If you were shopping at the earliest Black Friday deals

Then you were ensuring that some Americans were not able to do this:

Or this:

Or even this:

With their families throughout the day without their time being yanked away from them for the sake of Madison Avenue.  I know, grocery stores have long been opened, and I suppose given the nature of the feast day and the tendency of procrastinators everywhere, that's understandable.  I also understand businesses of necessity and charity and care giving are required to be open.  My Dad, a railroad engineer, frequently missed Thanksgiving proper.  I can remember many times having Thanksgiving feasts on Friday or even Saturday when he finally came home.

But that's not what is happening here.  The things breaking up the holiday are not for the holiday themselves.  Nor are they for necessity   They are so Americans can get an X% discount on the latest object of consumerist feeding frenzies.  Talking about whipping donkeys.  Lemming mentality anyone? It's been said that Americans no longer have time for presidential scandals or threats to national security.  As long as we have the latest iPhone or iPad App, that's all we care about.  And an App that helps us put our face on a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon is a hell of a late more important than, say, the fate of fellow Americans and their time with families.  Such is the result of a nation that told itself not to care about anything unless it directly impacts me.  That door, I'm afraid, swings both ways.