The New York Times reported today that a Wal-Mart in a New York City suburb was the scene of an unfortunate death. A 4:55 AM crowd of crazy Black Friday shoppers (nearly 2,000 people) broke the front doors' hinges s and charged into the storet, knocking down many employees, including a 34-year old temporary worker. Picture the scene from The Lion King where Simba’s trapped in the wildebeest stampede that later causes Mufasa’s death—except at least the wildebeest ran for fear of their lives. But hey, I'm sure these consumers had perfectly great reasons to disregard other humans as they raced toward the smiley face sale signs.
The Wal-Mart crowd apparently ignored the helpless male body lying on the floor, and even as other employees and police officers tried to administer CPR on the powerless man, the entering mob continued to push the rescuers out of the way. Police and paramedics rushed the seriously injured man to the nearest hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after 6:00. Meanwhile, back at the Wal-Mart, those same stampede-people were no doubt bitching about the long lines they had to endure in order to leave with all of their stuff.
This should be an embarrassment to all Americans. Not only are we ludicrously sacrificing employees’ Thanksgiving in order to shop at 5 in the morning, but we’re now sacrificing their lives in order to save a couple bucks on a television or DVD player. I think a security tape should be released of the incident so that those involved can view it and explain to their kids that those few cheap toys sitting under the tree are valued higher than some temp worker’s life. Christians already believe that Christmas is important because Jesus sacrificed his life for the world—let’s not allow anyone else to sacrifice a life so that we may continue our bleak consumerism.
P.S.- This just in. A security tape WAS released detailing the ridiculous Thanksgiving incident. Watch with caution (it's pretty graphic): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMwO9PX4_7c
