Man smashes 27 TVs at Wal-Mart

In this security footage from a Georgia Wal-Mart, a man smashes 27 televisions with a baseball bat he had picked up in the sporting good section.

There but for the grace of Cthulhu...

Raw Video: Man Smashes TVs at Wal-Mart (via Digg)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

Eh, there was noting on worth watching anyhow.

Perhaps he was driven insane by the sight of a wall of giant-sized Simon Cowells coming after him.
obdan

>>http://dynamic.boingboing.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=1&id=2869

dude, thanks for that!
JoshP

It may be because he hasn’t seen the sun since July. Wtf is up with this weather? AL does not get 6 inches of snow in a decade, much less 30 days. Props at adafruit, keep meaning to build one of those, *hate public displays of television*
spiderking

Ex-con having trouble adjusting to life on the outside and using the most socially progressive way to go back to jail?
randalll

I defy anyone to step foot in a Walmart and not feel an uncontrollable urge to smash things.
Anonymous

a viral campaign for The Crazies movie?
Anonymous

Hulk Smash!

HULK SMASH!!!!

HUUUUULLLLLLK SMASH!

HULLLLLLLLLLLK SMAAAAAASHY SMASH.

ME SMASH THE SMASH.

hulk smash.
SkullHyphy

This was probably a viral thing for the iPad based on the “1984″ ad.
LeFunk

LOST?
johnnyaction

Probably just not a fan of America’s funniest home videos….
Anonymous

Somehow, I kinda find myself rooting for him.
siliconsunset

owmyballs.jpg

definitely
acb

I wonder whether, now that postal rampages and school shootings have played themselves out, Wal-Mart TV-smashing sprees will become the new copycat crime to commit when you can’t take it any more.
Alethea

This needs to be set to music!
- Ratdog
  
  Yakety Sax?
  - Anonymous
    
    Too fast for the beating of the screens. Needs to be something with more feel and oomph, like Ode to Joy.
    - joeposts
      
      the grand finale of the 1812 Overture?
      - Anonymous
        
        No… The Anvil Chorus!
Anonymous

THIS IS SPARTA!
ROSSINDETROIT

Wal-Mart must immediately ban all baseball bats from their stores. Then nothing like this will ever, ever happen again.
Anonymous

seeing the Jimmy John’s ad at the bottom while the TVs were being smashed was the best part.
eyemyth

That man is a hero.
Anonymous

It’s a Walmart in Georgia – of course there’s going to be someone smashing TVs with a baseball bat, that’s what they do down there.
zyodei

Huh. That man just destroyed roughly $30,000 of physical value. Roughly the exact cost of a single GP 500lb HE bomb, of which we drop an uncountable number every year.

Just to put things into perspective.
- teapot
  
  Thanks for the perspective hit. I’m gonna steal that thar line of yours.
  
  Anyone who has a gripe with TV-B-Gone needs to lighten up. Let me break it down for you: messing with the status quo of everyday life is fun because modern society pushes life in a generally boring direction. Turning a TV off will rarely if ever cause any serious problems which is why it is funny (OK, if you work as a flight controller, maybe you should leave it at home.)
  
  The whole point is that in large cities we are frequently bombarded with moving pictures without our consent. This is not illegal, but it can be offensive to the senses… I’d say even more offensive than the action of turning the offending TV off.
johnofjack

Who hasn’t ever been in a Wal-Mart and realized they were under complete sensory assault?

Better to stay out altogether, of course….
LabRat001

I’ve had days like that
Fred H

I wondering if this was some sort of diversion for something else attempted in the store at the same time. Home much jail time could this guy do for destroying all this merch?
- kc0bbq
  
  “Home much jail time could this guy do for destroying all this merch?”
  
  A few years, plus all the other benefits that come with being convicted of a felony. >$5000 means bad news.
SomeGuy

Why didn’t Wal Mart security jump in and tackle him before he could do so much damage? What the hell are they doing to earn their $7.25 an hour?
Anonymous

Apparently he was depressed.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0211101walmart1.htm
pupdog

This is where the TV-B-Gone comes in handy. The Walmart folks get really confused when huge swaths of TV acerage start turning themselves off out of the blue.

Or so I’ve heard.
- wormbaby
  
  Yeah not really that funny. I have seen two people lose teeth with TV-B-Gone @ bars. Plus if f__king with folks who make minimum wage is really a good time for you perhaps you would have as much fun doing something equally as rewarding and difficult like kicking babies or outsmarting the retarded.
  - daneyul
    
    >> I have seen two people lose teeth with TV-B-Gone @ bars.
    
    If they’re biting the button, they’re doing it wrong! Use your finger man!
  - Anonymous
    
    Do we have to have sympathy for people that work at wal-mart?
    I have a barely above minimum wage job.
    Even if I was getting by on plasma donation I wouldn’t work for the one company doing the most to destroy the economy of the united states.
    A wise man once said, “Fuck em, if they can’t take a joke.”
  - pupdog
    
    Decaf. Seriously. If you’re that tense when your shift starts they’ll make you collect all the carts in the parking lot.
  - mtfoi
    
    wormbaby, are you saying that people who make minimum wage should be grouped with babies and the retarded or that the use of TV-B-Gone is only funny when used on people who make more than minimum wage? Can you please clarify?
    - wormbaby
      
      mtfoi, Nope never compared them. I said picking on wage slaves is the same as outwiting the retarded and kicking babies. It is not challenging or funny. How about if I said weight lifting with marshmallows and accesnding mole hills. Or maybe outrunning octogenarians or hunting rabbits with double ought buck. Anyone who use a device to repeatedly turn off a tv that isn’t theirs is damn annoying, if you hate television what the hell are you doing in the television dept. Warning another analogy coming up. It’s like bitching that you can’t buy a hamburger at Taco Bell.
      - Anonymous
        
        I’m a minimum wage worker and I WISH somebody would fuck with me at work. Shit get’s BORING!
UncaScrooge

Walmarts have more electronic surveillance than a Vegas Casino. They must have footage of this shot from every conceivable angle.
Anonymous

THIS is why we need baseball-bat-control laws…
Mitch

I had just as much fun and got in less trouble with my TV B Gone at Best Buy.

One symptom of schizophrenia is people thinking the person on TV is talking to or about them. Maybe that’s why he did it.
OCT

Big Brother Issue!
Bruce Arthurs

“They cancelled Dollhouse! The bastards! How could they cancel Dollhouse?! You’ve ruined my life, you bastards!”
Anonymous

This isn’t a crime – it’s performance art.
~Fawn Neun
hudibras

There’s only so much Michael McDonald a man can take.
- remmelt
  
  Wrong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPI7oU-fuGw
bobrk

How unsatisfying to smash LCD TV’s. At least in the old days, there’d be pops and glass all over.
Anonymous

Talk about violence on television, that’s sure one Saturday Night Line up!
Tdawwg

Like a twenty-first-century Mickey vs the Magic Brooms in Fantasia. He’ll never get them all!

The part where he sits down at the end is really sad.
Ignatius

If I have to hear “Yamo Be There” one more time, I’m going to Yamo burn this place to the ground… or just smash all the tv’s. I came for the 40 Year old virgin joke and had to add to it.
Matt Staggs

THEY LIVE! WE SLEEP!
- Felton
  
  THEY LIVE! WE SLEEP!
  
  Heh! “I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubble gum!”
Felix Mitchell

Makes me think of Michael Douglas in Falling Down.
kingzilch

@pupdog, mitch: I figured this guy was a frustrated tv-b-gon user trying to take it to the next level. “What? They…turned it back on? How dare they? Don’t they know how much *I* hate TV and want it gone?”
misterfricative

Credit where credit’s due: it was apparently 29 TV sets, not 27.

Anyway, yeah, there but for the grace of Cthulhu indeed. Although I think a wooden bat would have been more satisfying.
- Chuck
  
  >Credit where credit’s due: it was apparently 29 TV sets, not 27.
  
  And I saw in another article that his age is 29. Maybe his birthday was yesterday, and … well … ya know …
Anonymous

this can only be good for the Chinese economy!

think about it, out of the goodness of his heart that man just purchased 27 TVs!
Sal Paradise

A southpaw. Can he sign with the Cubs?
Sork

Homeless man that tries to get into jail for a warm bed and meals? He is very calm and tosses the bat after to show he is no threat. Looks like a very fun way to get arrested.
Rider

The ads google put on the video are awesome “Lowest price stun guns”.
Anonymous

Someone get that man a “Kill Your Television” bumper sticker. He’s earned it.
MrJM

And good luck finding 12 jurors willing to convict.

Even if none of them hates Wal-Mart, at least one will hate television.
gATO

Enhance. Zoom on his face. Enhance.
- IWood
  
  You crossed the line. [PUNCH]
- Anonymous
  
  This one’s for Zora, this one’s for Pris.
greengestalt

I’m only disappointed in the quality of the video. Wal-Mart has a much better video system, arguably by far the best for any major retailer, rivaling the best jewelers and bankers at the highest risk, highest cash transfer locations. Only major Vegas Casinos have better.

And that’s not just so much fear of shoplifters, but fear of store employees who they know are horribly low motivated and low paid and so are at high risk to steal from the store.

Really wish there was better video we could see. I’m curious, Felon trying to get back into prison, or nervous breakdown…

Though, if on a Jury, I’d probably not convict if it was the latter. Say “Not Guilty” and make a public statement about how the American political system has failed to protect Americans from jobs going overseas. On the other hand, a felon trying to get back into jail… If he openly stated that in court, I’d convict for fear he’d do worse next time.
doggo

I’m disappointed that all the people milling around didn’t do the slow-clap-to-rousing-applause thing.
Anonymous

This really needs to happen more often.
Anonymous

Wal-Mart seems to have this presence that causes people to be irritated. For instance, I always get stuck behind the family with 7 kids that are taking up the whole aisle but moving ridiculously slow. And my gut reaction is always the same–I want to punch someone in the back of the head and suffer no repercussions.

Interestingly, I have this reoccurring dream that Marky Mark follows me around Wal-Mart and either punches people in the back of the head or arm-bars them across the neck. The dream is strangely cathartic
hbl

See, this is just going to give more fuel to the people who think violent video games effect people in an adverse manner. It’s been 20 years since Smash TV and we’re only now seeing the dreadful dreadful effects.
Anonymous

If I ever win the lotto one of my dreams is to walk into a WalMart and just start picking up arbitrary items fumble them about – breaking all things in my path – “hmmm how’s this work…oops…what’s this?….ooops…aww this one’s broke can I get another….” and then I throw money at them… what can I say, it’s a dream
Anonymous

them’s a good smashing stick
Anonymous

It had to be done… http://bit.ly/chiVb0
[Ned's Atomic Dustbin, "Kill Your Television" meets Walmart TV smasher, courtesy of YouTube Doubler. Someone should make a real mashup of it, of course. :) ]
TheCrawNotTheCraw

Will make a nice Flash animated game: “How Many TVs Can You Smash in (some number) of Seconds?”
Anonymous

Let me take a guess “They sold me a defective tv and won’t fix it! I wanted hi-def and dat der Flintstones cartoon is still all hazy! I’ll show them.”
fontastique

man that must feel great….
Crashproof

Seems like a good start.
Drabula

I lived in Lilburn, GA for 5 agonizing years. I could see why someone would do that just out of sheer boredom.
stand

Dammit #22! you beat me to it. It’s the first thing I noticed.
Nadreck

Clearly he’s mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!
webmonkees

When they say ‘no rebroadcast of any portion of this program without express written permission of Major League Baseball’, they’re serious.

Imagine how much the property damage value would have been at another retailer? The savings, they pass them on to you.
- davidasposted
  
  “Imagine how much the property damage value would have been at another retailer? The savings, they pass them on to you.”
  
  Zing! +1 internets for you.
Anonymous

Gallagher impression gone wrong?
Bellanatrix

This man is my hero.

I’d love to do that too.