Black Friday Tragedy Reaction

Women across the iVillage community are reacting to the tragic news that a Long Island Walmart employee was trampled to death in an early morning Black Friday melee that was fueled by out-of-control crowds and the hunt for holiday shopping bargains. Some iVillagers are annual Black Friday shoppers while others don't see the appeal -- but all agree this incident is a horrifying wake up call for consumers and retailers alike. One of the main questions that has been on the minds of many iVillagers is: who is to blame? The moms on the Frugal Families board offer their opinions:

"I partly blame the stores, too, because they will list an item at a great price and purposely only put 2 or 3 on the shelves. People know this and that is what prompts them to rush in and to the item they want." -- mommy2isaacandethan

"I don't think it is fair to put it on stores. So what if they only put 2 or 3 on the shelves?  It does not give people the right to act like idiots. The mob that went in, trampled on the man, etc. should have been detained and questioned and some charged with murder." -- mamak2002

"I do think stores should reconsider it. I also blame the media (local TV stations) because they have been hyping Black Friday for the last 10 years or so." -- cheaptrickfan

The members on the Hot Topics are in disbelief that a sale could create such a mob scene -- and question the priorities of holiday shopping:

"No amount of savings would induce me to confront such crowd conditions... It's not worth the risk to myself physically, and frankly, not worth the trouble. With the current deep recession, I understand the pressures on people to provide lots of great gifts for themselves or family, but where does it end? In insanity, as with the employee dying? Not worth the price. Not at all." -- gypsywolfwoman

"I can't imagine who would beat a door down to get into Walmart. Anyway, I think Walmart probably bears some responsibility in all this. And I hope the people who beat that door down are charged with manslaughter." -- tessmckenzie

Those on the Stepmoms vs. BioMoms Debate message board are at odds over who bears the real responsibility for this incident:

"Walmart was trying to close the store. I don't agree they were to blame. Not any more than the concert hall was to blame for those people getting trampled at that concert. They opened for business with sales... should they have hired a private SWAT team? There are people out there who crushed a man to death." -- sunshine_burn

"I think Walmart and all these other stores are 100% responsible for crowd control. They advertise outrageous sales and open their doors at 4:30 am. They need to have a better system to make sure that the first in line are let in first, like let 25 people in at a time every 2 min for the first hour so there are not 2000 people running for the $399.00 laptop (of which they only have 7 of) . People are desperate. People can get mean, the mob mentality can happen fast." -- bohemiangirll

"I agree it's a problem and crowds can get out of control. But if this was an expected and foreseeable consequence of having a sale then we'd expect it to have been a problem all over the country. There are about 4,100 Walmart stores in the USA. Should every one of them expected a crowd of 2,000 and had security to handle that? How many thousands of other retail stores had sales that day without incident?

If Black Friday were creating this kind of problem all over the country, we should have laws that apply to all retailers regarding crowd safety, which would probably kill Black Friday." -- harmony08

"I think that the responsibility for mob mentality lies with the general public and the store that created the craze. For the company, it's all about getting the maximum amount of shoppers in the store to buy SOMETHING regardless of how they do it." -- mommy2bof32007

What do you think? Are retailers responsible for providing adequate crowd control? Or are those who participated in the stampede to blame? Maybe a little of both? Share your thoughts here and let me know if you saw any similar incidents on Black Friday.