GREED: The Walmart Stampede
Tuesday December 2, 2008
Greed is not just the province of wealthy bankers. The stampede at a Walmart on Long Island reminded us that greed, one of the classic Seven Deadly Sins, can grip anyone, anywhere. From the New York Daily News account about...
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I know a woman who refuses to go shopping at the crack of dawnon Black Friday even though she's usually up that early. Hers is a form of protest at companies having their employees, largely minimum wage, no benefit employees, working at 4AM for stuff that could easily be bought at a reasonable hour.
As for the sinful part, too often we see fault in the behavior that others exhibit never looking inward. We need to remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have done to you. It's NOT, NOT, NOT, well everybody else is doing it.
Were the bargains worth it to the people who finally got inside the store, one wonders.
Homidice aside [rolling eyes], I can't fathom what possible enjoyment people get out of this type of mass-hysteria-fed, lemminglike shopping behavior. At our house -- where we choose to limit our Christmas purchases anyway -- we had 90 percent of our shopping done well before Thanksgiving, and we purchase things we think our loved ones will like, not "stuff" that happens to be on sale. I guess that involves too much thought to be a popular holiday shopping m.o.
Well, it is certainly deadly to anyone who gets in the way of the shoppers!
Greed may have been some shoppers reason for joining a mob, but "competition" is the the fuel of the young in our society, and sometimes that can be taken too far. The same time this was happening, elsewhere in Valley Strean, LI, a Best Buy crowd was lined up in a single line, by Security Police, and they walked in single file without incident. Walmart did not use professional planning in setting up this early-morning mess. I'm surprised that they were so off with what was needed. They will probably pay for this, as well they should, to the family of this young strapping sized man. He was 6 ft. 5 inches tall, and weighed 270 lbs.! The door was bent in by somebodys shoulders, what else? The 34 yr. old man was knocked off his feet, and so trampled that his death has been proved to be from asphyxiation! What you do in life comes back to you, they may not be able to be held responsible, because how do you do that with a mob?
Consumerism and greed have become prevalent forms of idolatry in America, and people love their idols. This is probably a greater evil than most Americans want to admit, but I certainly haven't heard much about it from evangelical pulpits in recent years. Get between someone and their idol and ugly things happen.
Our family collectively refuses to participate in such madness. We are not rich, but there is little if anything we need or desire, and even my two teenagers acknowledge this, so our Christmas will be very low key this year in terms of material things. Perhaps that will leave more room for focus on Christ.
BTW Mr. Waldman, it's "avarice," not "averice."
The greed, my friend, is on the part of Wal-Mart by creating the permissive condition for this type of violence and craziness to ensue.
This is a result of the brainwashing being done by mass media, convincing society that you will look better and feel better if you own more things.
Pardon my insensitivity to the topic, but I'm captivated by the image of, what I assume, are the greedy being punished in Dante's Inferno (Hell) - any idea who the artist is? And/or from whence it came??
Thank you ever so much for any info... Simply horrible about that employee - makes me ashamed to be an American these days...
Mob psychology and physics is at the heart of this, (and add a little game's theory if you like.)
Mob psychology because the mindset that leads to the big push is present and builds while people wait with anticipation. Everyone wants to get in and the push from the mass of people in the rear make it impossible for anything but forward motion to occur, when the doors open or collapse. Physics is a part because of the force that is exerted by everyone pushing (mass and force). And games theory is a part because people are acting for individual gain to their own detriment. (i.e. Each person in that mob contributed to the death of that employee, and the net result is a bargain obtained while being contributory to the death of a person. Not a good bargain if you ask me. It will weigh heavily on most people that they were contributory to the death of an innocent person for a cheap price on a consumer "good".)
The store should be subject to investigation and suit for not taking precautions. The society and the citizenry should reflect on their values. It is a sad story, but something can and should be learned from it.
BWH, this looks like the work of William Blake. While I have not seen this piece before, it is of that style. Also Blake did create illustrations of Dante's Inferno, so with some confidence I will say it is by William Blake.
I was wrong. Here is a link:
http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/gallery/0605avarice.jpg
The piece is entitled: The Avaricious by Gustave Doré
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