THIS. On my "Things my family has said this Thanksgiving that drive me fucking nuts" list, the "It's the consumers' fault" argument figures prominently due to how often it's mentioned. They agree that it's shitty that workers have to miss Thanksgiving with their families for minimum wage because of increasingly earlier Black Friday sales, but they say it in a way that makes it seem like the corporations are the victims and that they just *have* to keep moving it back because those greedy consumers keep asking for more. NOPE. Black Friday exists because corporations decided it should, and corporations push it back further and further because they know people are going to come earlier if it means they can get things for cheaper (and who am I to judge? Maybe a lot of those consumers are buying food for their families or furnishings for their homes or gifts for their children that they couldn't afford otherwise). I agree that our culture of rampant and unbridled consumerism is to blame, but that culture was created by profit seeking big businesses, not by the consumers who represent a wide range of situations and motivations (and who are subject to the constant bombardment of consumerist propaganda).

My family says "If people just stopped buying on Black Friday, then companies wouldn't do it." like it's just that fucking simple. The fact that many people do boycott Black Friday notwithstanding, that's simply not realistic given the incentives/pressure there is to shop on Black Friday. My family, for example, bemoans the fact that workers are working on 9 pm on Thanksgiving, but they went to shop then anyway. Why? Well, for one, they don't care enough, but even more than that, it's because they know that individually their abstaining won't help anything because no one else will and the companies will be unscathed while they miss out on cheap clothing. And when everyone thinks like this, then no one stops shopping. The reason for this attitude? Hmmm, looks like it goes back to capitalism and consumerism and individualism again, like it always does. And then there are the people for whom these sales represent a significant opportunity to perhaps save what little money they do have by buying cheaper food or furniture or gifts. They're not going to stop buying because they need these sales, and I don't begrudge them that.

And while I do resent the people who say that the treatment of workers is unfair but shop there and participate in it anyway, I am more frustrated by the fact that this entire situation is considered normal and irreversible. I don't think it is, although obviously it'd be a long process. I wish that everyone who had the means and was able to do so protested on Black Friday instead of shopping. There were protests at so many Wal-marts nationwide today that really fucked with their Black Friday profits. Some of my beautiful friends got arrested at one today. And that's where we have power as individuals, because we have the power to throw our weight into a collective and directed display of opposition to this situation. Individually berating the hypothetical consumers for this situation while actively participating it will do nothing, but choosing to join a group to make a statement collectively and in a way that will disrupt the profits of companies can make a difference. I'm not sold on the idea of voting with your dollar (no matter where I put mine, someone else will give theirs to Wal-mart), but I do believe that together, by withholding our dollars and using our collective voices to fuck with Wal-mart and other companies' supplies of millions of dollars, then we can effect change.