the consumption-oriented holiday pillar will cause significant damage to the environment every year. In the UK, money.co.uk estimates that the carbon emissions of online shopping alone will generate 429,000 tons of carbon in 2020. A report by Building a Circular Economics in 2019 showed that 80% of Black Friday shopping will eventually be landfilled or burned. In addition to solving the capitalist conspiracy in the holiday spirit associated with this time of the year, only Black Friday has an impact on the environment. The impact of this is enough to make us question whether the consumerist holiday is worth it.

Evaluating the relationship between consumerism and American holidays is a hard pill to swallow; questioning these ideals and meanings that have been used for so many years is essentially questioning what the American experience today means. However, the arduous nature of this process does not reduce its importance.

This holiday may be worth examining your own relationship with the holiday, and whether any experiences and emotions related to this time of the year come from a place of genuine celebration and gratitude, or from a more artificial source.

Since 1922, Geneseo's student newspaper.