Stephanie and Somebody

There are reports of three deaths related to Black Friday shopping--one in which a man was stampeded at a Wal-Mart, and two in a shooting incident at a Toys-R-Us.

The man stampeded was given CPR on-site and then transported to a local hospital where the official determination could be made. The store decided to close for a few hours--A FEW HOURS! The customers who had trampled the man to death and the many others who stepped over his body or around rescue workers as they tried in vain to save him COMPLAINED that they could not complete their holiday shopping immediately and would have to wait less than a day to make their purchases.

I read this blog post just about a week ago. It has a link to a Wal-Mart stampede video from a few years back.

The writer of the Sojourners blog wonders if his antipathy toward Black Friday might not be a kind of upper class privilege, especially after someone told him it was. But who exactly is dignified by this kind of chaos?

The media reports all have the same bland, thoughtless musings about what could have been done to prevent the tragedy--more security, maybe Wal-Mart is to blame for selling things so cheaply, whatever. But maybe the problem is our own greed, and the many ways in which that greed is played upon, encouraged, and rewarded. Maybe what needs to be discounted is the fundamental way in which we value things in American society.

One thing is certain: Fear has gripped our nation. These are not the signs of a confident society, but of one the world has new cause to ridicule and revile--and they are beginning to accept the invitation.