Saturday, September 1, 2012

Sad, true, and funny! Hate Wal-Mart, but love this.

1 comment:

Gemma Dahl said...

Our landlord has been hiking our rent out of the blue. The rent hikes are for, among other reasons, the Target that was built in this side of the city, in a rough neighborhood that's rapidly gentrifying. It's been neat to see the diverse crowd at this Target, compared to the suburban target, which is mostly white and upwardly mobile. The other interesting thing to observe is how people conduct themselves at Target vs. Wal-Mart. I have observed that our city Target attracts shoppers who conduct themselves with grace, and behaviors like fighting, destroying the store, etc. are noticeably absent.

While I'm glad Wal-Mart is around, and Dollar General too – they served me well when I was low-income and are helping college kids and new grads strike out on their own today – but it is a class issue, I think. And although the majority of Wal-Mart shoppers vote for candidates who discriminate against and target me and my friends, I do feel sorry for the "people of Wal-Mart" because they are in such a hopeless situation, economically and otherwise. I agree with your for sure: the Bingo is funny, but it's also sad. It's easy to feel conflicted about.