Americans love their traditions.  We love the mental image of chestnuts roasting on the open fire or the kiddies checking their stockings early Christmas morning with their messed up hair and cutesy PJs.

Yet, as I watched the CNBC reporters discuss shopper turnout numbers during the early hours of Black Friday from malls all across the nation, I saw something that suggests we have potentially entered a new phase of consumer driven ignorance and a new low in American culture.

This morning, at roughly 5AM, a 34 year old Walmart employee was trampled to death by a stampede of shoppers who wanted to save a few bucks on their Christmas gifts.

A pregnant woman may have also suffered a miscarriage (no news released as yet).  Of course, no one is reported to have stopped to help as the herd of bargain shoppers stampeded through, and continued to buy their crap as someone administered first aid to the injured victims.

Have we really stooped this low as a society?

I’m sure this was completely accidental and will be remembered as one of the most unintentional accidents in history, but what does it really say about our addiction to buying more and more crap?

More importantly, the lengths that we will go in order to buy s**t we don’t need.

I realize I sound like a Tyler Durden disciple, but this animal-like behavior has stepped back into the realm of pre-civilized behavior and Black Friday shoppers will likely be treated like panicky animals for many years to come in response to this incident.

Sadly, I thought the video below taken from Black Friday 2007 had pushed the embarrassment meter to maximum.  If you haven’t seen WalMart’s Black Friday “wig” fiasco, take a look at the video below.  This poor woman was pushed to the ground so violently that she actually loses her wig, and subsequently treated for injuries.

Just look at the number of people who hit the ground in this clip from 2007.  Hindsight may be 20/20, but can anyone not see the inherent dangers here?

Will this be the end of Black Friday?

No way.  The desire to Buy! Buy! Buy! will live longer and thrive far beyond the scope of one lowly personal finance blogger.  Much like the cockroach, consumer ignorance will live on forever no matter what type of plague we thrust upon ourselves.

However, this will probably be a major wake up call for the ways retailers allow hardcore shoppers to purchase their items during massive sale events like Black Friday.

Don’t be surprised when Black Friday 2009 rolls around, and WalMart forces their customers to stand in a Disneyland like waiting line in hopes that the makeshift mazes will prevent the wackos from acting like frightened sheep.

Perhaps we should breakout the cattle prods and be done with it.

If people are going to act like animals, I don’t understand why we shouldn’t treat them like animals.

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Photo by CarbonNYC