Who's Responsible?

I just read an update on the tragic incident Friday in New York where a Wal-Mart employee was trampled in the "Black Friday" stampede of 2000 shoppers. According to the following statement by a union leader, the store is at fault, not the people who were so crazed with greed and "me first" that they became an unruly mob.

"This incident was avoidable," said Bruce Both, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, the state of New York's largest grocery worker's union.

"Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?"

This is not the first commentary I have read that is deflecting the blame from the people to the store, and I can't beleive that good thinking people can go in this direction. It is almost as big a disgrace as the behavior of people who make shopping turn into a battle for survival.

On that tragic day, where was common sense? Where was concern for fellow shoppers and store personnel? Where was patience? Ethics? Acceptance? All the elements that are part of what we used to see as "strong character". It was a lack of all that that caused the death and injuries, not an oversight by the store management. How were they to know that they didn't have a crowd of regular shoppers, but had a crowd of crazed animals?

Next up, I'm sure, will be an announcement of a lawsuit by the families of the man who was killed and the people who were injured. The media and the union are helping to provide plenty of arguments in favor of making Wal-Mart dip into their deep pockets.

Shame, shame on them.

If a lawsuit is to be filed, how about rounding up all those people who stormed the store and holding them responsible?