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People are unemployed, underemployed, having a tough time saving what’s left of their money, and are generally feeling pretty desperate. In Psych 101 we learned that unexpressed or unresolved frustration leads to anger, so is it any wonder there are stampedes and fights over very limited quantities of low-priced, big ticket merchandise?

This country is brimming with fear, anxiety, despondency, gloom, and hopelessness, so it’s no surprise that a throng of sleep-deprived, cold, tightly-wound shoppers jammed together like sardines became rowdy… because for one lousy hour or two, they felt like they could fulfill a dream of being able to afford a flat screen TV or an XBox.

The result:

Family and friends were stunned by the loss of a West Virginia man who died while shopping on Black Friday as fellow bargain hunters reportedly walked around — and even over — the man’s body.

And:

NEW YORK (AP) — Pepper-sprayed customers, smash-and-grab looters and bloody scenes in the shopping aisles. [...]

“The difference this year is that instead of a nice sweater you need a bullet proof vest and goggles,” said Betty Thomas, 52, who was shopping Saturday with her sisters and a niece at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C.

Shoppers longed for that great deal, that yummy item that has been out of reach for so long. And when something so tantalizing becomes a real possibility, and after a deep recession knocks the wind out of you, survival mode kicks in, and it becomes every person for him/herself.

Pepper spray is the new Black.