Tuesday, April 17, 2007

There is evil in the world

Yes, I'm using strong words for this post. I don't like to call people names. I like to look for the silver lining in things. I try to see the good in people. But today, I'm tired of looking and am going to throw these two items together. Maybe they don't deserve to be together. Maybe I'm just having a bad day. One thing I don't want this to sound like is that I'm using the tragedy of the VA tech murders just to make a point. Well, that's what I'm going to do. I've stopped watching the 24hour constant news "updates" on this story. I'm tired of hearing "expert opinion" that is nothing more than speculation and sensationalism to keep people tuned in. I don't need to know every possible detail of every possible witness in a 10 mile radius of the town. I'm tired of it.
I only bring it up here to to say that there is evil in the world. There are different forms of evil, some subtle some not. Sometimes it easy to look at a person, place, thing, and say "that's not right". Other times it's shades of gray. Sometimes it is difficult to see a balance of good and evil.
What is spurring this post is that I just finished watching the dvd called "Walmart: The high cost of low price". I know this will sound extreme but... Walmart as a corporation and perhaps even some of its leaders are or show signs of evil. I have only been to walmart maybe twice out of curiosity. I had heard of all the negative buzz and made a conscious decision to not shop there. After watching this movie, I will not shop there again. I won't go into all the details but simply encourage you to watch the dvd (It's worth joining netflix just for that reason).
Walmart... you have earned my "shame on you" wag of the finger.

3 comments:

me said...

now you see why i buzzed about it myself.

it's difficult to imagine that people can take advantage of an entity that one man started and tried to make a dream a reality. sam walton's dream was never to take advantage, but to encourage folks to buy inexpensive items from the best priced supplier- and wanted most of the products to be made in america and for people to be proud of america.

there was an article that i once read that stated walmart's clothing dept was going down in sales, so they offered this top exec from JC Penney to come in and revamp there clothing line to be more appealing and sellable to younger crowds... the VP made them over 2 million in gross earnings in the first quarter after she revamped. don't know where that exec is now, but i'm sure she made a butt-load from that as well.

sam walton changed the way that big business runs, but i don't think that he imagined the "big business" to ruin. while he was still alive he promoted well-being of communities and offered scholarships and fellowships in places like south and central america. he was involved in making sure that the employees were taken care of and that the community in which they lived in was respected as well....i leave you with this quote: "Each Wal-Mart store should reflect the values of its customers and support the vision they hold for their community." ~sam walton (1918-1992).

too bad, his kid didn't have the same values.

~v

cyen said...

I'm surprised that the movie did not go too deep into the history of sam walton. I learned more about him from your comment here than I did from that movie. And to watch those clips of the pres of walmart (lee scott i think his name was) was just amazing to see him say one thing, and the corporation do the complete opposite.
And thanks for your recommendation too, it made me bump it up on my netflix queue :)

me said...

yeah- my pal here at work is the one who recommended the wal-mart movie and also a few others... so now i have "the yes men" and "corporation" on my queue- unfortunately though corporation has a long wait (i use blockbuster, not netflix) and they don't carry it in the store... so i will have to breakdown and go rent it from hollywood vid or go to a local store to see it... but at least i'll see it, right?

i tend to research a lot of things if i learn or hear about something... that's the only thing that i absolutely love about the internet... all this knowledge at my fingertips. yay!