Mall Madness

1 December 2008



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Death Sentence for Shopping

If America's original sin was slavery, materialism was a close second. When George III's Redcoats landed on Staten Island to suppress the rebellion, the troops were unanimous in their assessment of local conditions -- the Americans were rich. Having stuff is part and parcel of the American way. This past Friday, people died because of this fixation.

At the WalMart in Valley Stream, New York, just outside the city line, Jdimypai Damour, 34, stood between around 2,000 shoppers and Black Friday bargains. The shoppers trampled him to death. He had come from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store. They literally broke down the doors to get at the HDTVs and the DVDs. And Mr. Damour is dead. Meanwhile, some shoppers complained that the store closed as the police investigated the crime scene.

Across the country in Palm Desert, California, two men died at a Toy 'R Us store in a hail of bullets. The Los Angeles Times reported, “The dead men were identified by Riverside County sheriff's officials as Alejandro Moreno, 39, of Desert Hot Springs and Juan Meza, 28, of Cathedral City. Two handguns were recovered at the scene. The shooting occurred about 11:30 am Friday after two women got into a fight. After the women began arguing, witnesses said, Meza pulled out a gun. Moreno also pulled out a gun and started chasing and shooting at Meza, witnesses said. Frantic shoppers either dropped to the floor or stormed out of the store.”

Sheriff's Capt. Daniel Wilham said, “It's a miracle that these were the only two people killed, given it was a crowded toy store." Guns at a toy store? What in God's name is going on here? No wonder the rest of the world thinks Americans are crazy. They are. And for the record, they seem to be lousy shots.

Pravda is not an entirely unbiased source; indeed, it is still the untruthful rag it was under the Soviet system. However, its analysis of what has happened cannot be challenged. “To watch an image of Americans breaking down doors at 0500 or earlier to get into stores is reminiscent of a third world hunger stampede when grain is made available. But no, there is no grain at the end of this stampede, only Chinese made goods, the same goods that have driven many of these mindless consumers out of their well paid jobs. The images to those outside the USA are horrible. People, bursting like stampeding cattle, their eyes consumed with only mindless Christless, soulless greed.”

Christless – a perfectly apt word. Some days it's hard to believe in America.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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