The Herd

I was saddened to hear the news this holiday weekend about the mob of bargain hungry shoppers on Black Friday that killed a Long Island Wal-Mart employee. The idea that people were willing to lose all self-control enough to end up killing and injuring others in order to buy “bargains,” is a frightening picture of the people of our nation. Even in a time of financial peril where to some every dollar has more value we see ourselves spending our money instead of saving, which points to the extreme pressure upon this society as a whole that says consumerism is the way to go. People are so encouraged in so many ways (TV ads, magazine spreads, fashion magazines etc, etc) to keep buying mindlessly. This idea of so many conforming, because of what surroundings says is the right thing to do sharply contradicts Emerson who believes that “Who so would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself and you shall have the suffrage of the world,” as said in Self-Reliance. Emerson thinks that a great man cannot come to be by following the crowd . That this conformity seen in wanting these possessions and literally following the herd for these possessions speaks of the decadence of our society.