This morning at a Long Island Wal Mart a man was trampled to death and a pregnant woman was thrown to the ground. All this happened while a mob of people were fighting to be the first in the store for Black Friday shopping. Just to review....A MAN WAS TRAMPLED TO DEATH BECAUSE PEOPLE WANTED TO SHOP! We live in a country that has the amazing ability to be a nation of great charity and compassion, while at the same time be a nation of unbridled selfishness and greed. Sadly, the holiday season tends to be the time of the year that brings out the best and the worst that our nation has to offer.
The grotesque spectacle at the Wal Mart in Long Island is a sad testament and example of the worst of our nation. In a moment of frenzy, all concern for the safety of others and all respect for other people was disregarded in the name of selfishness and greed. TVs and laptops were ultimately more important than human beings to the members of that mob. Now, clearly if you asked the individuals in that mob if they would kill someone for a discounted piece of electronics, they would say no. (Of course this is in theory) But their actions tell a different tale. Why would a group of people that understand the value of human life in relation to material possessions act in a manner contrary to that knowledge?
Selfishness.
Pure and simple, the people in that mob were only concerned with themselves. It isn't that they didn't value human life, it is just that they were not considering it because they were too involved with their own desires. These people were too consumed with themselves to consider the people around them. These are the same people that cut other people off in traffic because they have no consideration for the cars around them. They are the people that talk in theaters because they don't care about the other movie goers. They are the people that yell at the waitstaff at a restaurant. They are the people that care about nothing more than themselves and their immediate happiness. They are the people that forget the important caveat of American liberties. One man's rights stop where another man's begin.
How have we as a nation gotten to this point? Why are we so self-consumed that we make donations to charity for the tax write-off and community service is a term best known as a punishment for guilt? I personally blame hippies.
The counter-cultural movement of the sixties introduced an entire generation of Americans to a lifestyle of self-gratification. A lifestyle in which one's only concern was in the happiness that one was feeling in each moment. To quote Grateful Dead guitarist, Bob Weir, "It was about exploration, finding new ways of expression, being aware of one's existence." Basically, it was about yourself. The reason this is noteworthy is that it was counter to the culture of the rest of the nation, in which the focus was on the family, or the community, or the nation. The hippie culture taught Americans that it was cool to worry only about your own personal gratification. Drugs were fine because they made you feel good. Having a job was not necessary as long as you were happy in poverty. Now the problem with this movement is not really that a large number of people wasted their lives. These people had children and raised their children in this toxic culture. But the true damage of the counter-culture was that because of the new media of television, an entire nation of youth were exposed to this self centered ideology. This type of ideology appealed to the 18-25 year old demographic. Television and marketing like to target the 18-25 year old demographic. So, the hippie movement became a major national story, thus feeding the movement to young Americans all of the country. An entire generation of frustrated youth, upset about Vietnam, the draft, and searching for an identity of their own, were drawn to this movement of self-indulgence.
This generation is now in charge of this nation. They run our companies. They market our products. They establish our cultural norms because they control our media. They have raised a generation of children in a materialistic and self-centered existence. They have created a secular society in which the only person that matters is yourself. Christmas is about gifts. It is no longer about family and a celebration of faith, it is about increasing retail sales and getting good deals on products we have been sold on.
Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that America was only able to have a democracy because it was a religious nation. His point was not that democracy was divinely inspired, it was that in a nation with such tremendous freedom, the only way that civility and order can be maintained is if the citizens had an intrinsic ethical code that self-governed their use of those freedoms as to not harm others.
The problem with having the freedoms that are present in a democracy is that it requires the citizens to be responsible for the proper use of those freedoms. Responsibility accompanies freedom. This is why modern liberals are such fans of larger government. Large government takes the responsibility away from the individuals. This allows individuals to do nothing more than focus on themselves and their own self-gratification. If the government is taking care of the crap that people don't want to do, then people just get to do whatever they want without care. As Homer Simpson so eloquently put it while running for Sanitation Commissioner, "Can't someone else do it?" This line of thinking is the offspring of the hippie movement and its message of self-indulgence. It has permeated our culture and creates days like Black Friday and tragedies like a man getting trampled to death because of a sale.
Sorry for the random and extensive post. It is the Rocker's fault for taking me to a metal show.
-The Banker
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