Opinion: Greed pollutes American values
Question: who has two thumbs and has greed that is slowly crushing American culture?
The answer: almost every American man, woman and child.
Some may ask, why such a brash generalization? Brash? Maybe. A generalization? Think again.
Kevin Tampone, writer for syracuse.com in a Nov. 26 article entitled “Black Friday 2014: By the Numbers,”wrote that 45 percent of people polled, planned on shopping Thanksgiving Day. A day for giving thanks for the good things in life turned to giving thanks for the material things in life.
If materialism is noticeable on thankful Thursday, frenzy Friday can not be pretty.
According to an Emily Jane article on CNNMoney, titled “Black Friday Shopping Hits a New Record,” Jane says that the infamous Black Friday was even more black than ever before.
Going into the black is retail speak for profit, or better yet, money. This year was about $59.1 billion black over the four-day weekend. A record high and 13 percent increase from last year.
People expect Thanksgiving and Black Friday to bring out the materialistic side of people. It is the holiday season after all.
However, materialism knows no season.
“Americans today, compared to 55 years ago, own twice as many cars and eat out twice as much per person,” said Carolyn Gregoire of The Huffington Post in a Jan. 23 article from last year.
Twice as many cars and twice as many visits to Applebee’s, and that is year round.
In hindsight, will materialism really crush American culture?
Next holiday season, visit ole Saint Nick at Walmart. Your answer, lies in the numbers.