"Walmart worker trampled to death when shoppers burst through the doors this morning, taking the doors off the hinges. Really, what could be worth trampling a man to death at Walmart?These are some sick mofos." ~~Sfd928~~
"In college, I worked a black Friday at Macy's. I was stocking a Christmas wrapping sales display near a doorway. The boss said, whether you're finished or not, get yourself off the floor before the store opens, go drink coffee for awhile. Well, I didn't notice the thousand women outside the door & I was still stocking when the doors were unlocked. They came at me in a mob grabbing wrapping out of my hands, pushing at me. I struggled through the crowd, went to the lunchroom, the boss was there reading a newspaper, took one look at me & said, 'I warned you."' ~~ Bob~
Those two comments from my previous post were prophetic and sad. Imagine working your 9-5 at Wal Mart, earning seven bucks an hour to help make ends meet, only to lose your life to a bunch of assholes who are trying to save a few bucks on some cheap appliances. I mean I know that New Yorkers are supposed to be rude, but this is ridiculous.
So now we are reduced to this; literally killing each other in the name of commercialism. And I am going to keep it real with you: (Don't I always?) Look at the people in that picture. Can someone tell me why the hell my cousins love material shit so much? We should be the last group of people in this economic climate out spending like there is no tomorrow and trampling people to get to shit, but there we are; PlayStation or bust!
But of course, this madness is not limited to one group of people. As I said in my previous post, it is an A-merry-can phenomenon, and it seems like this kind of stuff happens every year. (Is there something in the air vents at Wal Mart ?)
And where does the responsibility of these large box store companies begin? When is it too much to say that I am going to give away ten flat screen television sets to the first ten people who come through the door? At what point do we hold these clowns accountable for their actions?
"Witnesses said he tried to hold back the crowds as they took the doors right off their hinges in the dash when the store opened at 5 a.m. this morning for Black Friday:
'He was bum-rushed by 200 people,' said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. 'He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back.'
A pregnant shopper who made her way inside the store with the masses was pushed to the ground and suffered a miscarriage, a witness said. Sadly, no one stopped to help the victims:
Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life..."
A pregnant shopper who made her way inside the store with the masses was pushed to the ground and suffered a miscarriage, a witness said. Sadly, no one stopped to help the victims:
Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life..."
I don't know what the worker's compensation laws are like in New York , but here is hoping that the family of that poor Wal Mart clerk gets themselves a damn good lawyer. And here is hoping that everyone of those sick clowns who bum rushed that store has a conscience, a conscience that doesn't ever let them forget.
106 comments:
Man, I read about this shit too. The sick part is that it happens every year, like a tradition. Turkey, football, then trampling. It's fucking insanity, and every single person in that mob needs a kick in the balls/punch in the ovaries for being such selfish, lethal cunts. Yes, cunts, because that's exactly what they were.
Blinded by stupid fucking discounts that would still have been there at 4 in the afternoon, and even then they were too damn eager to spend themselves into bankruptcy. Rarely does a news story make me so angry at my 'countrymen' but after reading it a not-small part of me wished I could have been on the other side of the door removing these assholes from the gene pool via automatic weapons, dozens at a time. They have yet to prove their humanity.
/rage
People have lost their MFing minds.
Those families are forever changed and not for the better.
And what's worse to me is it didn't even faze them at all. They kept shopping. And the store wouldn't close.
That's what's wrong, the love of money.
Another reason why I have the screen name that I have. Sick and tired doesn't do it justice.
BTW field, On election day I had the pleasure of meeting The Sagacious Hillbilly. I had been to his blog by way of yours.
I spent the day with his wife at the polling place that I am Presiding Judge at.
Very lovely folks. Thanks for sending me their way.
"Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life..."
Every single day in this stinking country we are taught one thing...that property has more value than life. This is the predictible end result. Katrina should have been a wake up call. Not a damn thing changed!
I share your hope that Walmart gets sued. I hope they have to pay out millions over this. That's the probably the only way to prevent it from happening again. Fuckin' disgusting!
Woozie, I don't think I have ever seen you this upset. But I can' say that I blame you this time. These people.....
SickupandFed, I am glad you met Segacious; he seems like good people. That's the good part of forming a blogging community; getting to meet like minded and not so like minded people.
Ernesto, all I can say is that I feel you.
It happens on occasion; the last time I was this ragey was when I heard Proposition 8 passed, and before that I don't remember.
Even if walmart has to pay out millions over this it will not change a thing. They will just factor this expense into the cost of the items and move on.
I cannot believe that with everything going on people are still behaving like this over shiny baubles. It completely disgusts me. I just cannot fathom what kind of ass you need to be to step on someones head to get to a sale. It really does seem we value commodities over people.
11 29 08
How utterly insane! RIP those workers who were trampled to death. Yes, WorkersComp needs to kick in for damned sure. What saddens me the most is that despite knowledge of the pernicious practices of Walmart, people still shop there. I have been to Walmart less than ten times in my life, and I stopped going there consciously a couple of years ago. As consumers, we need to exercise our power and stop being stooges for cartels. And lastly, yes our rampant obsession with material objects is very sad. We cannot take them to heaven with us, after all;)
Good point that the store should have closed. I heard about the man killed but not about the miscarriage.
And these people probably vote for the sanctity of human life, blah blah. !Ay!
OMG-- a murder by trampling, a miscarriage, a shooting? I can honestly say there is nothing in Wal-Mart worth a life--loudy diamonds; cheap, made-in-china electronics; hideous clothing. What galls me even more than the fact that no one stopped to help the fallen, is that the Wal-mart executives are probably salivating over the publicity.
I live very close to Valley Stream and have shopped at Green Acres Mall for most of my 38 years. I have never encountered a thing like this before. The mall borders Long Island and Queens and its workers and costumers are racially mixed. I don't know what's happening in the world where shoppers feel it's necessary to run over people just to be the first to grab their hands on cheap, Chinese made merchandise. That's way I never shop at that Wal-Mart and I too hope that poor excuse of a store gets sued up the ass for this. There are many different stores (Macy's, Target, JC Penney, Best Buy, etc.) and none of them have any history of shit like this in this area.
But there's also another dynamic going on here. This community has changed in the past few years. The housing boom had swelled the population at least twice its size. The consequence is we are living around a lot of strangers. We don't know or don't have time to know each other. Therefore, we don't care what happens to other people. It just confirms how neighbors have devolved into people who happen to live close to each other, especially when a quarter of the home owners here are facing foreclosure.
I pay my condolences to the Wal-Mart worker and the pregnant lady who unfortunately miscarried due to the shoppers' insane and disgusting behavior.
ceetay
Well, his family will need a good jury more than a good attorney to win this one.
Used to be the crowds were reserved for hard to get items. I hope we never run short on food in America, could be nasty.
Regarding your post the other day about marketing, I see the markup/saleprice gig all the time, but the profit for the retailers comes from clothes manufactured overseas.
szpork
Anybody wanna say with all honesty that they're surprised by this ? If people are blowing each other's heads off over a scuffed Nike or a perceived slight is trampling each other over a flatscreen or a laptop that much of a stretch ? And of course it's poor people trampling poor people in a place that makes billions off screwing workers and poor people in 3rd world countries.
I never understood the fuss about Black Friday. When others at my job take the day off to shop, I volunteer to come in and work. These days, I give cash for Christmas instead of gifts (and hope others do the same for me).
People quickly forget how messed up things were six months ago. Gas prices were through the roof. Six months from now, people may be taking those shiny new things they got down to the pawnshop. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.
I am thoroughly disgusted over this & the shootings over at Palm Desert. What piece of Chinese garbage is worth taking someone's life? Samsung HDTV's are crap. That's why I bought a smaller Sony Bravia for the same price.
I haven't shopped at Wal-Mart since 1999, and I don't think I'll ever go back there after this.
I need to add another disgusting side to this, the racial side. I live on the Queens side near the mall. Some white Long Islanders are blaming this on the "low class blacks from Queens." They've also gone so far as calling them "Obama supporters" and out right blaming Obama for this. So, expect from now on that anything black people do wrong to be "Obama's fault." But I'm sure we all knew this was going to happen.
ceetay
It's spirituality vs. materiality.
There are those who identify more (excessively) with their body (matter and materiality) than with their spirit.
We call those people "soulless."
There are those who identify more (excessively) with their body than with their mind.
We call those people "mindless."
There are those who identify more with their spirit than with their mind or their body.
We call those people "soulful."
Although we need balance within this triad, we need more "soulful" people than we do "soulless" and "mindless" ones.
Humanity is out of balance, out of sync. Until balance is restored, we will continue to see soulless and mindless acts predominate in our world.
What is the matter? Our bodies. We indulge them at the expense of both mind and spirit.
Until we subjugate the body--by bringing it into proper alignment with the whole--senseless and soulless acts will continue.
“And here is hoping that everyone of those sick clowns who bum rushed that store has a conscience, a conscience that doesn't ever let them forget.”
Fields, do you REALLY think a young man’s death and a pregnant woman’s miscarriage is going to bother anyone in that crowd? Since when did a mob have a conscience?
Sadly, Americans are no longer human beings, they are consumers! Americans determine their self-worth by how much they have, not because they are human. Trampling people to death in a store is part of the price paid for the great 'American phenomena' called "consumerism".
As I said Thursday: “Americans need to get an inner life.” Without an inner life no conscience is needed.
Hello there!
I read about this tragedy at a couple of blogs today and it is just sooo sad.
Usually, Walmart has handicapped persons and elderly persons at the front of the store.
They HAD TO know that shoppers behave this way and they DID NOT take any precautions and put an employee in harms way?? It is outrageous.
They see this behavior from shoppers EVERY YEAR ...they can not "claim" that they didn't anticipate the situation. They could have hired uniformed security for the front of the store...they did not do so. Now, someone has died.
Unfathomable.
Ummmm....Field Negro...are you associating "black" with murder and mayhem in your post title?
Just wondering...
Despite this huge economic downturn what have people actually learned? There are HUNGRY people in dangerous situations who may behave this way. There is just NO EXCUSE for this. When will people learn? And WalMart had better pay the workers comp. The Dollar Tree company of stores is trying to screw over the survivor of a Black woman who was killed by a white male customer who said he shot her because she was Black by saying they're not responsible.
I don't know the laws in NY and am not a lawyer. My understanding though that since the man died during work this would place it in the workers' compensation arena which would limit his estate to roughly 2/3 of his salary? Also is it true that a claim can only be brought by the spouse or dependents? So his parents or fiancee have no standing? Perhaps someone can explain?
I don't know that the fault lies with Wal-Mart so much as it does with those individuals who were so desperate to throw their money away on crappy imported Chinese junk that they tore the doors off the hinges. Where do they find people like that? Hopefully surveillance cameras can identify some of these folks.
Presumably there were other Wal-Marts that opened early that DIDN'T have this issue?
It is scary how quickly civility can break down in society.As the economy starts to go into the tank in the next few years as all the efforts of our misguided policies fail.(volker is a good start for the O-man, finally an adult in the room)I am expecting things to get ugly out there. I do not want to be living where I live now.
When unemployment goes north of 10% there will be a few people out there with pitchforks in hand.
Shady_Grady asked: Also is it true that a claim can only be brought by the spouse or dependents? So his parents or fiancee have no standing? Perhaps someone can explain?
His parents and fiance do have standing to bring a claim. And, a good lawyer would argue that Walmart created the climate for this to happen and was therefore responsible for contributing to his death. They would argue for actual damages, how much earning potential this person had, how old he was at the time of his death to calculate future earnings, his responsibilities and thus the loss impact on others, and then a good lawyer would further argue that damages have to be punitive to insure this never happens again. I sincerely hope that this person's family can find a great lawyer and sue the crap out of Walmart. They are as responsible as the morons that trampled this man.
As much as most of us leaving comments are expressing disgust and outrage, I number of people shrug it off or even think it was funny. To my dismay, this included my youngest kid. I was so stunned I did a post on it, which I think gives rich insight into the not uncommon American attitude of desensitization behind this. One Nation Under Greed
~
"Ummmm....Field Negro...are you associating "black" with murder and mayhem in your post title?"
No blackwomen...I was not. The "Black" in "Black Friday" had to do with mourning the death of this poor person, not the racial makeup of the crowd. Although,to be honest, that bothered me too. The fact that these people who can least afford to be buying some of the crap at Wal Mart, were front and center in this crowd.
ceetay, thanks for breaking down this trageday from the perspective of someone who actually lives in the area. It's always good to have that.
The First Domino, where have you been? We misssed your Zen like take on everything.
I blogged this yesterday too.
These WalMart shoppers were lined up and ready to rumble before the posted 5AM opening time and when the frenzy of an additional 20% discount took hold, they removed the door from its hinges and stampeded into the store, trampling the WalMart worker to death.
This is savage behavior -- period.
No one stopped to help the man, or for that matter, the pregnant woman who also went down in the melee, or 4 other women who were knocked down and trampled by the crowd.
The people responsible for this are guilty of murder. I don't know if they can be caught but the fact remains, the crowd killed someone like marauding bison.
At least Mama can tell her child in Christmas day, "Johnny, I had to kill someone for this Wii."
wait a minute, why should wal-mart be sued for the death of this poor worker? They have stores all over the country and this incident only happened in this one location.
How were they to know that these people were going to act in the manner that they did?
Yes, the family should get a lawyer - and sue the people in those photos and subpoena the receipts of those shopping that morning.
PS
So now we are reduced to this; literally killing each other in the name of commercialism. And I am going to keep it real with you: (Don't I always?) Look at the people in that picture. Can someone tell me why the hell my cousins love material shit so much? We should be the last group of people in this economic climate out spending like there is no tomorrow and trampling people to get to shit, but there we are; PlayStation or bust!
Bravo. A brave stance, look we have to accept our people good (Obama) and bad (this crowd)
We can't have it both ways!
First time reader, first time poster
WTF?
Are department stores gonna post signs on their doors reading, "Warning: Shopping may be hazardous to your health"?
Sadly, this tragedy is ominously indicative of where we’re at as a country right now.
I mean, I could almost understand it if a mob of starving people rioted at a food bank. But there’s something terribly wrong about getting up at stupid o’clock in the a.m. to buy some cheaply-made crap that you can’t afford at one of the most evil retail snakepits in America.
But then, this is the grim legacy of Reagonomics, isn't it? Buy buy buy, spend spend spend. Shop 'till you drop. Put it on the Visa and worry about it later. The more you buy, the less you have. WalMart epitomizes the diseased ideology of a drug dealer: control a person's appetites, and you control them. Take away intellect and compassion and all that's left is hunger. As Edward Albee observed, "Cancer is the only organism that believes in growth for its own sake". In this case, "cancer" is a metaphor for "capitalism", and it's malignant.
Ironically, looking at where the economy is going, we’ll all be standing in line begging for work at the United States of WalMart.
And what happens when it’s our turn? What happens when we're unlucky enough to be standing between a crazed shopper and a ohmigawdigottahaveit! bargain?
Does shit like this happen in other "first world" countries? WTF is wrong with people?
I agree with anon. folks need to get a damn inner life.
I heard word of this last night but honestly I was tippin too much to decipher if this was a true story or not. Or if Landyn was just harassing my BFF about going to those sales.
The sad part is I've worked in an electronic store back in the gap and year after year we would feel the aisles with a bunch of cheap dvd players and computers and they sold to these fools at regular price..they just grabbed them just because they were there..
Crazy....
Go B.
sorry I meant fill....lol
anon. there is a concept in Tort law called "foreseability". Wal-Mart's lawyers should be getting up to speed on that right about now. And I am talking about a law suit by the poor woman who miscarried, not the store employee.
"the United States of WalMart."
D.R. Scott, I might have to steal that line.
Field, Good post, we as a people and as a society clearly have some issues.Our cousins, of course, are taking it to the extreme.
FWIW - The term Black Friday is meant to suggest that on that day store balance sheets will go into the black (breakeven) column, leaving the balance of holiday shopping for profit. I blame merchandisers for fostering this shop-til-you-kill mentality through advertising and I blame the stupidity of the American people for lapping it up like dogs.
And This Black Woman is always at home on Black Friday for just that reason.
I wonder how many of these same WalMart shoppers will be busting through the church doors on Sunday morning to hear something of real value. Nary a one, probably.
The pregnant woman, while she probably has an argument/lawsuit, should not have been at the store during the stampede hours anyway. I mean, how much did she really need to buy those "onesies" and other baby outfits. Sometimes we must take care to use a little common sense. While it's sad that she -- but especially the man who was trampled to death while performing his job -- lost her baby, the pregnant woman was jus plain stupid and ignorant. When she tells friends & family how she lost her baby, sadly she'll have to admit that she met a WalMart stampede.
I don't shop at Walmart EVER, with or without stampede. And I never go out to stores on Black Friday on general principal. This mess is why.
I agree with Ernesto: "Every single day in this stinking country we are taught one thing...that property has more value than life. This is the predictible end result."
One can only imagine what the melees will be like when it's basic food items they're fighting over instead of PlayStations.
As I sadly must go to Walmart to replace my blender (Vegans and health nuts live by their smoothies), dish rags and laundry detergent I wonder what the Hell is wrong with our country and our world. Seriously, are we that materialistic and out of control that we would literally stampede WalMart to buy cheap crap. As my mother aptly put it yesterday "We are going crazy and standing in line to give away our own money."
I admire Obama, but I don't even him. As someone said, once unemployment reaches over 10%, just wait for the kind of apeshit madness that destroyed Rosewood. That poor Walmart greeter will look like a flesh wound in comparison.
I see Indian IT workers and Mexican day laborers getting beat down in the street because Joe Six Pack lost his job lubing lug nuts at the Ford plant. If you think this is bad, wait until Gas prices shoot back up and we go into massive food shortages. You'll catch a bullet for a fresh loaf of bread.
Let's just pray that the Obama presidency is God giving us one last chance before he lets the entire bottom fall out.
Thanks Jody, Field for the legal insights. We'll see how it turns out. Whatever happens though, I think that the people who actually trampled the man and tore off the doors bear primary responsibility.
There were "sales" and special store hours all across the US and somehow most folks managed not to trample anyone to death.
Short of having a line of security armed with tasers, cattle prods and night sticks I don't see how WalMart could have prevented a herd of morons bent on acting a fool.
I hope that the people identified on tape are ultimately arrested and charged with manslaughter.
I remember working at a store in the early 80's when Cabbage Patch babies were the rage. I was stunned to see middle age White women running through the store and fighting each other over cabbage patch dolls. We got only a few shipments that year. The funniest thing was when they opened the doors one morning and the crowd of White women ran through the store to the Cabbage patch doll section, elbowing each other all the way down the aisles, only to findout to their horror that ALL THE DOLLS WERE BLACK!!. Half of them immediately started dropping their boxes and the other half got in the Cristmas spirit and started trying to trade their dolls with the other shoppers. We couldn't stop laughing. Since that time I have never shopped on Black Friday.
I had just told with my sister in Jersey, that she should be locked and loaded if she ventured out to shop. She doesn't even own a firearm and of course I was just kidding. That was tuesday. Who could have imagined that a shooting could actually occur, and at Toys r us? Dag!
Does shit like this happen in other "first world" countries? WTF is wrong with people?
Yes and no, if you've been to Europe you can attest that they do shop but consumer spending is a much smaller piece of their GNP. Germany for example has heavy industry (extinct here for the most part) chemical manufacturing, a thriving auto industry and great tech and science boom. On top of that most European consumers are taxed to heavily for their economies to run on consumer spending.
We need to delink ourselves from consumer spending with a massive investment in education, green technologies and infrastructure that can replace large parts of the retail economy.
That tragedy freaked me out. I wondered why a temp guy was opening the doors. That was a managerial or security duty at the two large stores I worked. But it was bound to happen sooner or later. Mob scenes for iphones, X boxes, Harry Potter books, a Best Buy laptop sales. It reminded me of the pilgrim stampedes that occur at holy sites, only here the American holy place was Wal-Mart.
Field:
I watch this particular topic on the news and ask myself what is this world coming to and what is wrong with people. People killing people like it's the thing to do. Although, this was sort of a freak accident in a sense that could have been prevented. I couldn't help but wonder do people place more value on material goods than they do on human life? Does human life now have the lessor value compared to material things?
I prayed for this man's family that they will be comforted and surrounded with family and friends who will encourage and lift their spirits with an overflowing abundance of love and that they will be granted peace over this situation.
I've been reading in the newspaper about home invasions. Whelp, like Obama said, it's going to get worse before it get's better and that is the truth there. It always gets worse before it gets better, the worser it gets the closer it is to getting better. Therefore, do not be surprised if what he said does not come to pass, because it is definitely going to come to pass. I'm not taking that back either, because that is exactly what is going to happen. If you don't pray, you better learn how to, because now is the time for much needed prayer. You don't have to take my word for it, all you need to do is just look around you and at what is going on in the world. Because every single thing that is going on right now is in the bible whether folks choose to believe it or not. It's their own individual choice in what they choose to believe. God is not a man that he would lie!
Unfortunately, the WalMart employee was only a temporary worker. Knowing WalMart, they probably had built into their temp agreements all kinds of liability disclaimers, including a waiver of workers' comp and other entitlements that would accrue to full-time staff.
As for the pregnant shopper, I thought I'd read yesterday that the miscarriage was just a rumor and that she and the child were now safe.
Consumerism in this society is off the charts. People are taught from birth that dutiful, ceaseless coveting is the real American way. Many standard American traditions that seem noble on their face are really just laying the groundwork for a nation of coveting robots: after-school jobs for high school kids who should instead be focusing as exclusively as possible on their studies; giving kids allowances in the name of teaching them to be responsible about money, but without any guidelines on making wise spending choices or long-term planning; instilling knee-jerk brand loyalty almost from the womb that turns kiddies into slavering brand whores who won't even look at a toy unless they can also watch it come to life on TV or wear it on a T-shirt; the strange alienating effect of commerce as the primary currency of the public sphere, in which we instinctively regard each other as buyers, sellers or fellow consumers, and the hollow, superficial, facile interactions that we engage in as a result; the list goes on.
We'd rather have a mall than a park; we applaud the national anthem as a performance piece rather than as a civic emblem. It's as if we don't know who we are if we're not consuming somehow.
What galls me the most is the pro-business slant of the mainstream media coverage: all the wailing and gnashing of teeth on behalf of the poor distraught companies who are posting losses, rather than stepping up to their civic duty as disseminators of ideas and information by not only reporting on the hard times most of US are facing, but showcasing creative, non-consumerist ways to enjoy the season and re-embrace our humanity in a way that doesn't involve buying shiny new things.
And by the way, those things are usually crap whether made in China, Japan, Italy or the USA. Everybody cuts corners - all the anti-Chinese references on here reflect the PR snow job that the US corps have been working for years. How good it must make them feel to see that even among thinking folks,'made in USA' = good quality, while 'made in China' = crap! Their master plan is working perfectly (insert maniacal laughter here...). It's all crap, people. Keep your money and get out of the game.
Sickandfedup:
Thank you for that confirmation about sagacioushillbilly being a good person. For a whole month the Lord had laid him on my heart to pray for him. The reason why is between the Lord and sagacioushillbilly, all I know is I was suppose to pray for him and I did. Its all good. I've always liked him for some reason and felt like he was a good person. There are a few others that the Lord laids on my heart as well, and there are a couple that I pray that the Lord tenderizes their heart.
One wonders if these people were computer literate. I bet what they wanted was right online for less...
Wonder what damaging effect it would have been for WAlmart and stores like them to think of some civilized way to promote the sale of these items( coupons, raffles, going out in the parking lot earlier and assigning numbers) Why does every promotion have be like an "idoL' show???
What happened to creative marketing and sales techniques?
Excessive materialism: could it have something to do with "low self esteem" and thinking you "are" what you "have"???wake up people.
1. No one's got any money or credit so why?
2. Black folks (Valley Stream is part of the new Section 8/redlining "ghetto-burb" phenom.
Two weird factors which bear more examination in this story.
sandy:
Nope, it is greed, a covetous spirit, and keeping up with the joneses.
Temptation comes through what the eyes can see, known as lust of the eyes. Samson was tempted through the eyesight, although, his temptation was sexual. He had to be incarcerated so God could give him some insight. Eve was tempted through the eyesight, which caused the fall of mankind and brought death into the world. When Abraham decided it was time to part ways with Lot, Lot based his choice on which way he would go through his eyesight and his choice turned out not to be a good one in the end. When the devil tried to tempt Jesus through his eyesight, Jesus rejected his offer and spoke the word to him and reminded him what the word said to do.
At least Mama can tell her child in Christmas day, "Johnny, I had to kill someone for this Wii."
LOL!
Pathetic and unimaginable stupidity.
Amerians are nothing more than Consumerist Lemmings and this is one more stoke in why Americans will continue to drown in debt and soul crushing materialism. Our economy is built on this ridiculous house of cards.
In my area there is an electronic store called Brandsmart in which there was a line literally a mile long (it was covered on local news) from 12AM (when they opened) and at 8AM the line continued to swell. People were standing in line for hours to get what an HDTV and a WII at 40--50% off?
It does look quite bad now that the racial element is there. Another strike over someone dying for something so stupid and pointless.
Between the housewives of Atlanta and this...not to mention the fact that two men shot and killed each other at a Toys R Us in Cali...Black folks are not looking too good!!
Obama, unfortunately, needs to have a talk with his sisters and brothers in the hood!!!
The way that we carry ourselves is now under extreme scrutiny since we have a black president!
Whenever we shop at Walmart, we're killing people...people who don't have the benefit of living wages; workman's comp...or even safe working conditions...
We kill people everyday. We're no better than the animals who trampled that poor man.
Ain't capitalism grand?
Anonymous 4:43:
What is wrong with you? What is funny about that? Please tell me what you find so funny about somone dying, because I fail to find the humor in your comment.
Field,
I know you were being sarcastic when you said (paraphrasing here): "When is it too much for the big box store people be accountable and say that they're going to give away 10 flat screen tvs to the first 10 people." Surely you jest, Field. Because you know if folks are breaking down doors, stomping folks to death, and running rough shod over pregnant women to get in a store and PAY for something, you know they'd set the damn buiding on fire to get a few tv." If grown men are shooting in the aisles of Toys R Us stores and laying out dead for all the lil' chirren in the store to see, then you know there are very few boundaries left. Folks will shoot their mamas and daddies to get a free tv from WalMart.
Tell me, Field, that you were just joshing and that your point was poorly worded or not to be taken seriously.
correction on my above post: "...to get a free tv ..."
"My people perish for lack of knowledge."
Its probably time that all of us A-merry-cans took a little time to realize that our conspicuous consumption of cheap crap has killed not only our own at Walmart but thousands of others in Taiwan, China, India, etc. I don't think my wallet will see the light of day too much this season unless I'm passing a red bucket accompanied by a bell ringer.
Field,
I am grateful that you posted this story.
With some effort, I found out his name. It is Jdimypai Damour. He lived in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens. Judging by his name, I wonder if he, or his family members, were immigrants.
Aside from the fact that nausea set in when my wife and I heard this story, many of the news articles kept reporting the items that were on sale at Walmart after reporting on the "Walmart Employee's Death". Very few article actually had the man's name.
You know what...I am going to remember his name by putting it on notecard. I hope I can obtain a photo as well. I going to be remember it every Black Friday from this point. I may put up some posters in front of the two Walmart in my town for nect year.
He was obviously someone's son. I wonder if he was a husband or a father.
I cannot believe how angry I have become.
They need to call it Red Friday, we lost more people in one day here than 30 days in Iraq.
Most of that stuff ends up obsolete. The rest are based on gimmicks that last a hot minute...sad!
@ Ava
You said:
"The way that we carry ourselves is now under extreme scrutiny since we have a black president!"
Are you joking?
Please explain this statement.
Just how does having a biracial man the White House result in greater SCRUTINY of blacks
I believe the Palm Desert shooters were Hispanic. Either way, humanity has reached a new low all for plastic baubles.
Granny the lord only likes white people. Fuck him. I had enough of this god, what kind of god would allow such pain and suffering. What kind of god would put black women to suffer so much? I had enough.
Blackwoman, the fact remains someone lost his life over what, XBoxes? Why are you trying so hard to derail this discussion from that very significant point?
Your political agenda just isn't appropriate here.
proudwomanofmanyraces... aka don't want to be called black. Who the fuck do you think you are telling black people who are PROUD to be black that they are not welcome in the fucking fields!
FIELD,
I KNOW YOUR ANGER OVER THIS INCIDENT. I HAVE THE SAME SENTIMENTS. I ALSO KNOW YOU WERE NO WHERE NEAR THIS WALMART. PURCHASING ITEMS FOR OTHER PEOPLE IS NOT SOMETHING YOU EVER DO. I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE A BET WITH THE FIELD ON THE ETHNICITY OF THESE THUGS WHO KNOCKED OVER A DEDICATED WALMART EMPLOYEE. I BET THE SCUMBAG IS OF COLOR. HAVE YOU SEEN OUR PEOPLE IN A DEPARTMENT STORE, MALL, OR ANY OTHER SHOP. WHEN THERE IS A DISCOUNT WE GO CRAZY. THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN OUR BEHAVIOR IS OUR CHILDRENS. I HAVE SEEN PUSHING, SHOVING ,AND SCREAMING AT WALMART IN PHILADELPHIA. WE MUST CHANGE OUR VALUES IN THIS COUNTRY. CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY WE ARE SHOPPING LIKE THIS ANYWAY.?ARENT WE IN A MAJOR RECESSION? SHOULDN’T WE BE SAVING MONEY INSTEAD OF SPENDING MONEY WE DONT HAVE? PEOPLE LETS BE SMART. THIS TALK OF GETTING A LAWYER FOR THE VICTIM IS GARBAGE. WALMART ATTRACTS NOTHING BUT WELFARE RECIPIANTS AND THE WORKING POOR (AKA HILLARY SUPPORTERS). GOOD LUCK IN FINDING ASSETS FROM THESE THUGS. I HATE WALMART MOST THAN THE AVERAGE JOE BUT THIS INCIDENT IS NOT THERE FAULT. WE MUST STOP BLAMING OTHERS TO AVOID DEALING WITH TRUTH. WE SHOULD HANG THE OFFENDERS UPSIDE DOWN IN A TOWN SQUARE. THE SAME INIVIDUALS WHO KNOCKED DOWN THIS WORKER FOR A HDTV ARE THE SAME WHO CANNOT PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE WITHOUT GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE. WE MUST OVERCOME OUR LACK OF VALUES IN THIS COUNTRY. ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS YES WE CAN ON 01/20/09
to nyc/caribbean ragazza... I've never even heard of this happening in a third world country...and I live in one (St. Lucia...in the Caribbean for all who don't know. And no, it's not a part of Jamaica). We look at you first world inhabitants and shake our heads....(I'm just generalising here). That event was truly, sickening, saddening, and completely unnecessary.
Anonymous 9:45:
Smh! I feel sorry for you, I really do.
Zee I hear what you are saying. My quotes were supposed to be sarcastic. We look at so-called third cultures and shake our heads when a soccer game gets out of hand or a too many pilgrims try to get into a church/temple/mosque.
What really galls me is that people were angry and wanted to keep shopping after they were told a man died. That level of callousness I don't understand.
Classical One I live in Italy and I agree with what you said. The shopping culture is completely different.
The incident is a shining example of how horrifying individualism can be.
Your question about when does the responsibility of retailers begin is poignant. Corporations in America have one legal responsibility. That is to make money for their shareholders and stakeholders. It seems that whatever damage occurs during this pursuit is viewed as unfortunate, but very rarely criminal. This a problem that is systemic to the modern American free market, and there is little to no chance of it changing from the top. Consumers must instigate it, but incidents like this show that we are not ready.
What is wrong with you? What is funny about that? Please tell me what you find so funny about somone dying, because I fail to find the humor in your comment.
As long as there have been people, and as long as there has been tragedy, people have been joking about tragedy.
Anonymous 5:17:
"As long as there have been people, and as long as there has been tragedy, people have been joking about tragedy."
Is that right, okay, well now, if a tragedy hits home with you, will you still think it's a joke?
Is that right, okay, well now, if a tragedy hits home with you, will you still think it's a joke?
Was the guy in New Jersey your relative?
Tragic, senseless death. I know people want justice out of it, but IMO, Wal-Mart is not to blame for people's greediness and ignorance. Wal-Mart runs there store no differently then any other store on Black Friday. And its not race issue because in the past people have been trampled in crowds at Macy's, Penny's and other stores. The sad part is these people probably don't realize that the sales at most stores last the whole weekend.
We as a people (and I'm talking all races) need to always stop pointing the finger at everything else but ourselves.
Get rid of Black Friday. Period!
Anonymous 11:58:
Okay, so to keep from answering my question, you gone answer with a question. You being silly now.
It doesn't matter who the man is, what matters is that a human being lost his life over some foolishness that could have been prevented.
Growing up on Long Island, some people would whisper, and some would simply state, about the racial makeup of the shoppers at the Sunrise Mall in Valley Stream, where this WalMart was located. It had the first movie theater in NY with a metal detector, due to a shooting inside a theater. The parking lot is on every auto insurance company in the country for thefts. Now, at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, you still see plenty of black shoppers, again, many are from Queens. But you see less of this behavior than you do in Valley Stream. It's less about color than about upbringing.
- KXB
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/11/29/2008-11-29_day_after_stampede__shopping_li_walmart_.html
This webpage has a 15 year old picture of Jdimypai Damour. It was probably from his highschool graduation. Remembering him a temp worker, who was killed, in the midst of our rampant consumerism every year at the start of the "Christmas" season would be a reminder of some value, I am not quite sure what. But like Eula Love we need to remember.
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/11/29/2008-11-29_day_after_stampede__shopping_li_walmart_.html
This webpage has a 15 year old picture of Jdimypai Damour. It was probably from his highschool graduation. Remembering him a temp worker, who was killed, in the midst of our rampant consumerism every year at the start of the "Christmas" season would be a reminder of some value, I am not quite sure what. But like Eula Love we need to remember.
My folks,my folxs-what is we gone do? What is we gone do!Um, folks, to quote Eran Reya, we ain't gone make it!At least some of us ain't from the looks of stuff like this! There really are times we got to do better!I do not rush to put us as the poster boy for bad or highlight every fault cause we don't have a monopoly on it!Everybody got crime,gangs,terrorism, ignant folks, fools, butthats and whatnot. But to the extent we contributed to the death of a Walmart- we wrong! Walmart bears responsibility for this mess along with capitalism, but folks that killed a store employee by bumrushing the store should be shame at the least-and shot on sight at the most! And for shit at Walmart? Walmart? These folks that killed the boy was as complicit as the company in the death of this man! Both Walmart and these folks messed up! With the reliance of Walmart on the use of child,slave,indentured labor in the third world and underpaid labor here on occasions for the purposes of mass production-it ain't no shortage of many of these products. This stuff ain't limited edition, luxury items, or specialty type items. These are mass produced trinkets-some which will be obsolete or out of style within a few years! Although this is senseless if the store was Macy's and trust them folks look just as foolish when it is! When it's all said and done, shouldn't nobody risk death at the hands of a shop crazed mob for stuff at the store! As Americans. we need to stop since God is prolly getting TIRED of us, as black folks we need to get our priorities straight! Finally, alot of us need Jesus/any saint take your pick, therapy, hobbies, a combination of all three,love, meditation, something in addition to just shopping! I'm off the soapbox-and I'm out!
I also want to say I do not like the use of cheap,child,slave, or indentured labor so I am not the greatest shopper there is!
It doesn't matter who the man is, what matters is that a human being lost his life over some foolishness that could have been prevented.
If I knew him, I wouldn't laugh. But I don't know him, so I laugh. Not at him, but at the stupidity of it. Trampled to death by a crowd of Wal-Mart shoppers. What a way to go.
I don't think we have Walmart here, but maybe just a mass picket of these stores to bring some negative press to their values prior to Xmas? Dunno, but the pack mentality is dangerous in any circumstances - church fairs, any queue any where, yard sales - the list goes on. I think people consider sales to be the ultimate in basic instincts, kill or be killed...... all I can say is, thats a bullshit way to die.
The family is suing Wal-Mart, the mall and the actual emloyer of the deceased. The family is also considering suing Nassau County and the police.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/shopping_blog/2008/12/wrongful-death.html
Considering that the deceased was not strictly speaking an actual employee of Wal-Mart and that so far Wal-Mart has not been criminally charged with anything it will be interesting to see how this pans out.
According to NY law the surviving children, spouse and/or estate are entitled to 2/3 of weekly pay or $50,000.
http://www.wcb.state.ny.us/content/main/onthejob/DeathBenefits.jsp
The truly sad and stupid thing about black friday is if you have a credit card you could have purchased those same items @walmart.com for the same prices. Those tv are the OLD VERSIONS THAT'S WHY THEY WAS SOOO DAMN CHEAP IN THE FIRST PLACE. Since when has samsung made a GREATplasma tv? If people were to do their research they could have gotten the same tv online with shipping included!!!!
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