Via Marco.org:
"Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede
(via jackieheartsb, wooliebear)
A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.
The 34-year-old worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.
Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.
“He was bum-rushed by 200 people,” said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. “They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me.”
[…]
The unidentified victim was rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m., police said.
The cause of death was pending.
Cause of death: an incredibly dysfunctional society where overconsumption and consumerism are out of control while education and adulthood are neglected.
We should be ashamed of ourselves for letting this ridiculous mess happen. Everything about it. The Wal-Mart store’s existence in its current state. The massive hype of “deals” that are never really good (it’s retail). The psychosis of Black Friday early-morning rushing and the artificial scarcity created by the retailers to inflate this mania more every year. The mental state of hundreds of people willing to wake up at 4 AM to wait in a giant mob in the cold for an hour then trample a man to death to save $30 on a crappy off-brand TV — all under the guise of giving people stuff they don’t need to celebrate the birth of a man who told people 2000 years ago to be kind to each other, be humble, live beneath your means, and help those less fortunate. (An out-of-control society killed him, too.)
I hope the people who trampled this man were arrested, and they should be prosecuted for manslaughter. All of them. The people who walked right by without helping him were accessories.
Let’s end this horrible Black Friday mania. It’s done. It’s as done as rickrolling. It’s over. Let’s never let something this stupid happen again."
And incident #2:2 gunmen kill each other in shootout at Toys 'R' Us in Palm Desert.
I don't even know how to respond to these incidents anymore. It's beyond depressing. In fact, I think it defies logic, understanding. A couple Black Fridays ago, a friend of mine was working as a security guard at Target. He was beaten over the head with shoe box by an older lady because some B.S. item wasn't in stock. And that was only one incident out a slew of others, all amidst shoppers fighting over price-cut products like lions over a fresh carcass.
How can it be that such debasement of recognizable humanity occurs in a season which is supposed to inspire love, appreciation, humility, and reverence? Or even at all?
Why/how have we allowed such a perversion of what should be "the most wonderful time of the year"?
With the death toll reaching 150 in Mumbai, the economy in shambles, and all other various horrors going on in the world, bargain-ravenous consumers are still willing to resort to violence, hostility, greed, and complete indifference to save some money. What kind of assurance does that leave us with?
In fact, via a disturbing article on BuzzFeed:
"On a day when the death toll in Mumbai raises to 150, five hostages are executed, and fighting continues at the Taj Hotel, almost none of the top search terms on Google are related to the international crisis. Americans care more about walmart stampedes, thanksgiving leftover recipes, and TV re-runs than dead hostages, religious warfare, and international politics.
...
"
I don't know who coined the term "Black Friday", but it seems, sadly, that it's grown into an entirely new meaning.
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