The Ironies of Black Friday (TL;DR: read the list at the bottom).

Call me romantic, but I find it rather unfortunate that the holiday season (which apparently now starts around the first week of November) is the time when capitalist consumer culture is the most obvious. Christmas decorations in the form of business promotions have been going up well before Thanksgiving for several years now (although it seems to get earlier every year), and many Americans have simply embraced the fact that the holidays are more about buying shit than about the "Christmas Spirit" which may or may not have existed at one point–

But aside from the cliché lament for the nostalgic days of yore when people allegedly cared about goodness and generosity for a week or two during December, there is cause for serious concern regarding how we consume during this season. These next few weeks are by far the most profitable time of the year for retail corporations due to the overwhelming need that we feel to consume in order to please ourselves and others. And as this ideology becomes embedded deeper within our culture every year, it only furthers the ideals of high consumption that we participate in year-round. With each holiday season, we are entrenching ourselves further into the logic of capitalism, and thereby worsening all of the ills that it facilitates: class division, the widening income gap, environmental destruction, sexism, racism, poverty, the power of corporations to control our politics... oh, and waste.

And of all the crazed overconsumption that goes on during the holiday season, a huge amount of it is concentrated into the 20 soulless hours that are appropriately dubbed Black Friday. As if we live within some anti-capitalist apocalyptic sci-fi novel, it has literally gotten to the point where people trample others to death for the opportunity to consume. Just as Americans seem to have resigned themselves to the fact that Christmas is centered around buying shit, they also seem to readily recognize the morbid irony and illogic nature of Black Friday, as exemplified in one of many someecards of this approximate nature:

But this begs the question: why are we so ready to recognize the faults of this system and even laugh at how ridiculous it is, only to continue to participate in it without a second thought? With the rise of internet memes, we have become incredibly skilled at criticizing the hypocrisies and wrongs that surround us, laughing at them, and then accepting them anyway.

So if you are in the majority of Americans that agrees that the holiday season is centered around consumption, but the minority that wishes not to participate in it, this list will be your friend:

As per my nature, #1 is my favorite. In the past few decades, we have stopped using our material creativity and resourcefulness due to our dependence on buying new things, so many people might doubt their ability to make a gift. But never fear! There are easy things that everyone can make. For example, make an easy notebook and fill it with recipes, or bake the simplest loaf of bread ever. A quick perusing of a website like eHow should turn up endless possibilities.

Another idea is to outsource your homemade gifts to people you know. For example, have your aunt who knits amazing hats make one for your girlfriend, and barter with or (sigh, if you must) pay your aunt for it.

And since you'll be free on Black Friday, please consider attending a solidarity action to give critical support to workers who are underpaid and mistreated as a result of the system which holiday consumption contributes to. This website allows you to search for wal-mart strikes and actions taking place near you.