The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Brian Ojanpa

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December 1, 2008

Black Friday finally claims a life

By Brian Ojanpa

Selfishness and lethal stupidity went to a whole other level on Friday.

It happened about 5 a.m., at a Wal-Mart on Long Island, N.Y., where a store employee was trampled to death by barbarians seeking bargains.

A 34-year-old man gave his life in service to $129 DVD players and $69 digital cameras.

A crowd of hundreds pressed against the storefront for the early-bird doorbusters sale — and literally busted the doors.

Blew them right off their hinges, they did. And the poor guy who tried to keep the rabble at bay got bull-rushed by bozos who regard acquisition of needless stuff as a bloodsport.

The collateral damage included a woman who reportedly miscarried and injuries to several others.

That Black Friday turned blood red somewhere should come as no surprise to anyone who has paid even scant attention to this annual orgy of merchandise marketing.

Put deep discounts on a bunch of baubles, create an artificial urgency with wee-hour store openings, let complicit media turn them into a faux-cultural happenings and — voila! — you have the perfect storm for dysfunction on multiple levels.

And this is supposed to be about Christmas?

Jesus wept.

The culpability for these travesties — and this particular tragedy — must be shared between the herds of buy-crazy bison and the store chains that court this nonsense.

The sentiment here is that certain human behavior is nearly impossible to alter, while corporate policy can be changed as easily as a pair of socks.

“The safety of our customers and associates is our top priority,” Wal-Mart lawyerly intoned post-stampede.

OK, then, prove it by doing this: No more whipping waiting mobs into a shark frenzy by teasing them with pulse-quickening prices on purposely rationed items.

And let the words of horrified Long Island Wal-Mart shopper Kimberly Cribbs be your bell cow.

“They were savages,” she said after the carnage.



Brian Ojanpa is a Free Press staff writer. Call him at 344-6316 or email bojanpa@mankatofreepress.com

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Brian Ojanpa