Black Friday and the Bankruptcy of the American Soul

[SidneyCarton]

A 34-year-old Wal Mart employee was crushed to death today after being trampled by 200 people rushing to get cheap HDTV’s and Laptop computers offered as so-called “doorbusters” by the chain store. There are no words to convey the horror and disgust that accompany this story. We are reminded every year by self-righteous pontificating news-personalities of a so-called “war on Christmas” in which the forces of the Godless Left are trying to undermine the spirit of the Season by uttering such words as “Happy Holidays” in order to utter the name of Christ, and the religious holiday we supposedly celebrate on this day.

And what would the Savior think of this? What would he think of those who mindlessly slaughtered a man because he stood between them and the cheap items they sought after? I ask those who blindly and stupidly crushed one of their own in a mad rush to consume, was it worth it? Was the electronic device that you got at cut rates to either sell or discard within 5 years really worth this mans life? Was your momentary pleasure worth snuffing out the yet uncounted years this man might have lived, to say nothing of the wife and children who will pass this Christmas without ever seeing their father alive again? Was it worth it? If so, then I condemn you for being as cheap and as soulless as the garbage you bought with that man’s blood.

As for Wal Mart, a corporation which in the interests of full disclosure I must admit I have shopped at due to poverty, I had long thought that they had permanently sunk beneath my contempt. I find I was wrong. Shame is too tame a word to describe what they should be made to suffer for inciting such feelings. We have long known that they have no sense of decency, but this should be the ultimate wake up call that mega retailers not only do not care about the People, their contempt for us is open, and they eagerly seek to drive us to depths of depravity to which rabid and diseased animals rarely sink.

And to those who will, as they have ever done in years past, decry once again their fictive “War on Christmas” I can only point to episodes such as this and remark, “If this holiday inspires and encourages such vicious and brutal behavior, should it not be warred against, with all the energy of our souls?” This is no celebration of the birth of the Christ child, the Prince of Peace who extolled not the power of ones pocket book, but the contents of one’s soul, this is a blood festival in support of Mammon itself with little care for love hope or faith. Defense of such shameful displays of selfishness deserve only the deepest scorn and reviling (Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity I’m talking to you) anything less would truly be hypocritical.

Anna Quindlin once stated that “consumption is a wasting disease” if so, then we are truly seeing the final stages of the death of America. May it not be so.

[Xipe Totec]

1. You noticed

Yet there is hope...

[tyne]

2. Somebody once said

that someone works in mysterious ways.

Ta-da. It's staring us in the face....can we see it?

[Xipe Totec]

3. He has to bitch slap us around, from time to time,

but we do see it...

and hang our head in shame.

[SidneyCarton]

4. The question is whether or not we choose to do anything about it.

You and I alone are powerless, this I know, and like you I must merely hang my head in shame and know that such scenes only serve to condemn us. But unless we turn away from this madness, we will not need terrorists or outside foes of any sort to destroy us, we will destroy ourselves, and do it with far greater efficiency and finality than Osama bin Laden, or any else could dream of.

[Xipe Totec]

9. Name one thing you did today to make life better,

for someone other than yourself.

I've got bupkiss... :shrug:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7381777

[SidneyCarton]

13. Writing a paper for grad school,

So, in theory I'm laying the groundwork for future service. In reality I'm just trying to crank out something that won't cause my Professor to rip me a new arsehole.

[Xipe Totec]

16. You saw this link?

Or did inspiration come to you too?

:bounce:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=8278435&mesg_id=8278583

[SidneyCarton]

20. Must have been inspiration.

I appreciate the poem, Longfellow wrote some of my favorite stuff.

[onethatcares]

15. I told a friend good-bye, for the last time

at a memorial to his honor. This was a man that did for others, and never asked for help unless he really needed it. I'm gonna miss him greatly.

I stood with his family and told him of the man he was.
Peace.

[Xipe Totec]

18. No longer mourn for me when I am dead

No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell:
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it, for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O! if, I say, you look upon this verse,
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse;
But let your love even with my life decay;
Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone.

-- William Shakespeare Sonnet 71.

[H2O Man]

10. No, you are not.

You are far from powerless.

[SidneyCarton]

14. Agreed, I am not powerless.

But I am one man, and a broke, wretched and unstable one at that. But I will lift where I stand, and hope others will do so as well, for no one man can carry this mess, not even President Obama, which is why he has constantly asked us to do our part. So I'll do what I can, but stuff like this still makes me shake my head in horrified wonder at the depths to which we have sunk.

[Dis Pater]

5. should we outlaw sale prices?

or post police thugs at the doors of retailers to keep the sheep in line?

[SidneyCarton]

6. No, sales are fine

But if you are going to have crowds you must have the crowd control in place to deal with them. True for concerts, theatres, and other public spaces, stores should be no different. I just don't understand needing to get a cheap TV or even an affordable computer (and I realize that for many that is a form of necessity, for both education and employment) so badly that your myopia would cause you to trample people and crush them in order to get to the goods first.

Edited for spelling.

[earth mom]

7. When 700 billion dollars is given to the fucking pirates on Wall Street while people live in tents

all over America, it is proof the powers that be have sold America's soul to the devil. :puke:

[eauclaireliberal]

8. WalMart's Exclusive Health Care Plan

Damour, 34, was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead about 6 a.m., police said. The exact cause of death has not been determined.

...and it WON'T be. Let's not kid ourselves about that.

Mainly because no one involved in the crap seems to give a shit.

[Dis Pater]

11. The doctors and the county coroner don't give a shit?

?

[eauclaireliberal]

21. No the average American nitwit who wants nothing more than their beloved consumer goods

nt

[rsmith6621]

12. Sue Wal-Mart and Charge Those Who .....

......caused this tragedy.......Anyone caught on security tape once ID should at least be charged with manslaughter and Wal-Mart should be sued for creating this frenzy......I won't allow myself or my wife to participate in this annual event, I find these kind of sales to be an insult to my wallet especially in these economic trying times.


I hope the retail community has learned a lesson from this.....but they probably wont.

[LeftyMom]

17. I've worked on Black Friday at more than one retailer.

It's really not difficult to keep order. We handed out numbers for each of the limited quantity items, and let people into the store a few at a time to pick up each. No muss, no fuss, no excitement other than some people bitching about the lines at the registers. Even better is a lottery system to eliminate the incentive to line up outside, but some stores seem to like the free publicity and illusion of scarcity a line creates.

If a store has a rush of people, let alone a trampling situation, it's because management has allowed that to happen.

[FloridaJudy]

19. We've turned into a nation of Hungry Ghosts

Out of Asian mythology

Hungry Ghosts:
Characterised by - Greed; Insatiable cravings; Addictions.
"I want this, I need this, 1 have to have this".
This is the realm of intense craving. The Hungry Ghosts are shown with enormous stomachs and tiny necks - they want to cat, but cannot swallow; when they try to drink. the liquid turns to fire, intensifying their thirst. The torture of the hungry ghost is not so much the frustration of not being able to get what he wants. rather it is his clinging to those things he mistakenly thinks will bring satisfaction and relief. "

http://www.buddhamind.info/leftside/actives/w-o-life.htm