altivo

So bargain-crazed shoppers trampled a 34-year-old Wal-Mart temp employee to death today, and two men shot each other to death with handguns in the aisle of a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert, California. (The actual reason for the latter argument has not yet been clarified.)

How far do we have to stoop before it becomes so embarrassing that we finally grow up as a culture and stop behaving like moronic, spoiled two-year-olds?

How far do businesses have to stoop in the name of quick profit before they realize the social irresponsibility of whipping crowds into such a frenzy with promises of "bargains" that are usually limited to the "first five lucky shoppers" or whatever? Wal-Mart is officially "saddened by the incident" but accepts no guilt. Sorry, Wal-Mart, you are guilty, guilty, guilty, just as if you threw handfuls of candy into a busy roadway while children were playing along the curb.

It's time to put a stop to this obscenity. "Black Friday" is really black for one man and his family today.

Interestingly, reports from people who actually went out today are pretty varied. Some found no crowds at all, but they went to the malls. Those who went to the big box discount places found the ravening hordes all right.

I'm not a Christian, so I won't lecture about "the spirit of Christmas" or whatever. But this is just the Spirit of Greed, no better than the greed that has created our current economic mess. Time for the US to grow up folks. Really time.