Let's hear it for Wal-Mart!

[Nicole Marie]

Big you've got to be kidding me. I did not recall deleted any post because of rap lyrics and skimming through the old post I still can not find any rap lyrics. If someone had explained the post correctly then I would have remembered it.

Now that I remember the post, yes I asked for it to be deleted. It did not fit with the rules that are established for the BBB (and those rules were not written by me).

Now I'm sure we all have something better to do.

[bignaf]

well, yeah, I am kidding you.

[Nicole Marie]

Well excuse me if I don't get your dry, bland sense of humor. That's a joke.

[bignaf]

you seemed to get it since you first suggested that I am kidding you.

[Jeff Dutton]

Hey, how 'bout that Clara Schumann?

<small>[ 06-12-2003, 04:36 PM: Message edited by: Jeff Dutton ]</small>

[analog]

To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance. hoffer

<small>[ 06-22-2003, 10:58 PM: Message edited by: analog ]</small>

[OperaTenor]

Yeah, but Wal-Mart still sucks.

[analog]

As to the Walmart shopping experience:
they've created a distribution system of unprecedented scale so of course it has an institutional flavor. I was once in an old line department store with background music by grand piano and ambience by lovely hostesses in evening gowns; it was delightfully elegant, quaint, and inefficient. I bought stuff there just to thank them for the experience. But if the "Amadeus" movie is remotely accurate, mightn't Wolfie be playing in the local Walmart beer section after his uptown gig?

It is the overserious who are truly frivolous.

[jmfryar]

Hmmm....obligations owed...
If Wal-Mart owes no obligations to the community, then why censor the material? It sells, it makes a profit, and as a publicly held company, the directors owe a duty to the owners (stock holders)of the company to generate revenue. Now, although there is no real way to interfere with business decisions (if you don't like the directors, sell the stock or vote them out) it doesn't sound like they are making a decision based on business, but on morale character. Or is it? Is this a marketing tactic to appeal to middle America and the Bible belt? Is this a calculated decision to bring the message "Shop with us because we have strong moral character" to the average consumer, so that they, in turn, feel that by shopping there, they are demonstrating strong moral character? Is this not, possibly, a business decision beyond that of merely deciding what monthly mag to put on the shelves?

Which brings us back to the fact that they sell guns...why is it that violence is okay in this country and sex is so reviled? Without going too deeply into it (Lenny Bruce and George Carlin do a much better job than I ever could dream of doing) it seems that if you're gonna pull something that glorifies sex, pull magazines that glorify violence as well. Do we really need more copies of Soldier of Fortune floating around? Or, again, does it turn back to the "image" issue behind a simple business decision. Does it need to be fair? Nope...life's not fair. It sucks. get a helmet.

Does Walmart owe a duty in rural areas to the population? Are the products that they are cutting off truly essential (Cosmo? essential? reality check!?!) as opposed to guns (as difficult as it is to believe in our little urban section of the world, there are sections of the country that believe in hunting for their own meat...as archaic as this sounds, if you worked on a cattle ranch and saw what they fed to them, you probably wouldn't eat it either...)

Will we ever know why they are doing what they do? The company almost singlehandedly drove K-Mart out of business (their plan for the longest time was simply to open a Wal-Mart wherever there was a K-Mart, and then undersell them until they went out of business) and does have an enormous impact on local businesses (although one town I lived in saw an INCREASE in business into their town center from the traffic - so it's not always a negative impact) but it's a business. And the argument that applies to censorship (just don't watch/listen/acknowledge it) applies to the business.

Why are there so many mindless reality shows on? People watch. Why is there a Wal-Mart? People shop. Why did they develop New Coke? because there were morons in charge...

Just my 2-cents

[OperaTenor]

Once again, all we have to do is exercise our right to purchase where we wish......

Welcome, Jmfryar. I stopped going into 7-11's because of the sex vs. violence issue. I agree that as a society we seem to be a bit hypocritical with regard to our morals.

[barfle]

Wal-mart's sole reason for existence is to maximise profits. The ways it chooses to do so it its business, and anything I would write about those ways would be simply second-guessing (but I'm not above that, now am I?).

If I were trying to sell mainstream products to mainstream America, and found that my customers were offended by some of the products I was selling, I would evaluate whether their avoiding my store was costing me more than the profits on the offensive products. It's a bottom line decision, nothing more. There's no morality involved in it, there's only profit motive. Being sensitive to your customers' tastes is simply good business.

Mainstream America likes guns and doesn't like other people's sex lives.

[OperaTenor]

I'm not going there, on the grounds of self-incrimination.....oops.....Did I just incriminate myself?.......No, really, it's not what you think......uh oh, I think I'm getting another one of Haggis' ice cream headaches. And I'd been doing so well without medication for so long.

[jmfryar]

Uhm...not to split hairs, but you dont get much more mainstream than Cosmo or National Enquirer...which tend to focus on sex. It's that old, we love porn, but don't admit it mentality...look at how much the industry grosses a year...and then try and argue that it's not mainstream.

If people boycot (which is why I mentioned New Coke) the stores, and they see that there is an impact, they will quietly bring it back. They are a business and they have their eye firmly on the bottom line.

Now...lets talk about the fact that we can't get people to VOTE, but they'll protest the removal of Cosmo from their local Wal-mart...sad sad sad.

[Nicole Marie]

jmfryar... you are my new best friend.

[jmfryar]

Hmmm...that was easy...but was it the wonderful logic, broad argument, ability to look at both sides of the problem...

or the Offspring lyrics as my sign-off?
ROFLOL

[Nicole Marie]

I think you've summed up the issue best and the Offspring lyric is a nice touch. Where in CT are you?

[jmfryar]

I live in Middletown, taught in Branford, now work in Hamden and transfering to UConn in Hartford...so if I say it depends on the day of the week, and the hour of the day, there's a very good reason...



And I'm trying to get the office to listen to the station...it's sort of working...LOL

[Nicole Marie]

UCONN's law school? I used to live on Sherman St right next to the law school. Love that neighborhood - I do miss the West end of Hartford some days. The Beethoven Studios are at 1039 Asylum across from St Francis hospital right around the corner from UCONN - we are almost neighbors. Glad to have you aboard the BBB!

[jmfryar]

Sigh...yea Law School...gotten into the habit of saying school...night school...just about anything but law school.

I was at a drive through window the other night getting a coke on the way to class and the guy takes a look at me and says "Dude, you look tired."

"I am. Worked all day and I'm on my way to class."

"Oh? Whatcha taking?"

"Employment Discrimination."

"Whoa. That's too bad. Could be worse. My buddy got nailed for DWI and I hear that class is pretty bad."

I smiled. I got my coke. I drove away. What would have been the point of correcting him?

It is a nice neighborhood...close to West Hartford and Lemon Grass. Looking forward to spending time up there - I'm transfering from Quinnipiac. If there's anything else around that I should know about (I'm very familiar with the Half Door at this point) Id appreciate suggestions.

Oh...and so this is somewhat applicable to the topic...

Yea...Good thing there's no Wal-Mart there!!

[Nicole Marie]

Love Lemon Grass! There are several great places to eat in West Hartford Center - Arugala's is a favorite. There is also Ichiban on Farmington (about a block up from the Roo Bar) also if you head down Sisson and turn onto Park Rd there is a number of great bars and places to eat. Once you hit Park if you turn right, you head towards the Portugese section of Hartford. If you keep going down Park (towards West Hartford) there are tons shops, bars etc. once you hit West Hartford. There is a Vietnamese place that is out of this world further up Park in West Hartford. I live in West Hartford and would be more than happy to suggest several places.