Over the past couple weeks I have been debating whether or not to endure the Black Friday crowds with the ultimate goal of obtaining a Desktop PC with dual monitors for a really good price. Wal-Mart had a decent $398 desktop doorbuster but I debated whether or not NewEgg.com was the way to go, personally and publicly at WickedFire.

After much deliberation, I decided that a few extra bucks wasn’t worth the suffering of Black Friday crowds and purchased everything at NewEgg for a pretty ridiculous price. But, it was the Black Friday news I heard today which truly vindicated my decision:

In Long Island, a man was trampled to DEATH at the opening of the Wal-Mart Black Friday Sale as reported by the New York Daily News among others. I was disgusted and sickened at reading this… it truly made my stomach churn. The problem starts with Wal-Mart.

Apparently, Wal-Mart did not organize any type of lines or system for letting people in the door. The crowd piled up in front of the entrance and when the doors swung open they literally ripped them off the hinges and the mob flooded aggressively into the store like vampires yearning blood. A man in his 30s was knocked over and trampled, gasping for air as he tried to get up. I’m sure more details will emerge but its been hours since he was pronounced dead.

It seems to me that the Wal-Mart in Long Island probably wanted some cool publicity pictures of big crowds and a sea of people running into the store to fuel the never-ending buzz machine. They sacrificed sanity, humanity, logic, decency, civilization and the life of at least one man. A pregnant woman was also knocked over and her health – along with the baby – has been called into question as well.

For me, it starts with Wal-Mart. I know a lot of people who will NEVER shop at Wal-Mart unless they are practically forced to and I think this is my start of the same sentiments. I planned on going to a Wal-Mart in my area but… going into ANY Wal-Mart on ANY day from now on… I’ll have this in the back of my mind.

Then there is the people involved in this. The customers. I know the economy is bad but are you really that money hungry that you’ll save a few bucks on account of someone losing their life? I’m sure nobody expected him to die but give me a break… WHERE IS YOUR DECENCY. I feel truly sorry for the state of humanity today.

It’s weird how when you’re little it seems like old people are “old-timers” who “remember back in the day” but I echo their feelings as I get older. I think that even since I’ve grown up, our culture (at least in America) as faced a downward spiral of morality and ethics, holding nothing sacred but money, sex appeal and celebrity status. This, in my opinion, is just another bullet point in that ever growing encyclopedia of moral decay.

But I found myself wondering, “What If I Had Been At That Wal-Mart Today?” Once you’re in the throngs of the crowd, its hard to stop and help someone up. In fact, you’d probably be knocked over yourself and perhaps trampled to death as well. It was the mob mentality that caused the crime but I’m sure there are a few key people to blame… who knows, maybe not. I’ve been in huge crowds at concerts and sporting venues and felt the pressure of a persistent crowd pushing forward and sometimes its impossible to pinpoint a single person or persons who are causing the trouble.

Regardless of who is to blame, how sad is it that Black Friday follows Thanksgiving? We spend a complete day to remind ourselves what we should be thankful for and then the following day it is all seemingly disregarded.

I woke up early on Black Friday ONCE, getting to BestBuy at about 5am for a 6am open a few years ago if I remember correctly. We were probably 1,000 people back in a single file line that wrapped around the huge warehouse. It was painfully obvious I’d have to get there at 1am or 2am to make standing in line worth it. And now, as I realize, nothing is worth it.

I’m happy to say that I’ll never consider standing in line for a Black Friday event again. I just won’t do it. I won’t support this mob mentality that would go the lengths of killing someone for a few dollars off. Even if it wasn’t intentional, it was the money saving motives that made it happen – and it is fully and completely to blame.

Instead, I’ll stick to online deals and perhaps even try out some Cyber Monday stuff. Or *gasp* maybe I’ll work a little harder during the year so that a couple hundred extra dollars isn’t that important come the Holiday Gift Giving Season.

To wrap things up, I’ll share with you what I purchased from NewEgg:

• CyberpowerPC Gamer Infinity ($449.99)
• 2 22-inch Acer Widescreen LCD Monitors, DVI capable ($149.99/each)
• Video Card to handle DVI Dual Monitors ($20)

I chose the $449 Desktop PC over a $299 computer because the processor speed was just a whole lot sicker. While I was purchasing for price I was also looking at value, and the CyberpowerPC (hopefully) will still be relevant and working fine in 3 years down the line. And hopefully, it’ll be in use by an employee (fingers crossed) and not myself.

The one negative here is that it runs Windows Vista 64-bit. The 64-bit version has compatibility problems not to mention I like XP a whole lot more, as most people do. So I am trying to figure out how I can just get a Windows XP 32-bit version on my box affordably. Yeah, I know I could get torrents but I try to do things the legal way. Thanks anyways.

Wrapping up… please be safe out there folks. No deal out there is worth dying for… or killing for… and it sounds ridiculous, but today that reality was felt. The holiday season should be about a lot more than a failing economy and shopping galore… it should be about people. Thoughts and prayers to the families affected by this event and shame on everyone who made today’s event the nightmare it became.