Companies advertising specials for folks being affected by the shutdown of the federal government rub me the wrong way. Giving away free crap, well, I suppose I’m not as irritated by that kind of thing. It still reeks of taking advantage of tragedy for a little self-promotion but I can see how it might be an even trade.

The thing I’m really starting to get irritated about however is this phenomena of “half off tickets to $FOO for folks with IDs proving they’re affected” advertising. To me that reads as, “Hey, you. Experiencing hard times, right? How about stupidly spending some of your dwindling capital on some cheap entertainment? Well, come right this way…”

This isn’t a party. It isn’t a marketing opportunity. It’s a tragedy being foisted on us by a group of people who are trying to take legislative shortcuts because they lack the popular support to do things the right way. And crap is about to get a lot more serious in the coming week. No one thinks that Congress will force us into default but no one thought Congress would shut down federal operations either.