#blacklivesmatter

A few days ago my mom came to pick me up from the Howard L station, on the border of Evanston and Chicago, and told me that she made an illegal U-turn right infront of a police man, but that he didnt even give her a warning. I can't help but think what would have happened if my mom had been a black person instead. Would they have gotten off "Scott free" like my mom?

With so much going on in the news about police brutality and the murders of non-threatening black people like Eric Garner or Michael Brown, its hard not to think that the police man would have fined a black person just because of their skin color.

How is it that it feels like we've made no progress with racism and the equality of all skin colors as a country, over the past 50 years?

America; Home of the Turkey and Tee-shirts

I love tradition and I love shopping. Put them together and what do you have? Black Friday. It's a perfect excuse to drag your friends along to participate in day where people are brainwashed to think they're getting much better deals then they actually are. The fact that I knew this, yet still decided that going to Old Orchard Mall while thousands of people were also going shopping at the same place, says a lot about how this society is persuaded by false advertisements.

A fellow blogger, Seth Godin, offers four steps for how he believes a marketing phenomenon is created:
1. Find something that people are already interested in doing (in this case, shopping)
2. Add scarcity, mob dynamics, a bit of fear.
3. Repeat the meme in the media. Press releases, B roll, clever statistics regardless of veracity
4. Do it on a slow news day, and mix in famous names, famous brands and even some hand-wringing about the plight of workers.

Godin's steps help prove that companies will take advantage of peoples interests and manipulate them to increase their own profit. Sounds kind of like Black Friday, which was created for the sole purpose of tricking consumers to think they're saving more money than they actually are.

Thanksgiving is one of the most (if not the most) American holiday this nation celebrates, yet the day after seems to have a greater influence on American lives than the holiday itself. Is that how Americans really want to percieved? I guess we've truly accepted our title as the worlds largest consumer nation.