Black Friday..Except the Black Symbolizes Death:By Ahmed Madry

 

 

 

I hate black Friday and I don’t even celebrate Christmas. Thankfully I do everything in my power to avoid the purchasing hysteria that represents black Friday, which is a nickname for the day after thanksgiving.  The day symbolizes the start of Christmas season, a season that becomes more of a ploy for consumers to spend their money of several products for their friends and families.  Anyone that has shopped on this notorious day knows one thing; get there early and be aggressive.  Unfortunately, there was an incident in Long Island, New York yesterday where customers were way too aggressive.

Customers were reported to be waiting outside of the Wal-Mart in the Green Acres Mall from 9 p.m of thanksgiving night in order to have good positioning for the 5 a.m opening.  There was a ballpark estimate of over 2,000 customers waiting outside of the Wal-Mart doors.  A 34 year old man from Queens, New York named Jdimytai Damour was a  temporary employee assisted in opening the store and was consequently trampled to death by the stampede of hungry customers, customers so aggressive to beat the black Friday madness that they literally trampled someone to death as if they were a heard of angry buffalo.  The doors did not even have a chance to open as the mob literally shattered the glass and ran into the store.

This is one of many unfortunate historic reports of violence on black Friday.  The whole topic of consumer spending behavior during Christmas season is very interesting. I believe a lot of it has to do with the materialism built into the holiday of Christmas.  Also, the effects of product placement and marketing campaigns based of Christmas adds to the desire-ability of buying these products, especially at discounted prices from black Friday.  It is a shame that someone had to die at the expense of temporary employment on such a hectic shopping day.