Readers' blog: We should give thanks we are not like the US on Black Friday

As US citizens tuck into Thanksgiving Day dinner on Thursday, the conversation around the table should be interesting. Uncle Sam is still deeply divided after last year’s presidential election.

What will temporarily unite polarised Americans this coming weekend is their slavish devotion to consumerism.

Thanksgiving Day was sacrosanct, a non-denominational national holiday that gave thanks for the year’s harvest. Regrettably, the deeper meaning has been eclipsed by an undignified rush to a frantic shopping spree, with Americans queuing up overnight. The spree, which marks the start of the Christmas shopping season, begins with a dawn dash on Friday, and so is called Black Friday.