Consumerism fuels local mayhem

AT THE STROKE of midnight Friday morning, Fresno’s Best Buy store at the River Park shopping center became a scene of near madness.

As reported by local news sources and even national outlets like the Associated Press, Fox News and NBC’s Today Show, Fresno police were forced to step in to break up a crowd that attempted to rush Best Buy when it was announced by a store employee that there were only a few dozen PlayStation 3 units available for sale.

The new gaming platform was set to be released Friday morning and most retailers around the country received only a small supply of them for sale — a stark disappointment for many potential purchasers who lined up in front of stores nationwide, often for as long as week beforehand.

According to MSNBC, two people at the “Fresno incident” were arrested by the end of the night and no injuries were reported — although more than 50 police officers were called to the scene and the use of stun guns was threatened when the crowd pushed forward through a line of police officers.

If you doubt the intensity of the small-scale riot that erupted, video of the altercation is easily available for viewing on youtube.com.

It’s somewhat amazing no one was seriously hurt in the crush of bodies and police officers that ensued.

Fresno wasn’t the only place where such violence erupted over the launch of the new gaming platform.

In one Virginia city police fired a “powder ball” into a unruly crowd of more than 300 people to keep it under control.

In Connecticut two armed gunmen tried to rob people lined up for the console and actually shot and wounded a 21-year-old who refused to hand over his cash.

What’s going on here? Have we collectively gone crazy?

The PlayStation 3 is a gaming console. Its sole purpose is to entertain.

Sure, it’s got some new features. My inner and now much-suppressed technology geek is impressed by the unit’s features, particularly the Blu-ray DVD player that comes built in.

But at the same time, I’m not willing to camp out for a week to be among the first to get my hands on one — and I’m certainly not wiling to tangle with the Fresno PD in the process.

In addition, the new PlayStation costs between $500 and $600 to buy — not counting the $50 or more you’re likely to pay for new games. Even if I were willing to pay that for a gaming system, I certainly wouldn’t camp out for a week for the privilege to do so.

Why are people going nuts about this thing? What is it that draws otherwise normal-seeming people to run into a line of Fresno police officers in an effort to pay $600 for a gaming system?

There’s assuredly a certain sense of community that exists among “hard core” gamers.

Standing in line for days with your friends simply for the distinction of being the first on your block to own a new gaming console is an accepted practice within this community.

There’s also the element of fun in “roughing it” with like-minded individuals in a fairly safe and controlled environment.

Yet it seems that there must be something more at work here.

America is certainly a capitalist country, oriented towards money and status symbols.

But have we really descended so far that some of us are willing to sacrifice, potentially, life and limb for a piece of bourgeoisie consumer technology?

Apparently so.

Perhaps the lesson that should be drawn from America’s PlayStation madness is that our society is so materialistic and superficial that we’ve collectively forgotten about the important things in life, instead convoluting the release of a new video game system to have some sort of personal importance.

Or perhaps more optimism is in order. It’s possible that the long lines and near-riots for the PlayStation 3 is an affirmation of the “values” we admire — friendship, camaraderie and entrepreneurship.

I’m not sure whether to rejoice at the audacity of the gamers who risked life and limb to pay $600 for their new PlayStations or to despair that this is one of the few things we collectively care about enough to “take to the streets.”

Either way, don’t plan to see me lining up outside Best Buy for anything soon.

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