I saw this clip floating around and was interested in the drastic differences between Black Friday shopping from the early 1980s to how it unfolds here in modern times. Then I was instantly turned off because it started to preach to me about preparedness and society collapsing, so I was forced to dig.
Digging let me to the clip above, a look back at Black Friday 1983 with WLOX in Mississippi. A calmer, more peaceful time where people smiled, enjoyed themselves and actually got to shop. There’s even a whimsical mall Santa that doesn’t want to end his life on camera. That’s something.
Compare it to this supercut of Black Friday clips from the past few years. People busting through metal gates, battling over cheap electronics, and completely disregarding the idea of personal space. It looks like World War Z with high cholesterol, especially the scenes where the store employees just say, “f*ck it.”
What the hell happened? When did we turn into a pack of savages, ready to spill blood over an Acer computer that will break by January? Then again, if you love mayhem, the current state of Black Friday is perfect. Let’s go sabotage those security gates at Wal-Mart and see what goes down.