It appears that today is turning out to be a very black Friday. For some reason, slashing prices seems to bring out the absolute worst in society. Highlighting the effects of crass consumerism on a society which simply wants more. The internal needs, wants and desires of people to purchase things to make their lives better is fuelled by capitalism, which at its worst is fundamentally about greed. People want things. Do they need them? Do they even question whether or not they need something before they get into a tussle with another adult over an electronic item?
People seem to have an inflated sense of entitlement, they deserve the things they are fighting for more than their opponent. Seriously, there are so many things in this world which are worth fighting for, an electronic item at a discounted price is not one of them. We are meant to be a civilised society. There's nothing civil about fighting over a TV in a supermarket.
We have a perfectly good TV at home. We bought it the year after we got married, making it ten and a half years old. It doesn't have a flat screen, it doesn't have inbuilt freeview, it isn't HD ready, there's nothing 3D about the picture and we can't surf the internet on it. If we plug a freesat box into it then it does do a lot more than it was intended for though. It might not be the newest model, or the widest screen at 24 inches, but it works. My grandma taught me that if it isn't broken, don't fix it and I stand by that. There's nothing wrong with our TV, it does what a TV should do. I do not feel any need to replace it or any urge to spend money on something I simply don't need.
What's the point in spending money on something you don't need? That's a serious question. What else could you spend that money on? Bargains are only bargains if you were going to buy the product anyway, but it is cheaper than a previous price. If you don't actually need the thing then you've spent money you didn't intend to. A woman was interviewed earlier saying she had got an "absolute bargain", when asked if it was what she had gone into the shop for she replied "no, I just popped in for some milk". I understand that people want to save money, but the best way to do that is to keep the money in your pocket.
Today has shown the dark side of consumerism, the degrading, humiliating and demeaning aspect of people who seemingly have lost their self-respect. People acting irrationally, squabbling over what is essentially a lump of plastic and metal, when they probably have an equally good lump of plastic and metal at home. Today has so far shown a total lack of decorum. What kind of message does this send to our children? Society has become like the seaguls in Finding Nemo, all calling 'mine' and trying to eat the same fish.
You'd better stop reading, you're missing out on the sales. Quick, there's only another nine hours left. You haven't got long to grab that "bargain".
