New Air Jordans cause US-wide shopping frenzy:rolleyes2

SEATTLE (AP) - Fights, vandalism and arrests marked the release of Nike's new Air Jordan basketball shoes as a shopping rush on stores across the United States led to unrest that nearly turned into rioting.

The outbursts of chaos stretched from Washington state to Georgia as shoppers - often waiting for hours in lines - converged on stores Friday in pursuit of the shoes, a retro model of one of the most popular Air Jordans ever made.

In suburban Seattle, police used pepper spray on about 20 customers who started fighting at the Westfield Southcenter mall. The crowd started gathering at four stores in the mall around midnight and had grown to more than 1,000 people by 4 a.m., when the stores opened, Tukwila Officer Mike Murphy said. He said it started as fighting and pushing among people in line and escalated over the next hour.

Murphy said no injuries were reported, although some people suffered cuts or scrapes from fights. Shoppers also broke two doors, and 18-year-old man was arrested for assault after authorities say he punched an officer.

"He did not get his shoes; he went to jail," Murphy said.

The mayhem was reminiscent of the violence that broke out 20 years ago in many cities as the shoes, endorsed by former Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan, became popular targets for thieves. It also had a decidedly Black Friday feel as huge crowds of shoppers overwhelmed stores for a must-have item.

Linky

I work near a mall and saw long lines wrapping around the outside of the mall and had no clue what was going on...until I popped open the news and saw the "Air Jordans" report. That's some craziness right there!

I have a coworker who moonlights at Finish Line and he was talking about these shoes. He said they were big, but I scoffed thinking that nobody gets such a hard-on for sneakers anymore, especially since it's been years since Michael Jordan last played a game. I was wrong.

I don't understand why people go so crazy over this shit. They're just shoes, right? They're mass-produced, right? Okay, come back in a week when the next shipment arrives and get them then. Makes sense to me.

They all push, rush, and trample to get shoes, while wearing shoes. You have shoes. Makes no fucking sense. It's like they're running for food rations in a third world country.

Fucking crap shoes that fall apart in 3 months...no thanks.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Looked up the AP story. Oh joy, my home state was also part of this idiocy:

In Taylor, Michigan, about 100 people forced their way into a shopping center around 5:30 a.m., damaging decorations and overturning benches. Police say a 21-year-old man was arrested.

Ridiculous. Raises the question: what are you willing to expend effort to get? An education? A better personality? A good reputation? A better standard of living for one's family? New skills and knowledge?

Or a pair of cheap sweatshop shoes?

I don't recall anytime in my life being so passionate about any consumer good.

Ridiculous.

I can only hope that it will stop at rioting. When I was a kid I remember my mother telling me about how in the early 1980s it wasn't unheard of for people to be robbed of their fancy designer jeans and shoes at bus stops and subway stations in major metro areas. If these people are depraved enough to act this way over buying the shoes then I have no doubt that some of these sorry mofos aren't above sticking people up.

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StudioFiftyFour
I don't recall anytime in my life being so passionate about any consumer good.

The only times I have were for the Harry Potter books. But the hardcover was like $15 and will last several decades or more with care. Not $300 and will fall apart within the year.

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paragon schnitzophonic

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StudioFiftyFour
I don't recall anytime in my life being so passionate about any consumer good.

The only times I have were for the Harry Potter books. But the hardcover was like $15 and will last several decades or more with care. Not $300 and will fall apart within the year.

The question then becomes, would you consider resorting to violent acts to get your hands on the books? I'd expect that you're a rational person and would not.

We've been a consumerist society going back as early as the Industrial Revolution. However, never before can we point to a time in history where consumerism has swallowed up western culture to the degree that it has now. Masses of people are seeking happiness by using consumerism as a vehicle--and I think that's why you're seeing these types of chaotic scenes.

Instant gratification and greediness at its worst. And...pretty damn close to scariest. It'll get scary when people start killing each other in line for this stuff, and at this point it's only a matter of time before that starts. That's a really dismal thought.

Yeah I always got that way over books though...I mean not murderous but really, really impatient and wanting the book right away. When I was young Animorphs was the thing for me, and after that it was Harry Potter all the way until the series ended. Don't think I would have done any of this nonsense though to get my hands on the book. But people generally don't get *that fucking insane* over books. (someone prove me wrong)

Holy crap, you read Animorphs? I was all about those books in middle school. I still have all of them, save the very last one because that came out right when I started outgrowing them.

Never gotten murderous over books either. The only time I got pissed off not being able to get my hands on a book was when I spent an entire Saturday looking for a copy of The Killer Angels that I had to read over winter break in 11th grade for AP US History. Finally got a copy, slogged through it, went back to school, the teacher gave a review of the book, and every question that was on the test was from the review the teacher just gave. Oh, I was pissed.

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paragon schnitzophonic
Holy crap, you read Animorphs? I was all about those books in middle school. I still have all of them, save the very last one because that came out right when I started outgrowing them.

I did! Freaking LOVED those books. Her aliens were so delightfully alien and well-crafted. And not to mention the books in general were exceptionally messed up for kids' books, handling tons of moral issues and all that.
I stopped reading towards the end. My friend told me later how it ended and I was really disappointed. I guess she just didn't know what to do with a bunch of young adults with severe PTSD.

Either way, I totally stalked the bookstore for the latest one when they were first coming out.

Consumerism has gone too far.

JD

Oh man, Animorphs takes me back to grade school. I never read them, but I had a friend who was obsessed with reading them. I always liked the covers and the human-to-animal transformations. Very cool artwork.

There's always at least one "hot" item every Christmas that people will beat and kill one another for. Usually it's toys - remember the fucking Furby craze? And Zhu-Zhu Pets last year? Not so much for adults, but I remember how nuts everyone went when icicle lights came out. I'm actually amazed people have not been slaughtering one another over the new My Little Pony toys, especially since it has such a massive fan base.

This is why if I see something I want that becomes a huge fad or is otherwise insanely popular, I wait until the hype dies down. That's why I've waited this long to get a Wii (which I intend to get with my Gift-mess money) - I wasn't gonna buy one when they first came out and people were shoving and punching each other to grab them off shelves. Fuck that - I'm not getting assaulted over a game console, nor am I going to jail for fracturing someone's skull that tries to knock me down for one of them.

Besides, why would anyone want shoes named after a washed up basketball player?

It doesn't surprise me that the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila was involved in this fuckery. I work right down the street from it but shop there only on the offest of off seasons. It's a great mall located in an overpopulated area that's always completely insane for Xmas. I tried shopping in Southcenter/Tukwila back in 2000 for Xmas and it was a fucking nightmare so I never did it again. Basically the entire South Sound loses it's sanity during the holidays. I generally can't wait for them to be over; I recently moved and now live near another mall that's equally nuts on the holidays. Things here are only getting worse as retail expands and attracts more people to the area, and it's already packed here and the streets can't handle the volume. Yet they keep allowing more and more retail here.

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elaphe_guttata

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paragon schnitzophonic
Holy crap, you read Animorphs? I was all about those books in middle school. I still have all of them, save the very last one because that came out right when I started outgrowing them.

I did! Freaking LOVED those books. Her aliens were so delightfully alien and well-crafted. And not to mention the books in general were exceptionally messed up for kids' books, handling tons of moral issues and all that.
I stopped reading towards the end. My friend told me later how it ended and I was really disappointed. I guess she just didn't know what to do with a bunch of young adults with severe PTSD.

Either way, I totally stalked the bookstore for the latest one when they were first coming out.

I stalked the bookstores too, every month. I've been wanting to read them again to get an older viewpoint on the books as opposed to the understanding I had at 11. I don't think I really thought about the fact that a small group of middle-school kids are now the only thing standing in the way of a full-on invasion and having to make the same decisions that seasoned generals in war make. Now that I'm 26 with a psychology degree, I'm sure I'll look at the content differently.

All this over a pair of ugly trainers? Seriously? :goggle

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