On Friday morning, “black Friday”, one Wal-Mart employee was killed while trying to open the front door (Nieves). The mob of 2000 people that had formed outside, arriving since Thursday evening, surged through the doors as they were unlocked and the stampede trampled the man (Nieves). It took several minutes for people to stop the crow and give aid the man who was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead (Nieves). A pregnant woman was taken to the hospital after the minor altercation is rumored to have had a miscarriage according the blogosphere (Finstock).
It takes a large desire to spend money to kill a man who stands between you and the perfect Christmas gift. This overwhelming desire to spend is great for the economy. It is true that the black Friday turn out wasn’t what many stores had hoped this year, but with people spraining ankles and trampling each other to get sweater vests and George Forman Grills at low prices shows the recession mind set has not settled in. When the American people decide that it is time to stop spending all together then the American economy is in trouble. The media’s constant babble of how badly the economy is doing would, it seems, denture people from spending their money, or at least be a bit more lack luster about doing so. It is true that people were rushing through the doors to try and save money by getting good deals on products, but they still bough them. My most sincere condolences to all people adversely affect by the shopping battle, but I am glad the American commercial machine hasn’t decide to call it a day, stay home and wait for the rain to stop.
Works Cited
Flinstock, Bobby. "If nobody died in the procurement of my gift I don’t want it." If nobody died in the procurement of my gift I don’t want it Pointless Banter. 28 Nov. 2008. Pointless Banter. 29 Nov. 2008 http://pointlessbanter.net/2008/11/28/if-nobody-died-in-the-procurement-of-my-gift-i-don’t-want-it/.
Nieves, Rosalina. "Wal-Mart worker dies in rush; two killed at toy store." Wal-Mart worker dies in rush; two killed at toy store - CNN.com. 28 Nov. 2008. CNN. 29 Nov. 2008 http://www.cnn.com/2008/us/11/28/black.friday.violence/index.html.
6 comments:
Our economy is inn so much trouble but we still find ourselves buying stupid items. Our country is so materialistic that we would actually kill a man before thinking of the harsh trouble our economy is facing!
This was one of the most disgusting things I've ever read. How can hundreds of people contribute to the death of another just to save a few dollars on gifts to celebrate a holiday that is about love and cherishing your fellow man? It horrifies me.
I agree with Laura, hurting or causing distress to others in order to buy gifts for a happy and loving holiday does not make sense. I guess the citizens need a while to get used to the recession.
I actually found the story slightly amusing. Yes, it is saddening that some people got injured, but really, that's the stuff of holiday comics - you know, the ones where shoppers are literally fighting over a parking space or the last sweater. I knew that black friday was a crazy shopping day, but I never thought that Americans could be such desperate shopaholics!
I can almost feel every country in the world laughing at us as we beat each other up over race cars that turn into Spiderman and game systems that allow you to play baseball by swinging a controller with out all of the unpleasantness of going outside or finding out that being good at sports is hard work. What is almost more disgusting than the man trampled at the door, my condolences, is what it must have looked like inside. There is horrifying image that plays in my head of two pretentious, overbearing mothers in Christmas cardigans that have some hideously distorted depiction of Rudolf on them or a Christmas tree complete with real lights, ripping the last of one of the much have extruded plastic Christmas toys out of each others hands while screaming obscenities as loud as they can that they need it more than the other one as if it was food during a famine while their crying children, whom the women the toy for, ostensibly because the women love their children, watch in horror.
I almost want to make a witty comment about Wal-Mart's lack of employee health insurance, but I won't because that would probably be in bad taste.
Anyways, yeah, people are getting too carried away with holiday gift-shopping these days; it's becoming an obsession (though to be fair, what parent doesn't want to get that "one gift" that their kid really wants?). I'm not sure who to blame, though: the consumers, or the stores themselves for promoting this frenzied day of insanity.
Post a Comment