Last night, I saw a line around the block outside of Best Buy waiting to get in at midnight. If ever there was evidence of our misplaced social priorities, fetishization (sic) consumption rituals are it. What a disgrace “Black Friday” is. The complete breakdown in meaning in which we become imprinted to seek shiny happy baubles of future-dom as the means by which we deny the larger truths of mortality, friendship, love, communication and intimacy.

No, Call of Duty 3, on sale for the next 24 hours, won’t solve the gnawing crises underneath the conscious mind. You are deluded fools outside of Best Buy, worshiping at the feet of the Glitter God of Mass Market Ritual. You can try to entertain yourself out of extended reflection, but it won’t work. Consume, they tell us. Obey, and happiness awaits. – Jay Louis