Black Friday has come and gone but besides the usual news of injuries acquired fighting for rock-bottom priced items, it was reported a Wal-Mart employee in Valley Stream, NY was trampled to death in a stampede at the entrance where 'customers' (I use the term lightly) broke the glass doors in an all-too-true MAD rush to shop.
Now, my first impression of stampedes are gazelles, rhinos or elephants in the safari wilderness trampling a Nat Geo photographer OR in a more urban setting, a participant in the bull run in Pamplona, Spain falling down and getting bull hoofs all over him. I did not expect to open the paper and read about a store employee getting 'murdered' by a bunch of savage shoppers. Is the price of human life so low now that it is equal to that as USD24.99 bedsheet, no matter what the thread count is or even if its egyptian cotton?
This man, Jdimytai Damour, who was a temporary staff employed by Wal-Mart to cope with the holiday crowd, perhaps hoping to earn a little extra cash during this time of supposed thanks-giving, was overpowered by the crazy people whom had been waiting outside the store as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors at 5 a.m. Reports say that a line began forming outside the store at 9 p.m. Thursday and that, by 5 in the morning Friday, there were as many as 2,000 customers outside. There's a video which shows about a dozen people knocked to the ground as the doors were opened and the crowd surged, breaking the doors. Other Wal-Mart employees and Nassau County police that tried to give Damour first aid were jostled by these 'customers' still running into the store whom continued unaware of any untoward incidence. When the store attempted to shut down to allow for police investigations, shoppers actually said that they had waited so long and had still not bought the things they came for and continued right on shopping.
What is it that makes people act like uneducated savages? I'm saying this because the incident occured at a Wal-Mart in a county which is not considered to be a rural backwater hick town (not trying to perpetuate a stereotype, just simply running along with a theme everyone understands) where the people frequenting the store know the norms of living in a civilized society. So how does it that Wal-Mart's super saving, slashed prices, rock-bottom sale reduced these people into the 'Lord of The Flies' type monsters that they were? Now, there's talk of blaming Wal-Mart's successful thwarts at unionizing their workers for this, agreeably, avoidable incident and so on and so forth but please, let's also hold accountable the, according to the NY Times, 'shrieking mob' that trampled the 34-year old man to death. You buying into the mob mentality does not make you less responsible for taking a man's life. But I foresee people getting off scot free, if it's not due to lack of evidence, they'll surely plead temporary insanity and that's even if they are charged at all. It is America after all.
Now, my first impression of stampedes are gazelles, rhinos or elephants in the safari wilderness trampling a Nat Geo photographer OR in a more urban setting, a participant in the bull run in Pamplona, Spain falling down and getting bull hoofs all over him. I did not expect to open the paper and read about a store employee getting 'murdered' by a bunch of savage shoppers. Is the price of human life so low now that it is equal to that as USD24.99 bedsheet, no matter what the thread count is or even if its egyptian cotton?
This man, Jdimytai Damour, who was a temporary staff employed by Wal-Mart to cope with the holiday crowd, perhaps hoping to earn a little extra cash during this time of supposed thanks-giving, was overpowered by the crazy people whom had been waiting outside the store as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors at 5 a.m. Reports say that a line began forming outside the store at 9 p.m. Thursday and that, by 5 in the morning Friday, there were as many as 2,000 customers outside. There's a video which shows about a dozen people knocked to the ground as the doors were opened and the crowd surged, breaking the doors. Other Wal-Mart employees and Nassau County police that tried to give Damour first aid were jostled by these 'customers' still running into the store whom continued unaware of any untoward incidence. When the store attempted to shut down to allow for police investigations, shoppers actually said that they had waited so long and had still not bought the things they came for and continued right on shopping.
What is it that makes people act like uneducated savages? I'm saying this because the incident occured at a Wal-Mart in a county which is not considered to be a rural backwater hick town (not trying to perpetuate a stereotype, just simply running along with a theme everyone understands) where the people frequenting the store know the norms of living in a civilized society. So how does it that Wal-Mart's super saving, slashed prices, rock-bottom sale reduced these people into the 'Lord of The Flies' type monsters that they were? Now, there's talk of blaming Wal-Mart's successful thwarts at unionizing their workers for this, agreeably, avoidable incident and so on and so forth but please, let's also hold accountable the, according to the NY Times, 'shrieking mob' that trampled the 34-year old man to death. You buying into the mob mentality does not make you less responsible for taking a man's life. But I foresee people getting off scot free, if it's not due to lack of evidence, they'll surely plead temporary insanity and that's even if they are charged at all. It is America after all.
