The Fake Post-Thanksgiving Holidays Must End

Thanksgiving is great - no work, lots of food, catching up with family. But somehow over the years we have created four fake holidays immediately following thanksgiving. I for one refuse to participate in these activities, and call on all my fellow Americans to do the same.

Black Friday Must End

Black Friday has become a national embarrassment. Stores are in an arms race with each other, and are now opening at midnight, with people even camping out and missing thanksgiving in preparation. Once people are let in, they trample over each other and literally kill each other to get their hands on discounted commercial goods. People think they are getting a good deal, and saving money - but really they aren't. Most likely they don't really need whatever it is they are buying, and would be better off spending nothing but more time with their family and eating leftovers.

Small Business Saturday Must End

American Express has contrived this day of worship to small businesses most likely an advertising ploy to sell financial services to... you guessed it, small businesses! Small businesses are tremendously popular - with an 88% approval rating^[1] by the American people, and we all really like the idea of helping the underdog get ahead. But the silly idea of only shopping at small businesses on this one Saturday a year won't actually amount to anything substantive. There is a lot our elected representatives can do to help small businesses such as streamlining regulations that make it hard to operate, reforming the tax code that favors large business, and even tackling issues that affect employees like healthcare and immigration. If you really care about your local small business show up to the polls on the first Tuesday of November to vote instead of to their store the Saturday after Thanksgiving to shop.

Cyber Monday Must End

The antiquated notion that the internet is somehow this unique space all in it's own little world is obsolete. For some strange reason back in the 90's people started using the word cyber to refer to things on the internet - such as cyber-bullying. Some people even did this to their own name (e.g instead of being just Bob or Sue, they were now Cyber Bob or Cyber Sue)! But today the internet is interwoven into every aspect of life and we don't really separate what goes on online from what goes on offline. The notion of going out of your way to buy something in 'cyberspace' seems strange and is actually more of a joke than anything else. The fact is we buy stuff online every day, and therefore this day (and the word cyber in the context of the internet in general) needs to end.

Giving Tuesday Must End

Perhaps I'm getting into curmudgeon territory for bashing Giving Tuesday (or should I say #GivingTuesday as it is technically known^[2]), but I'll make the case anyway.

First, this day was founded as a response to the commercialism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The proper response shouldn't be to invent another competing fake holiday for people to spend money on charity instead of on a TV. The correct response to the rampant commercialism in our society is to simply not participate in days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Second, founded by an arm of the United Nations with large corporate partners such as Microsoft, Sony and eBay - it feels like a forced and top down approach from the powerful to get the ordinary to give money to the poor. The reason we need so much charity in the first place is because of the very system that the founders of this contrived holiday have gotten powerful and wealthy from is failing. The reason charities exist in the first place is because our system of governance has created extreme inequality that leaves far too many people uneducated, malnourished, unsheltered, and full of despair. Perpetuating the (incorrect) idea that you can solve the world's problems simply by giving a small donation to charity on this one day each year is a farse. The founders of this holiday do have a conflict of interest here, since the real solutions to our problems involve quite a bit of upheaval in our political and economic systems, and are generally against their perceived self-interest^[3].

Finally, the notion of putting the act of giving into one single day, as if that's enough for an entire year, is problematic. To me the idea of giving to charity, volunteering my time, or just paying it forward in general should be something I think about every day. Building a giving back habit would be much more powerful than a one-off day and would make the world a better place. So for everyone out there who wants to tweet, post on facebook, or send out an email promoting #GivingTuesday - think about how you could better apply that energy to developing giving habits for yourself and your friends instead of encouraging this monster of a fake holiday.

<sup>1. 2012 Public Affairs Pulse Survey PDF ↩
2. No joke, check out it's wikipedia page ↩
3. To be clear I don't think this is a conspiricy, most likely these are all good actors in flawed system, which I am critiquing. ↩</sup>