Walmart Revisited

Since our Black Friday piece on the Walmart store ("Attention Shoppers!" 11/29/2008), where a stampede at the entrance caused the death of an employee, our attention has been brought to an analysis of a study of crowd control termed as "stampede dynamics," at a blog known as neo-neocon. The analysis appears to suggest, that the people leading the crowd were not so much "evil," as they were pushed from behind by people who couldn't see what was going on. The author concludes:

Reports are that some people in the crowd wanted to continue shopping even after learning of the death. If true, this is evidence of a profound and chilling level of callousness. But the stampede itself is probably not. More likely, it is evidence of a lack of proper crowd control.

The piece is worth reading, but the conclusion is found wanting, inasmuch as a "profound and chilling level of callousness" is usually how the justification of evil manifests itself.

One might concede to a lack of self-control...
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