OUR VIEW: We’ve reached the finals straw

The phrase “Black Friday” is discomforting. We understand the original term refers to retail profits going from red to black, but the color sets an unpleasant mood. Maybe the dynamics of this epic shopping day would be more positive with a perkier color. Seeing as we — poor students — need cost breaks to afford gifts for family and friends, Black Friday is yet a joyful day.

We’ve heard of the madness that occurs during this purchasing marathon, and we’ve seen it, to an extent. However, the maniac shoppers that made the news brought the meaning of “Black Friday” to an entirely different level. The word “black” is entirely too fitting.

It is our understanding the word alludes to black eyes, the black pepper — as in pepper spray — and the blackness of the pre-dawn morning as hundreds of antsy game console consumers trample each other through Best Buy’s doors. We are not aware of anyone being trampled to death during this year’s sales, like the tragic death of a Walmart employee in 2008, but we are appalled by the absurd actions of customers trashing stores, stealing right and left, and pepper spraying those competing for a limited item. In fact, a number of people were arrested for fighting over various items they probably could have done without.

In a down economy, it’s clear businesses want to lure customers into stores any way they can. This year, businesses opened even earlier than last year, beginning the shopping madness as soon as the clock struck midnight. By intensifying the shopping situation, we feel people are exaggerating the novelty of the sales. Hundreds of our favorite stores have sales throughout the year. Is this post-Thanksgiving hype worth the anxiety of shoppers who shove and bite to get their hands on a pancake griddle that’s 20 percent off? How many shoppers go out wanting one of just three plasma televisions sold at 70 percent off and end up driving home with nothing to show for their sleepless night?

We blame the businesses for getting Americans all riled up, especially those Americans who develop high emotions when they hear the words “buy one get one free.” We all need to take a deep breath and remember broken faces and sitting in the back of cop cars are unnecessary outcomes to our discounted apparel fetishes. Sleep in, clip a coupon and go the next day. This way, we will stay out of jail, make wiser decisions and respect ourselves at the end of the day for acting civilly.