Friday, November 28, 2008

Consumerism Run Amok

A Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death as he opened the doors for the "Black Friday" sale.

Update: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has the best take:

"Hundreds of people trampled others to death so that they could get to cheap retail goods the fastest — presumably to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. At some point, that horrible irony should cause people to pause and think about what motivates them in this holiday season. Everyone likes a good deal, but few of us would choose to die for one — and therefore we shouldn’t want to kill for one, either."

9 comments:

RebeccaH said...

This is why I always stay home on Black Friday.

TimT said...

I hope he got paid a commission for his troubles!

kc said...

I went to the garden center (mulch) & the commissary (cat food). Both were nearly deserted. But the Exchange parking lot was packed, probably since they opened at 0500...won't attempt to shop there till Wednesday of next week.

I'm not crazy about shopping under the BEST of circumstances, so Black Friday is my least favorite shopping day.

SwampWoman said...

Yeah, I've never wanted a discount on an appliance badly enough to trample somebody to death over.

If there had been a half off sale on rifles and shotguns, now....

Minicapt said...

FM 3-101 "Maneuver Warfare in Challenging Terrain: Shopping".

Cheers
JMH

Anonymous said...

Have never understood that mad kind of shopping. We get that kind of scene on Boxing Day in Australia.

Anonymous said...

If things keep on the way they are, staying home and working in the vege garden might be a lot more productive than driving across town & getting a gadget for less.

Paco said...

Mrs. Paco and I simply hunker down at home the day after Thanksgiving. Quite aside from the new threat of being trampled (or shot, which happened at that Toys 'R Us store in California), the parking is a nightmare.

SwampWoman said...

I value my free time too highly to spend it standing in line with a lot of rude people out shopping.