Posted on 12/07/2008 5:54:31 AM PST by Kaslin
If actions speak louder than words, what do recent events at a New York state Walmart say about the state of American culture? On "Black Friday," two thousand people burst through the doors of a Walmart store in Long Island at five a.m., trampling an employee to death in a mad dash to get to sale items before the person next to them. Signs of America's rampant consumerism have existed for decades, but this tragedy takes the cake.
With only minutes to spare before the discount store opened, the crazed crowd pushed through the doors, knocking Jdimytai Damour down and breaking the doors off their hinges. As the crowd surged, people stepped on Damour and knocked over other employees who struggled to help him. Two thousand ravenous shoppers, many of whom had no idea what was going on, shoved and pushed each other in a mad rush. The selfishness is clearly seen by one employee's experience: "When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling 'I've been [in] line since yesterday morning'... They kept shopping."
This tragedy points to the selfishness of the human heart and demonstrates that greed is not confined to the scions of Wall Street. Quite the contrary, these Main Street shoppers pursued their own materialistic impulses at the expense of the needs of those around them. They were focused on themselves, intent on getting to the deals first. Their trampling of Mr. Damour, each other, and the employees who were trying to help him, exhibits hearts that care more about saving $50 on an HDTV than about the health and safety of their fellow man.
Sadly, this event is not unique. Just a couple of weeks ago, a number of people watched a teenager commit suicide live via webcam. Some, with ghoulish delight, goaded him on as he took a large dose of antidepressants, saying things like "Oh, that's not enough to kill you" and "Go ahead and do it." Only after the young man had been lying on his bed for hours did someone finally contact the police. The anonymity of the internet enabled many of these voyeurs to engage in a perverse form of entertainment. Their "fun" contributed to the death of a young man.
This self-centered disregard for human life reminds us of another episode of pathological neglect that occurred in 1964 in Queens, New York. Catherine Genovese was knifed in the alleyway leading up to her apartment. She screamed for help, but none was forthcoming. Several lights went on in the windows of the neighboring apartment complex. One man shouted from the safety of his apartment, "Let that girl alone!" But no one bothered to call the police until more than fifteen minutes after the attack. By the time the police arrived, it was too late.
Why wouldn't these neighbors place a simple phone call when they heard the young woman's screams? One man, who eventually called the police "after much deliberation," explained, "I didn't want to get involved." Another man saw the killer attack the woman again from a crack in his door, but didn't call the police. His reason? "I was tired.... I went back to bed."
There is a common thread that runs through this 1964 case of willful abandonment, the sordid online suicide, and the Walmart trampling: these tragedies occurred because individuals were looking out for their own interests rather than that of their fellow man. Their actions led to the deaths of their neighbors, and for what? A couple of hours of "fun" online voyeurism? A little extra sleep? $50 off of a tv?
How did we get to this point in "the home of the brave"? Why do so many Americans exhibit so little concern for their neighbor? Doubtless, there are many causes, but prominent among them is our willingness to sacrifice core principles of human dignity on the altar of convenience. We live in a culture that is so self-centered that we are no longer expected to deal with the "inconvenience" of an unwanted baby. Nor can we be bothered to care for our aging parents. Just stick them in a nursing home at government expense and forget about them—or better yet, encourage them to take the "dignified" way out. We selfishly maintain that our "progress" must continue through "scientific research" free of ethical restraints, notwithstanding that such "progress" kills or debases nascent human life. Our convenience, our comfort, our self-centeredness trumps the value of someone else's life.
Mother Teresa well understood the destructive impact of radical selfishness. Regarding abortion she declared, "[I]f we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? ... Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of peace and love is abortion." Mother Teresa rightly understood that when one form of killing is accepted on the basis of personal convenience, other forms of violence will inevitably follow.
The trampling of Jdimytai Damour should be a wake-up call to each one of us. It should cause us to pause and consider whether we place too high a value on our own convenience and our own possessions. We should examine our hearts and ask ourselves whether we any longer have the capacity to sacrifice our own desires for the good of another. We are missing the big picture if events like these capture our attentions just long enough for us all to gasp and say, "How awful!", then turn back to our shopping carts and our self-centered lives.
Jesus warned us, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21 NIV) Jesus' words were a repudiation of materialism and an exhortation to value those things that endure throughout eternity. In our consumer-driven age, we would do well to heed his words.
“what do recent events at a New York state Walmart say about the state of American culture?”
It speaks volumes about “certain” American cultures.
“This tragedy points to the selfishness of the human heart and demonstrates that greed is not confined to the scions of Wall Street.”
in metropolitan New York.
Very perceptive. The multiculturalists are driving and segregating us inexorably into tribes and clans. These folks were behaving tribally. Tribalism's brutality knows few bounds. Thanks, multiculturalists!
“[I]f we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?...”
Spot on!
I so glad this was written.
A few weeks ago there was an news report about how people who make millions cheat on their taxes. I turned to my husband and said, “As if people who don’t make millions never do.”
Greed is greed. It happens everywhere. Human nature can be very bad and when we take our accountablity to Our Lord out of it, it changes the dynamic.
Lets not forget the savage gang rape and beating of the female Central Park jogger years ago and the young couple who were attacked and raped near the Newark airport by illegals “camping” in the bushes. American culture my rear end, the author is talking about the cultures brought here from the 3rd world, Africa, Mexico, et.al.
Like the elections, people/sheepel let the MSM play them like fiddles....hype the shopping day - hype the supposed bargans - hype the savings and on and on. The day after Thanksgiving is a day I stay home....with good reason. Going to one of those sales is like throwing yourself in front of an on coming train!
This example here is one reason it breaks my heart to think that we might really need a depression to humble some of the selfishness. I with I had faith that the expectation of the government to take care of them all would vanish, but it won't because no one wants to be seen as a heartless leader. Sometimes you have to tear down a society to fix it.
Does this remind anyone of the Roman society? No, it's not a gory as watching lions tear people apart for entertainment, but the wickedness of man is still evident. I think I'm disgusted this morning with my fellow man. This article isn't helping.
As we remove God from American life, the devil steps in to fill the void and the result is what we see on the nightly news and read about in the paper.
It's not consumerism. It's mob mentality. These people want to be part of whatever the mob is doing at the time. If the mob is going to protest milk prices, they protest milk prices. If the mob is going to a concert, they go to that concert. If the mob is going to vote for a candidate, they vote for that candidate.
Mob mentality is far more dangerous than consumerism. Just ask the Founders. They feared it and for very good reason.
Al and Jessie want to know who you are!
Spot On, although in some areas I would agree with others that it's a bad combination of marketing hype and Third World attitudes.
I worked at WallyWorld during last year's Black Friday (eastern Nevada). While there were those who camped out starting at midnight, there was no melee, only a bit of a rush as shoppers fanned out. A couple of smart things management did, and perhaps the NY store did the same, was to have sheets with the locations of specific sale items clearly marked, and the area taped off before hand so there were no line jumpers. Hectic, yes; bargains, yes; but I was surprised that there was no shoving and in fact, apologies when you were bumped and "thank yous" when you gave info about some sale item.
It says people in crowds submit to a "crowd mind." Always have and always will. It's a documented phenomena as old as civilization.
Thank you.
In fact, we have another example in the media.
Once there were only three sources (networks) spouting off nonsense. Now, thanks to the internet, there are countless ones, all echoing and feeding back nonsense. Can't count how many dirges on "American consumerism" I've heard in the past couple of weeks.
We should be appalled at the right things. Things like mob mentality, whether it's WalMart, or in the New Media.
A good question is how will Wal-Mart continue to stock its shelves?
Worldwide shipping, according to the reliable Baltic Dry Index, essentially tracks the cost of cargo ship rental. For this reason, it is a great way to track international trade. In just a few months, it has dropped 93%, indicating that international trade in everything but oil has come to a screeching halt.
That is, when shipping was at its peak, the cost of renting a standard cargo ship was about $450,000/day. Now it is down to $6,300/day. At that price, it is not worth the depreciation to even rent the ship, so ports are full of idle ships.
Zero.
Let's not include half the normal citizens in the population with the animals. The Bell Curve answers all culture questions.
If one achieves, either economically or morally, he is preyed upon by government. Mediocrity is the lesson in schools. Heroes take the shape of Hollywood activists. And the foundation of morality, the churches of the nation, are systematically dismantled.
It is a testament to the power of the system our founding fathers established that we have lasted as long as we have.
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