Walmart, Black Friday, and the human condition

As you’ve all heard by now, this past Friday in Valley Stream, NY, a young temp worker was crushed to death by a stampede of customers.  There has been a lot of back-and-forth in the blogosphere about this,* and I would like to throw my two cents in from a philosophical historian’s view.

Many bloggers and readers are interpreting the tragedy as yet “more” evidence of humanity’s innate “sickness.”  For example, one Cynical-C reader remarked,

Cattle. They’re all fucking cattle.  Is saving $70 really worth getting up at 2am and standing in line for 3-4 hours so you MIGHT get what you want at a lower price?  Black Friday is such bullshit. If people would stop herding themselves into the stores on this day, stores would have no choice but to offer deals and remain competitive all season. Anyone that bought something in a brick-and-mortar store that day can eat my shit.

This kind of reaction is very reminiscent of the old Christian-Islamic/Han Fei-Confucius argument over whether human nature is fundamentally evil, flawed, or depraved (the Christian and Han Fei position), or fundamentally good, led wayward by ignorance and ingratitude (the Islamic and Confucian position).  I side with the latter.

Our species’ track record for depravity and atrocity notwithstanding, I actually don’t believe there’s anything fundamentally wrong with human beings.  We’re lost, confused, and scared, that’s all.  We don’t know why we’re here, where we’re going, or what’s to come of everything.

This crisis of consciousness, which has been with us since the first hominid realized one day he would die, is at the root of so many of our problems.  Simply, we all try to fill the hole with something, anything. Thus, while what happened in Valley Stream was consumerism run amuck, the truth about consumerism is that it is just one more opiate in a long list of opiates — and like any drug addiction, in the junky’s frenzy to lose himself in cheap salvation, innocents will inevitably be hurt.

Instead of lamenting, the tragedy in Valley Stream should be used as an opportunity for reflection, both upon ourselves and our society.  A traumatized shopper cried to a reporter after the incident, “I wish I was never here this morning!”  We must ask ourselves not only how we have gotten to the point where a man’s life is judged as less valuable than discounted (and sub-par manufactured) commercial products, but also envision an alternative self-image, one crafted of our better values, and ask: how do we work toward becoming such a person and society?

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* Most interestingly, alot of the arguments have surrounded the question of whether press coverage of Black Friday is itself a form of marketting and hence partially responsible for the crazed behaviors oft noted for the day.

Update — blog roundup of the tragedy (as of Friday, December 12th, 2008):

• Hearing On Black Friday Stampede
• Family of Jdimytai Damour to Sue Wal-Mart
• Statement from Wake Up Wal-Mart blog on the Tragic Death of Jdimytai Damour

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On a side note, the would-be-funny-were-it-not-true image above is taken from here.  And in light of the Mumbai catastrophe, I think it would be appropriate to end with a quote from Calvinball, a voice of blogging reason:

Stop the radicalization of India. Stop it. Don’t stand by as Hindu elders talk about the Muslim menace. Don’t let Muslims go on about the kafirs and their sins. Talk. Reason. Stand up for Muslims, and stand up for Hindus. Point out we have a stake in each other. Point out we may not agree on religion but should agree to be civil. Killing people does not help Muslims – it breeds resentment towards the entire community. Start early. Maybe we cannot control our hot-headed youth but we can teach our children right and wrong. And maybe we, people in the middle class of India, can’t do anything about the poor quality of our schools, or the lack of schools, or the economic depravity that we know is the breeding ground for radicalization. But we must do everything that is in our power to do. Do whatever you can, even if it is just talking. And talking is the least we can do – whenever the opportunity presents itself. Even if one person listens to you it is worth it. Do something, anything. Be part of the change you want to see in the world.