Black Friday is Out of Control

I'm from NY, so I read the Post online virtually every day.  During today's perusal, I saw this story: Man Trampled by Shoppers.  I would advise against watching the video, it's not the actual stampede, but the EMTs trying to revive him (pretty disturbing).  The poor guy was trying to hold back the crowd at a Long Island Wal-Mart before the store opened and then boatloads of deal-seekers went nuts trying to get a Wii or iPod or something Jonas Brothers/Hannah Montana.  Rescue workers tried their best to save this guy, but he died in a nearby hospital around an hour later.

How much is a deep discount worth?  I've never understood the point of getting up that early to go stand in the cold with a bunch of other people to save some money and get my shopping done early.  Now, I don't have any kids yet, so maybe I will be like this someday (if you're reading this and see me at a store at 4 am in a few years, please take me out on the spot), but I can never understand shoving someone out of the way or running them over to be the first to the Tickle Me Elmo display.

Not much information has been released on the victim so far, but it should be soon and I just hope he isn't a father of young kids.  Speaking of kids, he wasn't the only victim of the day.  A 28-year old PREGNANT woman was shoved as well and had to be treated for undisclosed injuries.  Come on people.  I don't care if there was one Nintendo DS left and my wife told me she would leave me and my kids said they would disown me if I didn't get one, I wouldn't shove a preggo.  

I don't know who's fault this is and I don't attempt to blame anyone, but somewhere along the line, somebody screwed up when a man dies so hordes of people can get a deal.  Congratulations, you got a 42-inch HDTV for under 700 bucks, while this family will have the memory of their dead father/son/brother/cousin/uncle and an empty seat at the Thanksgiving table.

-Jesse