Thanksgiving continued happily along until the 1960s, when retailers like Macy’s started big sales on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Now, of course, we know it as Black Friday, America’s high holy day of deals. It’s been crowding Thanksgiving ever since. To traditionalists, it’s a heretical invasion of one of the few moments of reflection we have left; to others it’s the perfect celebration of our land of plenty. Can Thanksgiving and Black Friday coexist as two sides of the American coin?/Ted S. McGregor, Inlander. More here.

Question: Is there something hypocritical re: celebrating reflective Thanksgiving on Thursday and then gourging ourselves on gift buying the following day, on Black Friday?