http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/18/opinion/greene-black-friday/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
The author, Bob Greene, uses a satirical tone throughout the article to prove that Black Friday has become it's own holiday, eagerly awaited and celebrated on the level of Thanksgiving or Christmas. He argues that Black Friday is now encroaching on thanksgiving, with many stores opening as early as 9 pm on Thursday and forcing employees to leave their own homes and Turkeys even earlier. Greene personifies Black Friday saying, "[Black Friday] has shrugged off the confines of its name and has now established squatters' rights on Thursday". He identifies Black Friday as an invader, taking away American values that have existed before there even was an "America". He compares Black Friday to other religious holidays saying, "Like real holidays, it occurs on a predesignated day each year. People anticipate it and mark the date. Across the breadth of the nation they are absent from work to observe it. And when the day arrives, they congregate like. . .well, like congregations". Crowds anxiously gathering outside of Walmarts and Targets awaiting bargains have become the same as crowds of churchgoers gathering inside churches to listen to Christmas melodies. Black Friday is an entirely capitalist, commercialized holiday with no religious value or deeper meaning, but it has become as deeply ingrained in American culture and identity as Easter or Thanksgiving. Greene uses logos by citing the chaos that Black Friday often incites: people getting trampled in the rush to get to discounted flat screens and people getting pepper-sprayed over the newest gaming system. Holidays are supposed to bring people together, unite them; Black Friday causes violence over superficial, materialistic goods.
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