Wal-Mart clerk killed in stampede

As Wal-Mart consolidates its monopoly in many American communities, the retail giant has received yet another black eye.

At a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, New York, a clerk died this morning when hundreds of holiday shoppers were able to smash through the doors and trample him. Numerous customers were injured.

The store was unappreciative of the employee who died on behalf of its corporatist business model. It opted to remain open throughout the ordeal. It wasn't closed until police were able to shut it down.

Customers who participated in the mayhem should shoulder much of the blame for the incident. But Wal-Mart has a responsibility to prevent stampedes like this.

This story also underlines the ravages of the cult of consumer capitalism - which the retail industry and the media have long fed. People will ship their own kids off if they skip 3 hours of school, but they'll trample their neighbors just to buy that hot new fall-apart toy that ends up in a yard sale by March.

(Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html)