Posts Tagged ‘Wal-Mart’

Wal-Mart Stereotypes African Americans

Wal-Mart is under fire this morning for their online ‘movie suggestions‘. when someone wanted to buy a dvd through the Wal-Mart website it also suggested other movies the customer might be interested in (kind of like netflix does). this technology is called ‘item-mapping’ and it apparently linked the dvd ‘Planet of the Apes’ with other films about African Americans including Martin Luther King Jr, boxer Jack Johnson, singer Tina Turner and actress Dorothy Dandridge. Apparently the system has since been shutdown.

This reminds me of the time that Ebay used similar technology with Google ads. A while ago when you googled the words ‘African Slaves’ an Ebay ad appeared saying ‘African Slaves for Sale‘. I guess technology just malfunctions sometimes.

Wal-Mart Stereotypes African Americans

Black Friday Stampede Kills Long Island Man – Jdimytai Damour

Need I say more….. What is this world coming to? A 34 year old Wal-Mart worker Jdimytai Damour gets killed in Valley Stream as a rush of Black Friday shopper’s stomp over him to get deals on this year’s “hottest” gifts. I say hottest because they were selling a Plasma TV, an upright vacuum, a digital camera and DVD’s.

Not only did one man die but three other’s were also injured in the onslaught. Patron’s as some newspapers call them broke down the store doors in an attempt to get inside. Wait a minute…. A patron? More like animals on a feeding frenzy. These people should be arrested or at the very least ashamed of themselves. The really sad part about all of this is that no one even stopped to help this guy they just kept walking over him.  

I can’t say I don’t love a good deal but when it’s at the expense of someone’s life I’d think twice. How could these “patrons” keep shopping after all of this?

My heart really goes out to the family of Jdimytai. Have our eyes glazed over so much that we forget who we are and what the holiday season is all about. I hope all of you involved get to watch the news this year on your new Plasma TV.  

The guilt and bad karma will live with you forever.