Who are those shoppers who broke down the doors and trampled to death a Wal-Mart employee early last Friday in New York?

We'd like to think they were aliens from some other planet, but they were not. They were Americans, seemingly ordinary "bargain hunters," looking to get the best Christmas buys they could at the store's early-morning sales specials.

Authorities are investigating the ugly incident with an eye toward prosecuting those most responsible for the worker's death. Good luck with that; it's hard to assign individual blame in the midst of a herd of out-of-control elephants.

It's become a cliche for critics to point out each year how at variance our consumer culture is with the true meaning of Christmas.

But the thing about cliches is that they contain brilliant bits of truth. And certainly what happened in that Wal-Mart store Friday is a perfect example of our consumer culture run amok - and is as far removed from what Christmas stands for as you can possibly get.

What could those "bargain hunters" have been thinking as they crowded in, fighting and knocking each other down, oblivious to the man they were trampling beneath their feet? Or, perhaps like wild animals in in full charge mode, they didn't notice or didn't care. Some shoppers stepped over or around the body. None showed any interest in trying to stop the stampede - much less trying to save his life.

Even when the authorities finally got the mob under control, and ordered people to leave the store, there was no letup in the crowd's greed and callousness toward human life. Many shoppers complained loudly that it was unfair to throw them out of the store when they'd waited for so many hours to get in.

No, they were not aliens from another planet. They were just alien to what the Christmas spirit really means. Shame on them all.