Blacker than we thought

Happy thanksgiving everyone. I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday and found it to be a peaceful rest from the craziness of this time of year. Who would have known it was a harbinger for even more craziness.
Craziness is what occurred at 12, 3, 5, or 7 in the morning the following day, Friday. Friday after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday," a day on which consumers flock to stores to get the hot new deals and sales that companies offer for only a few short hours.
Black Friday started early this year. Usually, early is at 5 in the morning. Sometimes early is at 3 in the morning. Unusually, midnight is early. This year, however, we saw a whole new act of crazy. Stores began to open during the Thanksgiving holiday in an attempt to get even more shoppers to flock to their stores. The advertisers couldn't even wait until the single day on the calendar dedicated completely and entirely to them, but they also had to bleed over into the only day a year dedicated to thankfulness.
I see something vividly wrong with putting Thanksgiving and Black Friday next to each other on the calendar. Lets set up a full parallel. On one side, we have the day during which we are supposed to spend the day basking in all that is great about the lives that we live. We are supposed to acknowledge just how good we have it in life and to be happy with what we have. Now, on the other hand, we are supposed to sprint to the stores, fight in the aisles of stores, wait in hours long lines, and argue and heckle over prices just so that we may accumulate more STUFF. We aren't buying any prayer books here people (although I apologize if religious items were on your wish list). We were buying TVs, jewelry, appliances, and clothing.
The spirit of the holidays that of giving, and I understand that. Black Friday is most often about buying for others, about getting our holiday shopping list done for all of those people who we want to buy gifts for. That is admirable, that we are spending our time and money on others. Still, though, I am still critical of the day for a number of reasons. The first is that not all shopping is so benevolent. Much of it is just as selfish as on any other day of the year: going to get the hot deal so that we can get things for ourselves. Another reason is that I do not believe it is an emergency to good things for others. You don't need to rush out and cut short your day of thanksgiving to buy stuff for other people. We need to make sure that we are giving one of our most important holidays its due, and giving it entirely.
I am just as guilty of Black Friday spending. I purchased a new watch at a store for a mind-blowing price. I was pleased. My new watch makes me happy. But I did it at 2 in the afternoon, the day after I had celebrated all that I already had.
We can be consumers looking for the best deals, but we need to make sure that we are getting the important days in order. Thanksgiving is not merely a holiday that we have to get around simply so that we can get to Black Friday. It is, rather, one of our most important national celebrations, and should be given respect as such.

Louder than words

I was listening to the radio in the car today. I heard a song that I have heard a thousand times. I heard the song "Shots" by LMFAO. I've hummed along to this song many times before, but this time, I stopped to listen to the words for a minute.

What a mistake that was. I have never heard a song quite like it. The language was so intense I'm not even comfortable putting it on my blog post right here. This was the type of radio station that my 12 year old brother would listen to, and that I would have on in the car while he is with me. Yet talking about women in a demeaning way, inappropriate language as if it were cool, and alcohol as if it were a glorified substance to be abused.

As I arrived at my destination, I shut off the radio and exited my car at the mall. At the mall, the song and its teaching kept running through my mind. Suddenly, I passed several stores that sold all sorts of products: clothing, makeup, jewelry, and more. What I found interesting was that almost everyone I saw had a bag of some kind. Everyone.

I'm a big fan of the saying "actions speak louder than words". But what is even louder than that is that money. What we as a society spend our money on is what defines us as a culture. The fact that LMFAO has sold thousands (if not millions) of songs on iTunes. The fact that so many people are willing to spend their money on this inappropriate type of "art" is, at first, somewhat surprising. What is not surprising is that most of the purchasing is done by ignorance. Many people do not take the time to listen to the words of each song, to understand what it is that we are endorsing with our credit cards and checks.

The same can be said at the mall. I'm sure that many people have purchased products that have been suspected of atrocities to either human or animal ways of life. Both the companies Nike and Ugg boots have been proven at some point in their histories to use sweatshop work and animal cruelty respectively. Whether they still do this I will not claim to know, but I am not buying Ugg boots. I know too many girls who are avid animal rights activists, enthusiastic defenders of ethical treatment of animals who wear these boots out of the ignorance for the process by which they are made.

Does this mean that you should research every object that you purchase? Not necessarily. But I find it to be important that if a person is to take a stand on a particular issue, to make sure that he or she is not talking out of both sides of their mouth. How can someone say that they find demeaning women to be offensive, and yet have paid money for LMFAO to make a profit from doing so? How can someone speak out against animal rights when such animals suffered for the production of the boots on their feet?

I have the song "Shots" on my iPod. I don't intend on taking it off because I heard the words today. I don't intend to petition iTunes to take it off of their website. But I am saying that I am conscious of what is being said in the songs I listen to and that I have an understanding of what I'm endorsing. I do not endorse this song; I do, however, like the rhythm and beat that is used in it. But I am aware of the content and DO NOT IN ANY WAY SUPPORT IT. I encourage everyone to be mindful of what is going on around them and make sure that they are representing they type of people they want to be.