Consumerism Run Amok ... Literally
- Phil Gutis
- Director of Communications, New York City
- Blog | About
- Posted November 28, 2008 in Living Sustainably
We learned the true meaning of black Friday early this morning when a Wal-Mart employee in suburban New York was trampled to death by stampeding consumers.
The New York Times reports that Jdimypai Damour was knocked over and crushed by 2,000 shoppers this morning in Valley Stream, Long Island:
At 4:55 a.m., just five minutes before the doors were set to open, a crowd of 2,000 anxious shoppers started pushing, shoving and piling against the locked sliding glass doors of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., Nassau County police said. The shoppers broke the doors off their hinges and surgedin, toppling a 34-year-old temporary employee, Jdimypai Damour of Jamaica, Queens, who had been waiting with other workers in the store's entryway.
People did not stop to help the employee as he lay on the ground, and they pushed against other Wal-Mart workers who were trying to aid Mr. Damour. The crowd kept running into the store even after the police arrived, jostling and pushing officers who were trying to perform CPR, the police said.
What in Wal-Mart could lead to such callous behavior? What discount? What special?
In his new book -- The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability -- NRDC Trustee Gus Speth says that we will never solve our environmental problems until we change our consumer-driven ways. In her blog on the book, NRDC President Frances Beinecke wrote that Gus believes that we must "question our devotion to economic growth above all other values."
As he calls it, we must rethink "our pathetic capitulation to consumerism." This unquestioning drive toward more and more creates a paradox: we have achieved abundance but it is teetering on extinction.
As a shopper and collector by heart, I find it hard to accept the idea of rejecting consumerism. And doubt that as a society we will ever change our consumerist ways.
But after today's fatal stampede I cannot agree more with what Frances wrote last May:
Gus's book reminds me that fighting to protect the planet is not just about policy and proposals and legislation. It's about what we value, what is meaningful to us, what brings us peace and long-lasting health.
Amen.
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Comments
Greg Jones — Nov 30 2008 11:33 AM
When I think about this occurring not far from where I grew up, it's all I can do to check myself against stereotyping my hometown. Instead I ponder other things:
-- How a worsening economy and our ingrained consumerism can feed on each other to foster behavior like this, and
-- The values reflected when people think camping outside overnight gives them a free pass to ignore (if not take responsibility for) the plight of others.
We pay and we pay and we pay...
Monica Berkowitz — Nov 30 2008 04:24 PM
wow-- I was in long island over thanksgiving. that's just awful.
i find this topic very interesting. i have brought up some anti capitalism/consumerism conversations, which i find to be the most fascinating kind of conversation. the more taboo the subject, the better. people tend to think that "things" bring us happiness, despite all the evidence that suggests otherwise. choice is actually a burden in a lot of cases because it becomes overwhelming and introduces expectation... which increases the likelihood for disappointment. in the case of the black friday walmart employee death, the fact that people chose consumerism over humanitarianism should be nothing short of disappointing if not despicable to people, and hopefully will open some eyes.