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.
As many as you like, you are not on it. When you post an interesting areticle like this I ping others to it. Your article got pinged to my list, of which you are not a member. Capisce?
Stopped reading right there.
Consumerism isn't so much the culprit here. Rather, it's a rampant refusal (by some) to adopt any behavior which might resemble manners and civility.
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Constitutions and laws do not make a people free.
Ultimately our experiment in self-rule is bases upon a population of honest people of good will. Erase the chalk lines, as you point out, and we will no longer be a free people. We will live under the thumb of the most immoral tyrant with the most power to corrupt.
Are you suggesting this incident speaks volumes about Walmart shoppers, New York shoppers, Black Friday shoppers, or what?
As soon as the madness subsided the management and law enforcement should have escorted every single person (customer) out of the store, and closed it for the rest of the day...Reposess all merchandice and refund all purchases...
But nooooooooo, that would seriously upset some people...Never mind that some of those very people are directly responsible for someone’s death...
When parents stray from God, can their kids be far behind?
We need to turn our nation back to God and until we do, no crisis we face will be totally solved.
Agreed. But my parallel point was that the "new media" is just as prone to herd mentality. It's just human nature.
People have to learn to turn off everything once in a while.
Three years ago, I had a job for a few weeks at Sears. Every workday morning, I'd climb up and down ladders and put up signs offering 40% off a ridiculous "full sticker" price, and put up one offering 50% off that same nobody'd-pay-that-much-for-it price. Then, a few days later, I'd take down the 50% and put up a 40%, etc, you get the point. As this practice would rotate around the store, each morning I worked, I'd be playing some sort of "game" with the minds of the shoppers on behalf of Sears.
It finally occurred to me that if they simply just charged one damn price year round for their items, they could easily get rid of me, my department, the sign-making supplies and equipment, and all the stupid sales fliers that they paid even more for, by sending them out in the dinosaur news media's papers. And they could sell the stupid Turd World-made merchandise for 60% off "retail".
I'm lucky that in mid-November, I got honest work manufacturing semiconductors. I would have hated to have to be a participant in Black Friday shenanigans. Since shoppers are more often than not fools, I look to those who fan the fires of their foolishness in this case. Some jury will award this man's family megabucks, and maybe the Wal-Marts etc. will re-evaluate this American Pamplona.
Thanks,Hunter, for your perspective. Glad you were able to find work,especially nowadays.The hype you cite surrounding Black Friday,Memorial Day,Back-to-school or other myriad excuses needed to sell can and does definitely contribute to mob mentality,but there has to be-HAS to be-responsibility put onto this mob,and others like them around the country. There’s just so much apathy,jealousy,greed and inhumanity in these times that it seems inconceivable (for some) not to trample over another human being in the name of a discounted TV.I’ve worked many years in retail and wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,but I have to say,I like to drive past a Wal-Mart or Target and see the parking lot full.Re your point about charging one price: sure,that makes sense on its face,but then,what about healthy competition? Not to mention the printing houses,ink & paper suppliers and advertising companies that employ folks to print these sales fliers. I don’t mind getting a flier in the mail that screams 50% off of nothing;I have the option to get all homicidal and dash off to Walmart,or just get online and take the Internet discount and not experience the intolerance and impatience of my fellow man.
I'm all for healthy competition, but what's truly either healthy or competitive about flip-flopping between a 40% discount and a 50% discount every few days? The costs of such trickery are being borne by the consumers, because of the inefficiency of the process.
Your average gas station prices go up and down with the market, but it costs very little to have someone hoist a price change on a pole for three grades of fuel, and the gas station doesn't go around spending vast sums of money advertising in the local papers. These days, they have electronic signs that can be changed by pushing buttons on a keyboard.
I just wish people would wake up and see how they're being bamboozled, but the last election doesn't give me a lot of hope in that direction!
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