The Orion Online

Issue date: 12/3/08 Section: Features

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There is something seriously wrong when rollback product prices trump the lives of those stocking the shelves or fellow shoppers.

December is full of holidays that are supposed to gather family and friends around warm fires and decorated pine trees, but clearance tape, markdowns and strategic new releases have turned hordes of holiday consumers into killer, deal-grabbing mobs.

A 34-year-old employee was pronounced dead after Wal-Mart shoppers trampled him to death when the store's doors opened at 5 a.m. Friday, The Associated Press reported. Even more horrifying than Jdimytai Damour's death was the apathy shoppers showed as they continued to run over him to nab up sales.

Some even grew angry that the store closed its doors after the incident.

The corporatization of American holidays is nothing new. But have discounted digital cameras and "Incredible Hulk" DVDs really earned a higher place in consumers' consciences than Damour's life or the other people who were injured on Black Friday?

Unfortunately, it isn't mere soullessness of shoppers that is responsible for these holiday tragedies. Many of us are closer than we know to committing crimes of equal disregard.

Just think about how many times someone has dropped a stack of papers and you just kept walking because everyone else did.

Deindividuation is the loss of sense of oneself that allows people to submerge into a group, said Rob Howard, professor of psychology. This is one aspect that could have contributed to the mob mentality outside Wal-Mart's doors.

I would love to say that if I were in a similar situation I would have acted differently, that I would have tried to help Damour or the pregnant woman who was also injured.

But the fact is that it's easy to demonize the ugly side of humanity. We'd love to think murder, robbery and assault are things "those people" do, but it is the distancing of the evil side of people that has allowed society to cultivate the materialistic culture that let shoppers continue shopping after they trampled someone to death.

So, this holiday season when you open your presents, ask yourself, "Would I kill for this?"

Nicole can be reached at
featureseditor@theorion.com

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