Nathaniel West ended his novel, Day of the Locust, with a riot at a movie premiere, a riot that left several people dead or injured. Today, the shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, NY, left only one person dead and three injured. Unlike, West's fictional characters, these were people who actually had a life in Valley Stream and elsewhere. Yet, because of the insanity and greed of some people, the victims' lives were cut short or interrupted.
The shoppers started lining up at 9 p.m. last night. By the time the store opened at 5 a.m. today there were 2,000 of them. They attacked the store and everybody else who was in the way of their getting a bargain. They broke the doors off the hinges and walked right over people who had fallen.
What have we become?
Where were the riot cops? Gather 20 hippies together and there would have been 20 in turtle gear to watch their every step.
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