 |
 |
 |
|
Re: Monday, May 19, 2003
I'm not saying Wal-Mart doesn't do bad things, any more than I'd say Microsoft doesn't do bad things. Both are huge, and got that way over the corpses of other companies, and both have had harmful effects on culture. But the stories don't end there. The Whole Truth, where we'll never arrive, is far more complicated. Pidgeon-holing them as a blight, or evil, or whatever, comes at a cost. America is about many things. One of them is the confluence of wealth and immigrants that makes great cities with lots of fine stores and restaurants, theater and the rest of it. Wal-Mart doesn't have much to offer there. I think my family adds value to Santa Barbara, but we might not have moved here if there wasn't a Peet's Coffee, a Costco and cheap high speed Net access. (And no Wal-Mart.) There are those who would argue that all three of those (two are chains) have bad effects on culture. And they'd be right in some ways. Anyway, it's more complicated than it appears. That was mostly my point.
|
