Wal-Mart Shoppers Are Trained To Be "Savages"
By Al Norman
"Outta My Way, I'm shopping at Wal-Mart."
That actual bumper-sticker sums up the attitude of the only thing worse than Wal-Mart in our culture: Wal-Mart shoppers.
The killing of a Wal-Mart worker this week during an early morning crush of customers at the retailer's Valley Stream, Long Island store has given the company a Black Eye from Black Friday.
Law enforcement officials are reviewing the video tape of the incident for possible criminal charges, but Wal-Mart corporate attorneys are no doubt looking at the video to determine the extent of the company's legal liability in the case. The retailer may be more preoccupied with how to prevent a multi-million lawsuit from the family of the dead worker, than how to prevent another Black Friday death.
The 2,000 or so Wal-Mart shoppers at the Valley Stream store were merely lab rats responding to a stimulus. When the door opened, they went after the cheese. In the past, it has been fellow shoppers who have been killed in the "savage" rush, as one onlooker at the Valley Stream store described the incident. Our culture of mass consumption has bred these "supershoppers," who will show up for every clearance, every special, with one goal in mind: to be at the cash register first.
Wal-Mart and the Nassau County Police now have to decide if they will press criminal charges against these supershoppers. There were at least four other people who were injured in the Long Island incident---one of several that took place across the country. A similar incident took place in Secaucus, New Jersey--but the woman injured in the 'shop 'til you drop' crowd was not killed. In Rapid City, Michigan, a teenage girl at Wal-Mart holding an Xbox 360 video game was "struck in the throat by a male shopper who was yelling and pushing his way through a line of shoppers."
Where better to carry out these random acts of violence than at a huge Wal-Mart, where price takes precedence over people? We can behave like 'savages' at Wal-Mart, because we are part of a large, anonymous throng. Wal-Mart spent $2 billion in 2008 on media advertising to encourage us to behave like out of control consumers. The crowd at Valley Stream was just following the program.
Wal-Mart has never been very good at protecting its workers or customers from crime at its stores--whether inside the store, or in the No-Man's-Land known as the parking lot. The latest Black Friday death is no exception. The poor temporary worker who happened to be given the job of unlocking the door, Jdimytai Damour, gave up his life so that some shopper could get a Playstation 3 Entertainment Bundle. Wal-Mart knew--or should have known---that shoppers on steroids are a dangerous breed. "We expected a large crowd this morning," Wal-Mart admitted in a press release, "and added additional internal security, additional third party security, additional store associates and we worked closely with the Nassau County Police. We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred."
So far, all Wal-Mart has provided for the family of their dead worker is its "thoughts and prayers." But Damour's family is going to need a lot more than prayers to pay for the loss of earnings this young family has suffered." Instead of watching video reruns of the incident, or spending its corporate resources trying to track down the "savage" shoppers who crushed Damour, Wal-Mart should announce that it will use some of its vast wealth to provide the Damour family with a generous financial settlement. This is the moment for company Chairman Rob Walton to come to the aid of this family out of his own $23 billion fortune. The family should not be forced to file a lawsuit to receive justice from this company. Wal-Mart should have its compensation offer ready for sign-off within the week.
At Wal-Mart, they know the price of everything, but the value of nothing. It was the manager at the Rapid City, Michigan Wal-Mart store who said what the company's top brass in Bentonville could not say. "There's nothing in my store that's worth people's safety or lives."
Al Norman is the founder of http://www.sprawl-busters.com. His first book was "Slam Dunking Wal-Mart."
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I hate Wal-Mart! When my wife goes there, I just sit in the car and read. Can't stand the place. Nothing but big fat shoppers looking for something for nothing. The whole retail scene sucks, not just Wal-Mart but the whole mall scene as well. They ruin Xmas with their whole Black Friday campaign. If something is worth $20, sell it for $20...don'
"The whole retail scene sucks, not just Wal-Mart but the whole mall scene as well."
THIS I can agree with 100%
My husband and I stopped shopping at Walmart after watching the following video:
http://www
I watched the story of stuff, wow, how did we let them do this to us, amazing. Thanks
Sam Walton is spinning in his grave.
I fail to understand why the idiots who must be whipped into a shopping frenzy, getting up at 3am to go to the mall are more worthy of bargains anyway.
It doesn't seem so long ago (maybe a dozen years) that you could walk into a Wal-Mart and the huge banner hanging from the ceiling read: MADE IN AMERICA.
Mr. Walton must be agonizing over how his children have destroyed his company and his reputation.
The blog and comment thread had 2 undeniable truths in it:
'''''We value money way more than we value human life. Our words may say the opposite, but judge us not by the hypocrisy of our language, but by the undeniable truth of our actions.''
'''''It was the manager at the Rapid City, Michigan Wal-Mart store who said what the company's top brass in Bentonville could not say. "There's nothing in my store that's worth people's safety or lives." '''''
Peace
How much you wanna bet Damour's won't get a dime or anything more than "thoughts and prayers" from walmart? Remember this is the same company that just last year sued one of their own workers who was hit by a truck and got a settlement, she was forced to live in a nursing home and her husband was going broke trying to fight walmart and also their son died in Iraq. The suit was dropped after the public outcry. I dislike Walmart so much, there polices of greed at any cost has gotten out of control, I doubt they treat their workers well. My thoughts and prayers are with the family, but I refuse to give one dime to Walmart, their stuff isn't cheap, it's just junk.
It is disgusting what these shoppers did to this young man and I feel deep sorrow for his young family. But,. how is Wal-Mart any different than any of the other stores baiting customers with tremendous sales on "Black Friday?" I've always hated that term as well as the marketing tool. All retailers do it at this time of year, it just so happens that Wal-Mart took it much further and accepted more reprehensible shopping behavior than it should have. But just because some people can not afford to shop at retailers other than Wal-Mart, should not characterize them as "savages." That's a gross generalization. One apple shouldn't spoil the whole bunch. In fact, how is that any different from the greed displayed by the money marketers, hedge fund managers, stock brokers and all the other greedy people on Wall Street? Greed is not good....no matter how much money you make or save.
Make some holiday presents this year. Don't buy them, don't crush anyone to death to get to them. Start a new trend in your family. Handmake some loaves of bread, batches of cookies, plates of candy. Create a scrapbook of pictures and stories for someone you love. Frame a photo you took of your child's dog or cat. Write up a cook book of family recipes and "comfort food" for your college-aged child or nephew/niece. Sew some clothes for your daughter's doll (instead of buying her a whole new doll and dolly wardrobe). This murderous focus on greed and commercial objects is a new development for Christmas. Knee-jerk commercialism is NOT the traditional way to celebrate the birth of our Lord, nor is it traditional in any other of the holidays that cluster around winter solstice.
Rampant consumerism and the media whipping up mob mentality is more to blame than any one particular retailer.
I was knocked down in a shopping mall 'sidewalk sale' while largely pregnant many years before Wal-Mart was anything other than a regional bargain store shop. No one came to assist me up, rather the women that knocked me down snatched the coveted item of clothing out of my hands and made to the checkout counter. Typical USA 'bargain-hunting' consumerism, circa 1970's.
The practice of short-term, early am Black Friday 'bargains' was pioneered long before Wal-Mart came along and became the monolith it is today. I'm not defending them, just saying that this type of behaviour has been occuring at concert venues, sporting arenas and retail establishments for many decades now. This is just the latest instance of mob mentality.
No, Wal Mart is to blame for this incident, they did not provide adequate protection against the mob rush. That poor kid didn;t stand a chance.
I hope whatever $20 pile of chinese chemicals that this steaming pile of humanity killed this kod over will fill the cesspool in their souls.
This is the big box store where you can purchase your groceries and a handgun while you're at it.
I've always boycoted Walmart as I can't stand what it stands for and will continue to do so
Walmart, stands for making money according to the rules of the game.
If you do not like the rules, the government is the place to look to to change them.
Robert Reich wrote a nice book about the situation, called Supercapitalism. He asserted what I just said, Corporations react to the existing legal topography. The Feds have the power and responsibility to change the topography to benefit the citizenry.
Hopefully we now have a Real Democrat President and good things will happen.
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The coarse commercialization of a religious holiday and the guilt inflicted upon those who do not participate had nothing to do with this event?
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Shoppers how about slowing down. The specials are not worth killing someone over. Everyone wants to blame WalMart. I am not a big WalMart fan but please people let's not kill someone over these specials.
I can remember the opening of the first Walmart store in my area. Huge signs hung from the ceilings extolling the virtues of "made in America" and "buy American". Talk about a bait and switch. We've been had yet again by corporate America.
I hope that the attorneys for the deceased worker's family can find a way to hold Walmart (the corporation) criminally liable, not just financially liable for this man's death.
I hate Walmart. It has made one family very, very rich and it has destroyed hundreds and hundreds of small towns across America. Small towns are littered with empty storefronts from business after business that couldn't compete with Walmart just to save a few penneys. They stole the heart of small town America and I refuse to shop there. They took the "Norman Rockwell" out of our small towns. I don't know the business owners by names, I can't find anyone to help me find the correct "nut and bolt"and I don't want to buy my groceries where I buy my hardware. God help me I'm old and I like it the "good old days"!
I shop at my local WalMart twice weekly for groceries, prescriptions and ocassionally for clothing or a household item. My fellow shopers are on the whole courteous, friendly and seem happy to be making their dollars go further.
I find it horrifing that a mob killed an employee but I don't think it reflects on the other millions of people who shop at WalMart.
The WalMart in my neighborhood is pretty civilized, too. I shop there because it's nearby, open 24 hours, and their prices are the best. As much as I might like to support the family owned grocery and hardware stores in town, I just can't afford it. We're not talking about saving just a few pennies here, the mom & pop stores are WAY higher on most items. Not their fault, they can't offer lower pricing, but it's not my fault that I've only got so much paycheck to feed my family and pay my bills.
It's not the people that killed this man. It's the mob. Psychologists have shown for years that when you gather a large crowd together, the individuals will willingly give up their individual will for the GROUP will! That's okay if there is a strong leader of the group (which WalMart SHOULD have provided in the form of a leader PRESENT for the security team!) who can place limits on the mob mentality, but when there's simply a goal of shopping, the mob can quickly get out of hand.
That's why I will never shop on black friday, that's why I don't like to go to sporting events, that's why I don't like being around large crowds. I don't like to give up my own willpower, and VERY rarely will do so!
ATTENTION Walmart shoppers!
A quick glance around this store and you KNOW that price is as price does.
People aren't that important, folks. If you believe the opposite, your eyes are closed. We value money way more than we value human life. Our words may say the opposite, but judge us not by the hypocrisy of our language, but by the undeniable truth of our actions.
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