Spring Break: Who Needs Panama City

It was a good train ride.  The majestic Rhine Valley gave rise to evergreens thawing from a cold continental winter; the vineyard's terrace highlighted only by the contrast of soil and vine.  The castle remains, though in ruins, cast haunting regal stares on us below, still waiting for the next wave of North men, vigilant to the last.  But we are from the west.  And the horseless carriage plowing along the west bank of the river shielded us at times from the years of long ago.  We were not there for a history lesson, I had studied that enough in my classes, it was Spring Break.  Being March, I had a parka over my swimwear. 

Now, I can hear the question: why would you go to Germany for Spring Break?  Why not Miami, Panama City, or South Padre Island perhaps?  Oh sure, I missed the hedonistic right of passage for jail bait and collegiate brass polisher alike.  Hilariously embarrassing after stories aside, what do I want with a bunch of inebriated, and often underage, hooligans whose quest for liquid divinity supersedes common sense and human courtesy?  If I wanted to be subject to the whims of mass appeal, I'd turn on a TV.  And in reality, Germany has everything that the usual Spring Break haunts have but with better accents.  So it was, with a sense of adventure, an escape of the routine and an addiction to not be like everyone else, I set off with the cheapest tickets to Europe: Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. 

So, for this Spring Break, avoid the temptation of the Gulf.  The usual hot spots are just an extension of the parties you have already and will continue to attend on campus.  Try the less traditional locales.  Bars and clubs are still more than happy to entertain you and take your money.  You can still meet others you can hang out with throughout the week.  So, go on, pack your parka and gain a unique experience.  Remembrances and sobriety are optional.  

Who is to blame for “Black Friday” violence?

Each year we hear about violence in stores on the Thursday after Thanksgiving in the United States.  As this commercial trend has been exported, the violence has followed.  This violence is morally reprehensible.  But, who is to blame?  Is it the companies?  Or consumers?

Companies

Bob Port, editor of sayanythingblog.com, argues that the only people we have to blame for “Black Friday” is ourselves.  Speaking from a more commercial standpoint, he advocates that companies are essentially the middlemen in the consumer chain.  They are open, because people are buying things.  These sentiments were echoed by Wal-Mart President and CEO Bill Simon.  In an interview with Today, he said, “We’re in the service industry.  We open when our customers want to shop.” 

The problem is companies have trained consumers to shop for deals.  Advertisements leading up to the holiday prominently display savings and deals designed to get shoppers on the sales floor.  Certainly, customers could shop elsewhere, or not shop at all.  But, over the years, consumers have become so trained that they will wait, all night, in the cold, to enter a store.  This is a situation that the companies have had a hand in creating.   

However, as reported by Suzanne Kapner in the Wall Street Journal, Black Friday bargains are little more than smoke and mirrors.  An item is artificially priced high during the year so that when it goes “on sale” the item is selling at the price point they want to sell them at.  Dana Mattioli argues that the prices on some items are raised before Black Friday to allow for the discounts.  But, these discounts are more about getting consumers in the store in the hopes that they buy items that have actually had their prices increased for the country’s busiest shopping day.  Combined with the fact that the same prices, if not lower prices, are offered in November or throughout the holiday season, and it makes the companies look a little bit greedy using artificially created discounts to get consumers to buy other goods that are priced higher than normal. 

By artificially inflating prices, all prices lose their integrity.  Supply and demand seem to hold little sway over prices.  The sales tag reflects what people are willing to pay, not what basic economic forces dictate the price should be.

Companies, I suspect would argue that they have a responsibility to turn a profit.  Revenue goes to pay employees and operating costs.  Profits are used for future investments.  But, I argue that companies have a responsibility to the communities they serve, aside from employment and the services they provide.  That responsibility includes assisting in the betterment of the community.  There is no better way to assist the community than to provide a non-threatening shopping experience.  Having more staff on hand to assist shoppers has done nothing to stem violence.  So, either there is not enough staff, or the staff is not preventing violence.

The argument for blaming companies for Black Friday violence would be as follows:

Companies have created the circumstances that lead to violence.  They have trained consumers to shop for deals.  They create a sense of urgency with discounts that are artificially created to get shoppers in the store to buy other items at a high price.  Lastly, the stores have a social responsibility to prevent violence, and yet do not.  This sounds an awful lot like negligence, at false advertisement at the least.

Consumers

Companies don’t commit violent acts, people do.  Are we, the people, to blame for all the violence?

Thanksgiving once was a time for family.  And, the Bears v. Lions game (Bear down!!)  However, the tradition of sitting at home as a family has eroded over time. 

One New York woman left the holiday dinner to by a large TV.  While the shopper confessed, “I don’t really dig the Thanksgiving night thing, I feel bad for the workers.”  But, that did not stop her from skipping out to the store in the first place.   Furthermore, some families wait in “Black Friday” lines as a family.  Some may claim that cherished memories have been created this way.  Simply put, the scene of family bonding has changed from the sitting room to the waiting line.  Over time, people have changed their traditions.  The argument is then made that shopping, or going to stores, is something that people enjoy doing, at least some of us. 

Perhaps the strongest link to the blame of consumers is the reports from the United Kingdom on “Black Friday” violence.  Reports of violence from Bristol to Belfast, raise the alarm that such incidents may not be a simple matter of “Americans being Americans.”  Many of the scenes described, irate customers and stampedes, are now being played out in the U.S. and abroad. 

Thanksgiving traditions have changed.  An increasing number of people are focusing on material possessions.  Some, simply like shopping.  So, consumers seem likely to go shopping on Thanksgiving.  Also, people, by their nature, can be territorial and slightly selfish.  In the direst of moments, self-preservation often prevails, even if it is at the expense of others.  Humans are social beings and can often fall prey to the herd mentality.  Companies can hardly be blamed for that. 

So, who is it?

This is not an exhaustive study.  It could go either way.  Ultimately, it becomes a matter of who we think is more evil: human nature or corporate greed.  I’m more afraid of the latter.  

Black Friday – Evading Americanism as an Emigrant

As a recent emigrant from the United States, I find myself more and more attempting to downplay, or outright hid, my country of origin.  And, as I read articles about “Black Friday” violence I find myself cowering further into the corner. 

There is a good amount of news coverage on the U.S. around the globe.  And, like all news, if it bleeds it leads.  Certainly, random acts of kindness rarely make it on the news.  There are no TV crews following do-gooders around.  That is what makes voluntary kind acts so appreciative.  But, when the U.S. unilaterally invades a country, it is plastered on the front page of the Yekaterinburg News.  And rightfully so.  Military incursions by one sovereign nation-state in another is world news.  But, is that what I will be labeled?  Is that the only thing that defines people from the U.S.? 

The logical and philosophical answer is “Of course not.”  However, combine such news items with entertainment exports and the picture being painted is not necessarily a positive one.  When one has never been to the U.S. media and stereotypes form the basis of judgment about its people.  We can always enter social situations with an open mind but tucked away neatly under the stack of aging newsprint is a stereotype assembled over time. 

What must people think when they see “Black Friday” violence?  It must be horrifying to think that a simple and joyful task of buying someone a gift can come with the price tag of one’s life.  Even more insidious is that this violence is not born of necessity but begat from greed manifested by companies and living, breathing human beings. 

It is instances like this where I channel Rick Blaine. 

We sit in the pub near the open fire.  “What’s your nationality?” they ask.  “I’m a drunkard.”  And that makes me a citizen of the world.