Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving Thursday in the
U.S., when many Americans have the day off from work and use it to begin their
holiday shopping, is generally considered one of the busiest shopping days of
the year. The day gets its name from the prospect that the heavy shopping on
this date will push retailers’ balance sheets out of the red and into the
black.
Despite the bad economy this year, countless American
consumers still camped out for hours after Thanksgiving dinner outside their
favorite shops in order to be at the head of the queue when the shops opened
early Friday.
Okay, that’s fine. If people have nothing better to do, and
they have the money to spend, that’s their business. Go for it.
But what happened this year on Black Friday at a Long Island
Wal-Mart is bigger than that, and much more heinous, be it intentional or not.
It demonstrated that some Americans will put their desire to be first in line
for that limited inventory of 50-inch televisions above all else -- even if it
means that another human being has to die in the process.
If you haven’t heard the story, here is a summary, courtesy
of the New York Daily News:
“A
Wal-Mart worker died early Friday after an “out-of-control” mob of frenzied
shoppers smashed through the Long Island store’s front doors and trampled him,
police said.
“The Black Friday stampede plunged the Valley Stream outlet into chaos,
knocking several employees to the ground and sending others scurrying atop
vending machines to avoid the horde.
“When the madness ended, 34-year-old Wal-Mart worker Jdimytai Damour was dead,
and four shoppers, including a woman eight months pregnant, were injured.”
This is America on shopping adrenaline, credit cards,
selfishness, and competitive greed.
What seemingly matters to the American consumer -- even
today, apparently -- is keeping up with the proverbial Joneses, and exceeding
them at any cost. Shopping has become a sport, and consumerism has become a
contest, even in what might be the worst economic downturn since the Great
Depression.
If your neighbor has a 40-inch television, you have to run
out and buy a 50-inch TV with more proverbial bells and whistles -- whether or
not you can afford it.
And, if someone stands in your way, trample him to death,
damn it!
How cheap really is that big TV if it costs you your soul?
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and
activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a
former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights
group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of
newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas expressed here are the
author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty
International or any other organization with which she may be associated.
E-mail: mary@maryshawonline.com.
