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Black Friday Pandemonium

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posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 09:40 AM
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So far this morning there has been a mace attack over an XBOX. A couple of shootings and attempted robberies, and that was just at Walmart stores!

LA Times

As shoppers converged on retailers around the country looking for Black Friday deals, authorities reported scattered problems.

In Porter Ranch, a woman pepper sprayed customers at a Wal-Mart in what authorities say was a deliberate attempt to get more "door buster" merchandise. In San Leandro, a Wal-Mart shopper walking to his car was shot and wounded in a suspected robbery early Friday.

Another shooting was reported at a parking lot next to a Wal-Mart in South Carolina, also a suspected robbery attempt. Officials told WMBF-TV they believe the robbery was tied to Black Friday.

At Porter Ranch, 20 customers, including children, were hurt in the 10:10 p.m. incident, officials said. Shoppers complained of minor skin and eye irritation and sore throats.

"This was customer-versus-customer 'shopping rage,'" said Los Angeles Police Lt. Abel Parga.

The woman used the spray in more than one area of the Wal-Mart "to gain preferred access to a variety of locations in the store," said Los Angeles Fire Capt. James Carson.

"She was competitive shopping," he said.


My wife was out with her mom and sisters this morning like they do every year. She wasn't buying anything, just her annual Christmas ornament, and otherwise she was a spectator. Her mom does do some real shopping, but mainly they go out to see the pandemonium and chaos first hand.

Shopping today is almost a bloodsport, and for me, it is indicative of our entirely upside down, consumption driven economy and self-worth driven by TV ads and STUFF

I personally am appalled by the whole fiasco of the Christmas season, and I barely celebrate just enough so my kids are normal whatever that means. I don't want to be the Dad that makes them seem weird to their friends. Otherwise, I wouldn't participate in the whole season. As long as I get to visit family and eat some good food, I'm thrilled! That should be what the season is about, not macing the other shoppers to get the front of a line.

edit on 25-11-2011 by getreadyalready because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 09:52 AM
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reply to post by getreadyalready
 


I begin planning this joyous season in July each year. I am now in hibernation.

Consumer violence over plastic cheap crap that will be retired in less than a year to a landfill where it will reside until the end of time.



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 09:53 AM
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Using mace/pepper spray on the other shoppers sounds like assault with a weapon to me.Not"competetive shopping".Madness,greed in action.



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 09:59 AM
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reply to post by AgentX09
 


All's fair in love and shopping.

Personally I would of used some tazer knuckles.



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:01 AM
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I didn't participate in Thanksgiving and I really don't want to get involved with Christmas either quite frankly. For years I haven't been much into because it stinks to high heaven of blatant consumerism.

I'm not even a Christian and I see the hypocrisy of celebrating the birth of a God by acting in ways Jesus would not have stood for.

Crazy... each year it seems it gets worse but we just keep ignoring the facts. I'm getting angry just writing this. What a shame....



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:03 AM
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To spray someone in order to spend money first? We as species are getting more and more insane.
Consume consume consume. Buy buy buy. Bye bye bye.



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:07 AM
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Cracked



Before going near a retail store on Black Friday, you should make sure your life insurance is paid up. If the news is any indication, you're going to be dealing with a bunch of feral materialists. Every year brings more tales of shoppers fighting or killing each other. It's as if the entire country is driven CRAZY by these great deals, but instead of slashing prices like the owner of Crazy Eddie's mattress emporium, they're taking it out on each other.

But Actually:

It seems like people are more violent on Black Friday because the national media doesn't pay attention to violence at retail stores until it happens on Black Friday. Wesley Strellis walked into a Walmart a little after noon, picked up a metal bat from the sporting goods section, carried it to electronics and methodically destroyed 29 flat screen TVs. There's the case of the 55-year-old man who punched a 72-year-old store greeter in the face for asking to see his receipt, and the guy who walked into a Walmart and pissed on a case of steaks. And who can forget the man who lit three racks of clothes on fire in the men's department when Walmart wouldn't let him return an item. There are crazy people in this world who do crazy things. Often times at Walmart. CNN didn't report on any of those stories because why would they?

There's also the fact that the story has a tendency to change in the retelling. Like all news stories about crazed shoppers, Neatorama's five entry list of Black Friday Bloodshed includes the 2008 shooting at a Toys "R" Us that started with a brawl between two women and left two men dead. You have to click through to their source to find out that the initial brawl was caused by a pre-existing personal dispute, and that the shooting was believed to be gang related.

For some reason, CNN decided to report the gang killing in the same story as the one and only death ever linked to the shopping rush, though even that isolated incident is hard to pin on the shoppers. It happened at a Walmart door buster sale -- a retail stunt specifically designed to create a spectacle of frenzied competition over a fixed number of big deals. Retail chains like Best Buy and even certain Walmart outlets hold these every year without anyone getting hurt. If everything is handled properly, it's a good way to get your store on the local news. That year, the Walmart at Green Acres Mall in New York decided to see what would happen if everything was handled in the worst way possible.

First of all, it wasn't the ideal place to hold a stunt that is designed to foster aggressive competition. In addition to being known as the "car theft capital of Long Island," the mall's other claim to fame was a shooting in which two groups of teenagers opened fire on each other during a screening of Godfather III. Instead of hiring security to help police the free for all they were holding in the dark at their crime hotspot of a shopping location, the shoppers who camped outside the store all night were taunted by a handful of inexperienced Walmart employees who were put on crowd control duties. As the sale was about to begin, the crowd outside began pushing against the sliding glass doors, and employees on the inside began pushing back to keep the doors from bowing inward. The combined force of the crowd shattered one of the doors, and the crowd poured in, crushing a 6' 5" employee trapped under the door.

It was a horrible tragedy, and it could have easily been prevented. But on any other day of the year, it would have been a story about a horribly run store and the terrible power of crowds. But since it was on Black Friday, it has been used as a way to infuse the moral of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas with the post-apocalyptic violence of The Road Warrior.

This day used to be no different from any other day, until the news made people expect to be killed at them. Now they really will be. Self fulfilled prophecy.



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:07 AM
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Some people take getting a discount on merchandise way to seriously. When you resort to using pepper spray, something isn't right upstairs. Black Friday is getting to be an outright dangerous adventure! Last year didn't someone get trampled to death at Walmart? People drive like maniacs trying to get to the stores in time before they run out of the sale merchandise. I think it's getting worse every year.

edit on 25-11-2011 by WeRpeons because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:11 AM
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reply to post by revswirl
 


It is not the hypocritical and their violence and aggression that angers me, It is the continued assault on my planet that disturbs me. I have nightmares about the amount of trash this holiday produces.

I have never celebrated any holidays, grew up a Witness, but these days it is my love of the planet and my refusal to be programmed by corporations that keeps me safe and sane.



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:13 AM
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Materialism really can be sickening especially around this time of year. What I have noticed as the years go by is that Christmas tends to be a time of reflection for me. For a lot of my friends it is a very depressing time of year, personally I only notice that 'Its Christmas' when the lights start going up, that is when I start remembering all that time spent trying to get to sleep.



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:16 AM
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sounds like a re-run of the 1889 Land Rush days..


Land Run of 1889 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Run_of_1889
The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land run into the Unassigned Lands and included all or part of the 2005 modern day Canadian, Cleveland, ...
Boomers and sooners - Rapid growth - See also...



history does indeed go in cycles...just familiarize yourselves with the terms that crossed the centuries...'Boomers' Sooners... and todays' Baby Boomer Generation...
what does web bot say about the old Land Rush =V= today's Product Rush at the super stores?

It can be reduced to Attaining a Goal...either the homestead beside a creek for a family heritage
~or else~
the 42" LCD TV with built in DVD for $199 (or less) for the entertainment room the unemployed family spend a lot of time at.


very similar behaviors, or lack there-of
edit on 25-11-2011 by St Udio because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:17 AM
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reply to post by getreadyalready
 


You can participate in Christmas without participating in corporate x-mas. I never do the black Friday thing either. All they do is put the items on sale that they couldn't sell to a blind and def man the other 364 days of the year. Put a sale sign on it, on national commerce day (black Friday) and it's the best thing since sliced bread.


Pepper spray counts as a weapon. That means if it's used on you, and you can see straight, clock them in the face. You won't get in trouble. Some people still practice the "old ways", but you have to be sneaky about it.

edit on 25-11-2011 by Evolutionsend because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:21 AM
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Originally posted by cetaphobic
Cracked



Before going near a retail store on Black Friday, you should make sure your life insurance is paid up. If the news is any indication, you're going to be dealing with a bunch of feral materialists. Every year brings more tales of shoppers fighting or killing each other. It's as if the entire country is driven CRAZY by these great deals, but instead of slashing prices like the owner of Crazy Eddie's mattress emporium, they're taking it out on each other.

But Actually:

It seems like people are more violent on Black Friday because the national media doesn't pay attention to violence at retail stores until it happens on Black Friday. Wesley Strellis walked into a Walmart a little after noon, picked up a metal bat from the sporting goods section, carried it to electronics and methodically destroyed 29 flat screen TVs. There's the case of the 55-year-old man who punched a 72-year-old store greeter in the face for asking to see his receipt, and the guy who walked into a Walmart and pissed on a case of steaks. And who can forget the man who lit three racks of clothes on fire in the men's department when Walmart wouldn't let him return an item. There are crazy people in this world who do crazy things. Often times at Walmart. CNN didn't report on any of those stories because why would they?

There's also the fact that the story has a tendency to change in the retelling. Like all news stories about crazed shoppers, Neatorama's five entry list of Black Friday Bloodshed includes the 2008 shooting at a Toys "R" Us that started with a brawl between two women and left two men dead. You have to click through to their source to find out that the initial brawl was caused by a pre-existing personal dispute, and that the shooting was believed to be gang related.

For some reason, CNN decided to report the gang killing in the same story as the one and only death ever linked to the shopping rush, though even that isolated incident is hard to pin on the shoppers. It happened at a Walmart door buster sale -- a retail stunt specifically designed to create a spectacle of frenzied competition over a fixed number of big deals. Retail chains like Best Buy and even certain Walmart outlets hold these every year without anyone getting hurt. If everything is handled properly, it's a good way to get your store on the local news. That year, the Walmart at Green Acres Mall in New York decided to see what would happen if everything was handled in the worst way possible.

First of all, it wasn't the ideal place to hold a stunt that is designed to foster aggressive competition. In addition to being known as the "car theft capital of Long Island," the mall's other claim to fame was a shooting in which two groups of teenagers opened fire on each other during a screening of Godfather III. Instead of hiring security to help police the free for all they were holding in the dark at their crime hotspot of a shopping location, the shoppers who camped outside the store all night were taunted by a handful of inexperienced Walmart employees who were put on crowd control duties. As the sale was about to begin, the crowd outside began pushing against the sliding glass doors, and employees on the inside began pushing back to keep the doors from bowing inward. The combined force of the crowd shattered one of the doors, and the crowd poured in, crushing a 6' 5" employee trapped under the door.

It was a horrible tragedy, and it could have easily been prevented. But on any other day of the year, it would have been a story about a horribly run store and the terrible power of crowds. But since it was on Black Friday, it has been used as a way to infuse the moral of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas with the post-apocalyptic violence of The Road Warrior.

This day used to be no different from any other day, until the news made people expect to be killed at them. Now they really will be. Self fulfilled prophecy.

Best post in this thread by far!




posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:22 AM
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I remember a day when spraying someone in a store with pepper spray would have caused a fight... and I am not talking about two people yelling at each other. I am talking about someone going to a hospital with blunt force trauma.

As a society, we have gone from a polite society motivated by respect and controlled by a realization that the other person demanded such respect, to a rude society where we seem to believe we are somehow immune from retaliation or responsibility for our actions. I blame the rise in network technology. Once, the majority of conversation and interaction was face-to-face; get out of line with someone and you faced the possibility of physical retaliation. Today, interaction and conversation is commonly via telephone, text, email, and so on. There is no concern over retaliation when the object of your abuse is sitting elsewhere on the globe and doesn't even know where you are or possibly what you look like.

So one can get away with saying or doing whatever they want.

Rudeness breeds contempt. Now whenever people interact, they are interacting with others who harbor contempt for others and have no concept of respect based on physical interaction. So there is nothing, no moral center, no humanitarian concerns, to stop them from doing what I and others from my generation consider unthinkable.

I'm sorry, but I prefer the old ways. Had I been in that store and she had walked up and sprayed something in my eyes, there would have been a fight. Period.

The amazing thing to me is that such a scene didn't erupt. Apparently there are few of my generation left. A shame, really. I wish society the best when we are finally all gone; you're gonna need all the help you can get to survive each other.

TheRedneck



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:28 AM
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reply to post by getreadyalready
 




Shopping today is almost a bloodsport, and for me, it is indicative of our entirely upside down, consumption driven economy and self-worth driven by TV ads and STUFF


Good point.

Humans evolved as a hunter-gatherer species for tens of thousands of years. Now, there's nowhere to hunt, and nowhere to gather, so THIS IS IT.

We've made it too expensive for most people to go to the field and hunt or farm/gather. Or we've ruined many ecosystems so it's impossible for most to utilize them.

This is the so-called civilized life we have painted our species into. We still hunt and gather, but we have to do it at Wal-Mart et al.

And we have to do it under so-called civilized laws.

But the unevolved primal brain is still there amongst many of our fellow humans. So, shop at your own risk. IMO this is where things are headed.



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:34 AM
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reply to post by TheRedneck
 


Redneck, I'm with you! I wouldn't have been the one to call the cops, I would have been the one shoving the pepper spray can where the sun don't shine.

Its a combination of no common courtesy and no natural consequences. They go hand in hand. When there is a decent chance of someone planting that can of spray where it don't belong, there is also a better rate of politeness!

Still, that consumption programming is the part I really despise. Screw 20 other people, and risk injury and/or jail just to save a few bucks? Ridiculous! And in this economy, who the hell is in such a rush to spend money anyway? I was kind of hoping for a total bust today.



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:35 AM
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Let them be nuts! I'm doing my shopping online like I have the past 10 years now. Unless I'm in Belfast of course. I can't resist City Centre at Christmas. It's so charming!



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:36 AM
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I wonder what the Walmart employees are like when Black Friday comes around. Do they arm up like the zombie apocalypse is coming, giving motivational speeches to each other? Maybe whenever a "fight" breaks out they just monotonely say "oh, another one. Hey Bill, do you want take this one?"

All and all though, Black Friday is horrible. It has become a holiday itself, the holiday to celebrate greed and materialism through the ritualistic sacrifising of an employee or by fighting consumers. What is worse is that I never see harsh enough punishment for the people that do cause harm. It's pretty bad when a crowd can stampede another human being and nothing much is done about it.



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:38 AM
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reply to post by insanedr4gon
 


One of my friends was working at Target last holiday season. He's a large guy to say the least, and extremely polite. They gave him the job of standing in front of electronics. He wasn't happy about it, but no one trampled him or pepper sprayed him. They were more or less using him as a bouncer.
No one working retail wants to hear a motivational speech about black Friday. That's a day they all hate.
edit on 25-11-2011 by Evolutionsend because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 25 2011 @ 10:48 AM
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I've said it before, I'll say it again, I HATE BLACK FRIDAY.

We live in the middle of nowhere. Tomorrow is my birthday. My daughter told me last night that she had to go into town (Lubbock) today to get me a gift as it is her payday.

I looked at her like she suddenly grew horns out of her head and said, "Did you forget that tomorrow is black Friday??"

Her eyes got big as half-dollars and she gasped. "Oh #$%$!! NO!"

"Yes," I chided, "You will have to go elbow to elbow with the fiercest, most nasty, rudest women in the Hub City, fighting over cheap plastic Chinese garbage. It's not worth it."

"But, what about your birthday, Mom?" She looked sad and confused.

I patted her on the shoulder. "First of all, Sweets, I'm turning 50. Do you think I give a rat's ass about making a fuss about it? Secondly, your safety and the cost of gas and the aggravation you will experience will not be worth it. Thirdly, I have just one word for you: Online."

She visibly relaxed and we had a good laugh about it.

We're here still in our pajamas sipping coffee, while a bunch of maniacs spent the night in a cold parking lot just so they could fight each other over some junk.

Black Friday used to mean the stores were "in the black" on their balance sheets in terms of profits. Now it means only the black of heart go shopping, and use any means to get the best deal. What a dreadful, soulless commentary on the mentality of the modern American.




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