UPDATE: How many innocent lives will be extinguished this Black Friday?

"Hedonistic values and narcissistic identities produce emotionally stunted young people unable to grow up and unwilling to be responsible democratic citizens. The market-driven media lead many young people to think that life is basically about material toys and social status."

--West, Cornel. Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism. New York: Penguin Group, 2004 paperback ed., p. 175.

"With the rise of market fundamentalism, economics is accorded more respect than human needs, human rights, and democratic values; the citizen has been reduced to a consumer--the buying and selling of goods are all that seem to matter."

--Giroux, Henry. Stormy Weather: Katrina and the Politics of Disposability. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers, 2006, p. 88.

Today is "Black Friday"--or, as millions across the country know it, a time to storm out, half-awake and half-dressed, in search of that Almighty discount promised in numerous Newspaper ads, Magazine ads, TV ads and, more and more these days (!), Text Message ads. At your destination, if you happen to be one of the many involved in this annual (ritual) shopfest, there will most likely be lines trailing the front doors of whichever superstores you plan to spend your years' accumulated scraps at. As you arrive, on-time or off-time, the frigidity mixed with materialism-induced anxiety might arouse impatience that will most likely bring shame and embarrassment afterwards; but it's vital to check yourself before, in the words of the Hip-Hop generation, you wreck yourself.    

If only shoppers at a local Wal-Mart branch in Nassau County, New York, had paid stricter attention to that advice when, last year to the date, 2000+ shoppers stopped the life of a 34-year old Haitian guard, Jdimytai Damour, whose body, soul, and humanity was rendered invincible as shoppers stomped, trampled, and pulverized it to snatch pieces of whatever items a young man's life seemed to be worth less than.     

It was a few minutes before 5 A.M. when the raucous crowd, tired of waiting in line for hours, grew increasingly cantankerous, until finally giving in to the speed-driven, competition-centered, all-or-nothing sensibility marketers had driven into their skulls for years.

Consumer activist Al Norman was poignant when he characterized the group as merely "lab rats responding to a stimulus." He went further:

When they door opened, they went after the cheese. In the past, it has been fellow shoppers who have been killed in the 'savage' rush, as one onlooker at the Valley Stream store described the incident. Our culture of mass consumption has bred these 'supershoppers,' who will show up for every clearance, every special, with one goal in mind: to be at the cash register first.

Without a dominant media beholden to the presuppositions of market-motivated hysteria--in short: neoliberalism--that mob faction probably wouldn't have felt comfortable vibrating the giant main door, endangering the lives of many others--including pregnant mothers and babies--before walking over human flesh to grab at the few items they seemed to feel entitled to.   

Reports described how police officers who arrived shortly after to perform CPR on poor Damour's flailing heart were faced with equal disregard; and even when informed of the consequences of their actions, most kept shopping, unmoved. "I've been on line since Friday morning!" some were even heard protesting.  

The culpability of a giant chain like Wal-Mart can't be downplayed or overlooked, for, unlike other megastores like, say, Best Buy, it refused to clamp down on the number of shoppers let in at once. Wal-Mart seemed to be more sympathetic to the hysteria-based culture of winner-takes-all than a civil process that could have prevented the cold-blooded murder of Jdimytai Damour one year ago.  

Today, November 27, 2009, the reality is much different: Looking back on a year that accounted for 2.9 million foreclosures, 10.2% unemployment, and $11.2 trillion wealth loss (an 18% value), are consumers likely to temper their spending this time around?

Well, the NYD Group Inc. recently released annual survey results indicating 11% of shoppers plan to spend more this year than last year, 59% are geared for about the same amount, while a mere 30% have been pondering lately the timeless adage: "less is more." As always, the usual suspects never disappoint, with apparel (49%), toys (34%), and movies (29%) topping the list of consumers' desires.

It is clear not even the reality of unemployment or underemployment is enough to unhook the minds of millions from the frivolous pursuits of material goods and commodities. Greed is a mutha! So is gullibility--and vulnerability.   

But it's more than that: It exposes the moral tax market fundamentalism and everything such ideology stands for imposes on its minions. In the logic of the market, as scholar Henry Giroux has written so eloquently about for decades, people--even children--are only as useful as the dollars--or credit cards--in their wallets. Thus, entire populations are often punished--rendered disposable--for failing to produce profit. In the market bubble, which suffocates all sense of conscientiousness, human beings are only definable through the language of gain and loss--boom and bust--life and death.

How many innocent lives would be extinguished to assuage the appetites of capitalist consumers--and their captors?

(UPDATE): Here's a solemn report of parents who ditched their 9-year-old son and their 9-month-old daughter at a Wal-Mart aisle during the "Black Friday" frenzy two days ago: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/21741519/detail.html