I haven't shopped at Walmart for over four years now. I think they've sold the soul of America overseas and I refuse to participate in their steamrolling of the rest of American retail. Want another reason why I don't shop at Walmart? I don't want to die. Today a 34-year-old temporary maintenance worker was trampled to death by hundreds of crazed shoppers as they pushed their way into the Long Island Walmart at 5:03 a.m., just three minutes after the doors were opened on this "Black Friday". 2,000 people had gathered outside to wait for the store's opening in what was labeled the "Blitz Line" on a hand-labeled sign on an outside wall; and when the doors opened, "blitz" they did! The victim's co-worker Jimmy Overby relates how "He was bum-rushed by 200 people. They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back." A 28-year-old pregnant woman was also knocked down in the rush, and three other shoppers suffered minor injuries. The pregnant woman was hospitalized for observation.
The store was closed for a few hours after the death of this poor man, but they forged ahead and bravely opened the store for commerce at 1 p.m., much to the relief of value-seeking shoppers. I can just imagine what the Walmart "greeters" must've said as oblivious shoppers streamed into the store later on that day: "Oh, don't mind the red spot; that's just where a man was trampled to death. That pesky blood---what can possibly get these stains out? Well, if you make your way down to aisle 7, you'll find that Clorox Bleach products will most likely do the trick, and they're on deep discount!"
What the hell is wrong with people that they are going to camp outside of a friggin' Walmart so that they can be ready to burst through the doors at an ungodly hour to buy up shitty Chinese-made crap that will eventually end up in a landfill somewhere? Hey, to further highlight the ridiculousness of this "Black Friday" crap, let's go out there and kill a poor guy who was there to fill a shitty temp position, just trying to make an honest buck! Oh yeah, and let's knock down a pregnant woman for good measure.
You will never ever find me or anyone in my immediate family joining this "Black Friday" crap. The type of people you find engaging in this sickening snapshot of capitalism gone wild are the same people who found hope and inspiration in George W. Bush's words of comfort after the 9/11 attacks when he told us to do our American duty and "go shopping"! Go fucking shopping?!? Yes, this is the American way---get yourself into so much credit card debt that you'll have to work more hours at multiple shitty jobs just to try to dig your way out of the hole you put yourself into, as you wonder, "How did I get here? I was just trying to be a good American and live the 'American Dream'."
Well, the 'American Dream' is over for the man who was trampled to death this afternoon. God, what a tragedy---especially to die working some crap temp job at shitty Walmart of all places, killed by a bunch of ignorant fucks who slavishly follow the din of the bell that heralds the promise of low, low prices! I almost fell out of my chair when I read the final words of the FoxNews report, which further confirmed to me why I hate FoxNews so damn much. Here they are: "Items on sale at the Wal-Mart store included a $798 Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV, a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28, a Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69 and DVDs such as "The Incredible Hulk" for $9." Yeah, what a honorable, solemn send-off to another soon-to-be-forgotten victim of American capitalism.
How sad to give one's life for Walmart in a micro-moment of the U.S. American way: stuff before life. Are low prices really worth the price of someone's life? Sickening. Pitiful way to start the holiday season which lately is shrouded by less and less of the good will it is suppose to inspire. It's probably the most exercise the stampeder's got since last Black Friday. We live and work and trample to buy, buy, buy.
Posted by: Karin | November 30, 2008 at 03:48 PM