Post by carolineba112 on Dec 5, 2012 9:07:56 GMT -5
“A consumer is a shopper who is sore about something.”
Harold Coffin
We’re the country that shares what we’re thankful for one day, but once midnight strikes, we turn into irrational, needy people. With Black Friday just passing, the total spending was up 26% compared to last year. However, it’s a dangerous world out there that Friday after Thanksgiving. Hysteria settles over the country as a whole. Normally levelheaded soccer moms cut throats of strangers for a 20% discount of the latest Tiffany necklace. Rabid men perform winner take all rugby plays for the new IPad Mini. For a few short hours, the rules of daily life are suspended and in a blink of an eye it’s suddenly socially acceptable for people to barge into stores, resort to violence, and gouge out neighbors’ eyes while trying to get the dollar-busting deals. It’s like a hockey game but without the referees.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem falls into mass hysteria, a condition in which community-wide fear overwhelms logic and individual thought. The fear, essentially, is of witchcraft, while during Black Friday, it’s the fear of paying the full price. That fear is what ignites the ruthlessness in all Americans. Each year, there are at least two deaths, due to trampling, or even stabbings. Many customers during Black Friday accuse other customers of stealing their merchandise, so the accused go accuse others, and it turns into the domino effect, sometimes resulting in violence. As in The Crucible, Abigail pretends Mary sent a bird to attack her, and eventually all the girls join in, acting hypnotized. Abigail’s fear of being attacked by Proctor and being called a witch overwhelm her logic and individual thought; as with the shoppers who’s sense of logic goes out the window and adopt tunnel vision, not paying attention to anyone’s well being.
Saving cash is not, however, the only motivating sparkplug that initiates actions that are openly mocked by late night talk show hosts. Fear of being left out of bargains may explain some things, but fear of being left out of community standards—no matter how bizarre, and mercantile they may be—may explain further. Being considered hip and “in the know” may soothe feelings for frumpy housewives who were once high school cheerleaders. In a mob we don’t question the individual. Corruptness and greed—the secret recipe that drives many but is considered too gauche for our suburban lives—can be played out.
Perhaps the root psychology behind Miller’s play and Black Friday is a sort of “tyranny of consensus,” in which after we watch hundreds of people tent out at the local mall, we become naturally curious and check it out. We are then allowing ourselves to be unconsciously swept along; as with the characters in The Crucible, as they follow the others in accusing others to save themselves. We lack introspection. We are puppet stringed by Madison Avenue. We like to be embraced by our communities.
Word Count: 508
abcnews.go.com/Business/cyber-monday-fiscal-cliff-common/story?id=17813150&page=3#.UL9SnY4bZUR
www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2012/11/26/black-friday-weekend-sales-estimated-at-51b/
Harold Coffin
We’re the country that shares what we’re thankful for one day, but once midnight strikes, we turn into irrational, needy people. With Black Friday just passing, the total spending was up 26% compared to last year. However, it’s a dangerous world out there that Friday after Thanksgiving. Hysteria settles over the country as a whole. Normally levelheaded soccer moms cut throats of strangers for a 20% discount of the latest Tiffany necklace. Rabid men perform winner take all rugby plays for the new IPad Mini. For a few short hours, the rules of daily life are suspended and in a blink of an eye it’s suddenly socially acceptable for people to barge into stores, resort to violence, and gouge out neighbors’ eyes while trying to get the dollar-busting deals. It’s like a hockey game but without the referees.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem falls into mass hysteria, a condition in which community-wide fear overwhelms logic and individual thought. The fear, essentially, is of witchcraft, while during Black Friday, it’s the fear of paying the full price. That fear is what ignites the ruthlessness in all Americans. Each year, there are at least two deaths, due to trampling, or even stabbings. Many customers during Black Friday accuse other customers of stealing their merchandise, so the accused go accuse others, and it turns into the domino effect, sometimes resulting in violence. As in The Crucible, Abigail pretends Mary sent a bird to attack her, and eventually all the girls join in, acting hypnotized. Abigail’s fear of being attacked by Proctor and being called a witch overwhelm her logic and individual thought; as with the shoppers who’s sense of logic goes out the window and adopt tunnel vision, not paying attention to anyone’s well being.
Saving cash is not, however, the only motivating sparkplug that initiates actions that are openly mocked by late night talk show hosts. Fear of being left out of bargains may explain some things, but fear of being left out of community standards—no matter how bizarre, and mercantile they may be—may explain further. Being considered hip and “in the know” may soothe feelings for frumpy housewives who were once high school cheerleaders. In a mob we don’t question the individual. Corruptness and greed—the secret recipe that drives many but is considered too gauche for our suburban lives—can be played out.
Perhaps the root psychology behind Miller’s play and Black Friday is a sort of “tyranny of consensus,” in which after we watch hundreds of people tent out at the local mall, we become naturally curious and check it out. We are then allowing ourselves to be unconsciously swept along; as with the characters in The Crucible, as they follow the others in accusing others to save themselves. We lack introspection. We are puppet stringed by Madison Avenue. We like to be embraced by our communities.
Word Count: 508
abcnews.go.com/Business/cyber-monday-fiscal-cliff-common/story?id=17813150&page=3#.UL9SnY4bZUR
www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2012/11/26/black-friday-weekend-sales-estimated-at-51b/