What's behind the Walmart Black Friday panic and chaos?

Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2011 at 08:57 AM

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What are we looking at here? I mean apart from the rudeness, the herd instinct and the all the panic? Is it desperation? Is it fear that someone else will cheat you out of the what you need?

If you have an increasingly small budget, then being cheated of what you want must cut deeper surely? Could that explain the depressing frenzy you're looking at?

These absurd mass hysterics have all unfolded at Walmarts. That's probably not an accident. Certainly other big chains have witnessed similar scenes, but truly biblical mass hysteria seems to have played out at the big box store with more regularity than just about anywhere else.

If you've ever looked at the frenzy on a Wall Street trading room floor then you'll probably already know what's driving the frenzy in WallMart: fear your one shot is going to pass by you. How else to explain it?

We know that Walmart has close to two million employees worldwide and that it has faced a flood of lawsuits over low wages, poor working conditions, inadequate health care, as well as issues involving the company's strong anti-union policies. Approximately 70% of its employees leave within the first year.

It makes for a certain kind of working environment, that kind of intentional privation. It can lead to resentment or indifference, even anger. Walmart founder Sam Walton once said, 'I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We're going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment.'

With that thought in mind it's hard to overstate that damage images like the ones below do to the nations international standing. Abroad, this isn't just seen as another eye-popping example of American life, it's seen as a symbol of the decline of the once mighty American Dream.

Canada isn't recording or broadcasting images like this because their social fabric holds together much better, as does their economy. It's not just a matter of time, it a matter of better government policies.

None of the well fed people in these images look like they need another $2 waffle iron, but they're fighting for the bargain - any bargain - as though their lives depended on it. It's human frailty, not human strength, that distinguishes them.

Retailers may have had a good Black Friday, but the truth about the divisions in this nation have rarely been more starkly captured.

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barbaral | Dec 27, 2011, 09:44 PM EST

Isn't that a scene in 1984, too? He thinks the revolution has started when he hears a lot of proletariat women raising their voices in rage, but it turns out to be just because the pots and pans seller ran out of pots.

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FastEddy | Nov 28, 2011, 02:30 PM EST

"... We know that Walmart has close to two million employees worldwide and that it has faced a flood of lawsuits over low wages, poor working conditions, inadequate health care, as well as issues involving the company's strong anti-union policies. ..." All union lawsuits apply to all big box stores plus Macy's, et al. Because WalMart and other big box stores seldom advertise with the tree killers and web-zines, this gives license to all anit-social(ist) media to Target them? FARC You.

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jcounihan | Nov 28, 2011, 12:57 PM EST

The insanity isn't all about "Black Friday." I've been working at a local Sam's Club (Wal-Mart spinoff) full- and part-time for the past 8 years. The "meanness" level is increasing to the point where we have club members threatening employees and picking fights with staff and other shoppers. And lately, obviously "disturbed" people, are bringing in a variety of potentially deadly weapons. It's a wonder more people AREN'T getting hurt. Stay home? Avoid the risks? We all have to shop. The problem is too many people are angry about one thing or another and can't find constructive outlets to channel their anger. To borrow a quote, "We have met the enemy and he is us." - POGO

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michaelidaho | Nov 27, 2011, 08:22 PM EST

Yes, this madness on Black Friday is sickening. However, living in a free society I have an easy solution. Do something else. Stay home, go for a hike, read, spend time with family or friends or engage in your favorite hobby.

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RedBranch | Nov 27, 2011, 01:58 PM EST

I still love my cheap Chinese crap!

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Magdaleno | Nov 27, 2011, 01:49 PM EST

The comments posted are too kind... what you have at Wallmart on black friday are some people who have lost all sense of PROPRIETY.

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peterson | Nov 27, 2011, 01:05 PM EST

Walmart and their idiot "black Friday" customers share the blame. Discusting !!

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TheOldPerfessor | Nov 27, 2011, 10:48 AM EST

Jesus began his ministry by throwing the money changers out of the temple. Pretty funny.

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wyalusingjohn | Nov 27, 2011, 10:29 AM EST

This abhorrent behavior is not limited to Walmart but singling out Walmart fits nicely into Mr. O'Doherty"s left wing anti-business, anti-capitalist views. Nothing to do with Ireland or for that matter Manhattan as there are no Walmarts in the big apple.

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freebie28 | Nov 27, 2011, 10:22 AM EST

No different today than it was in 1983--are you forgetting the Cabbage Patch Kids insanity. Immature adults, acting like children, do not change...only recycling of junk on which they waste precious hard-earned money. Two days after Christmas the useless garbage they battled for will end up on a heap next to Tickle Me Elmo and Barney!

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