Let’s hope Black Friday doesn’t catch on here

I love shopping just as much as the next person – and the thrill of finding a good bargain for me is right up there with finding a parking space in Sliema on a busy Saturday morning.

But there is something about the frenzy of what is known as “Black Friday” which reminds me of the savage behaviour of people who are stranded on a desert island when the last remaining rations have run out. After fighting each other over the last scrap of meat, they will easily turn on each other for sheer survival.

In one well-known, stomach-churning real life story of a plane crash in the Andes mountains (which was later turned into a film called Alive) the survivors even resorted to eating the flesh of those who had died. That book haunted me for days after I finished it, as I wondered what really separates human beings from wildlife creatures when they find themselves in death or life situations.   

Seeing those slashed prices vindicates our suspicion that, Aha! You see? Someone is making a huge profit off our backs and now is our chance to get something in return.

Of course, clinching goods at amazing discounts during Black Friday in the US when stores slash their prices down ridiculously the day after Thanksgiving, should hardly be equated with facing the prospect of death through starvation up on a freezing mountain.  But take a look at the videos which are shared without fail at the stampedes that take place annually, and the desperate, wild-eyed look on people’s faces will be enough to give you the chills.

Bodies pressed up against the store’s glass doors before they officially open as those behind them push them forward, is hardly an uplifting sight of what we have become in the name of that god, consumerism.

They may not be fighting over food, but they are fighting over a flat screen TV which is being offered at a rock bottom price, and in our own little bubble of First World Problems, acquiring that flat screen TV has become as crucial and imperative to our existence as our next meal.

This year in the UK, the tradition (minus Thanksgiving), which crept in a few years ago, really swept through that nation with a vengeance, and we know what that means. It is only a matter of time before shops all over Malta also latch on to the whole idea.

Actually, we have already had a taster of what might happen every time the supermarket chain Lidl has BBQs or something else which people (inexplicably) really, really want, available for next to nothing. Early morning queues, stampedes, people trampled underfoot – we all saw that notorious video.

But just think if all the shops and stores adopted the custom of Black Friday – it would be downright mayhem.

I doubt our police force would be able to control the crowds that would surge towards the shops, pushing, shoving and clawing their way towards what they Simply Must Have. We as a nation do not know the meaning of the word ‘queue’ at the best of times, so can you imagine the riots which would erupt if we had to have a Maltese version of ‘Black Friday’? 

Well, yes, actually, we can imagine them because we have seen examples of what happens in other countries – it seems to be wired in human nature to react and want to grab anything labelled as “free” or “heavily discounted”.

We feel we are pulling a fast one on the Establishment which (we are sure) wants us to keep paying stupidly high prices for consumer goods which we know, we just know, cannot possibly be that expensive to produce. Seeing those slashed prices vindicates our suspicion that, Aha! You see? Someone is making a huge profit off our backs and now is our chance to get something in return.

We think back at all the times we paid full price for something and smack our foreheads at our stupidity for not waiting more patiently for the sales. (Of course, we also conveniently overlook the fact that during these crazy sales we might be actually buying goods of very inferior quality – but, as long as the price is right, who cares?) 

It might not be cannibalism in the literal sense of the word, but when you reach the point that you physically tread on someone to grab the last remaining BBQ (or whatever), you have taken yet another step backwards from what it means to be a human being.

As it turns out, there is an element of deceit aimed at the shopper with a short memory. A report on CNN Money’s website last week actually analysed 27 different Black Friday advertisements and, surprise, surprise, the same products from last year were being offered at the same discounts, which means any electronics would be outdated.

The study also found that Black Friday discounts are offered at the exact same prices at other times throughout the year. So one wonders whether it is really worth getting so worked up and hysterical and possibly getting injured in the process?

The irony is that Western society’s obsession with buying more and more “stuff” has reached such epic proportions that every day articles are published about how to minimize and de-clutter and how to recycle what we don’t really need. It seems we cannot buy enough shelving, wardrobes or cupboards to contain all the clothes, shoes, toys, electronic equipment, kitchen gadgets or simply “things” we insist on accumulating. Possessions seem to be the badge of identity we wear to validate who we are, and as Black Friday has shown, we are even ready to mow other people down to get our hands on even more things which, if we had to be really honest, we don’t even need.        

It might not be cannibalism in the literal sense of the word, but when you reach the point that you physically tread on someone to grab the last remaining BBQ (or whatever), you have taken yet another step backwards from what it means to be a human being.