Wal-Martization of the American mind?

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"The story of Wal-Mart exemplifies some of the very best qualities in our country ?- hard work, the spirit of enterprise, fair dealing, and integrity."
?-Dick Cheney

"To all of us who have been charged, we all agree that we don't feel like we were doing things that we weren't supposed to, because we were told to do them. We think everything was justified, because we were instructed to do this and to do that."
?-Lynndie R. England

When Saddam was forced to close shop due to the fierce competitive practices of Bush Inc. ?- the world witnessed the Wal-Martization of torture.

Private First Class Lynndie R. England, with her gamine grin and imbecilic thumbs-up gesticulations, is the corporatist/military equivalent of a Wal-Mart greeter In other words, she was who the customer (the Iraqi prisoners) had first contact with when they entered the store ?- but, in reality, she had no more say over the practices of the corporation than the men's room attendant at Enron had in bilking the state of California during the heyday of its energy manipulation scams.

In the age of the Holy Corporatist Empire, accountability at the top is as non-existent as the use of table settings and salad forks during a feeding frenzy of Great White Sharks. But unlike the impersonal appetites of nature's flesh-eaters, our predatory class of the privileged seems to harbor disdain for those they prey upon..
........................................................................
...................................http://philrockstroh.com/2007/09/16/can-we-torture-them-for-you-retail/

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What does "Wal-Martization of the American mind" mean to you? Why is it bad? What does it have to do with torture other than a very poor analogy in the article you posted?

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Engneer
Kindly peruse the lengthy article written by an American to mirror my views.
or
Should I post the whole article?
Here is the relevant quote from the article

"How was the United States transformed from a republic conceived to be governed by way of democratic discourse into a shabby-ass, centerless archipelago of shopping malls, devoid of a public square, dominated by a cultural narrative of marketing platitudes and the collective, sound-bite psychosis of corporatist mantras?

As for its citizenry: Like Wal-Mart employees who are paid less than a living wage and toil without health care benefits ?- but who, nevertheless, are compelled to assemble every morning before their shift, shellac a phony, so called "customer-friendly," (actually a slave's obsequious grin) across their face and chant "positive" affirmations about the power and glory of "the Wal-Mart Way" ?- the American people have become a society of slaves who earnestly proclaim that their economic shackles are the very wings of freedom

What are the origins of this Wal-Martization of the American mind? Who are these denizens of the Wal-Mart Republic, these shabby-ass, centerless citizens who unquestioningly follow the orders of immoral authority? Whether they meekly submit to toil in exploitive conditions in retail outlets or they choose one of the other (limited) life options given to them by the corporatist state, such as "volunteering" for the military, and then, as recent events have brought to light, unquestioningly following commands to torment and humiliate prisoners held in their charge, (even nonchalantly trading digital snapshots among themselves of the soul-defying deeds they committed) few Americans seem willing to stand up to the bullying corporate bosses, the depraved military brass, and the corrupt media elitists who have created this culture of cruelty and anomie. Furthermore, far too many American citizens appear to be complicit, if not outright eager accessories (or should we say "associates") to their own debasement.

What has caused this cultural loss of the ability of Americans to apprehend ethical consequence, bestow basic empathy, or even experience human resonance?

Who are these people? What do they have to say for themselves?"
http://philrockstroh.com/2007/09/16/can-we-torture-them-for-you-retail/

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it's another poorly written article that attempts to outline what the hell's wrong with people ever since they went insane on 9/11.

no, we shouldn't pretend this stuff is new, the world has been selling each other out for a buck for quite a while. hey, saddam wouldn't have had wmd's if there hadn't been a dollar or two for us in it. he had oil! it's called trade.

the problem is, we've been so saturated with this buying and selling of the planet that everyone's heard all the arguments against it a hundred times now. bible pounders can't figure out which side american politics are on because the war criminals keep saying "jesus" and the war criminals they claim to be fighting against keep saying "allah." it could confuse anyone.

easy solution: no one cares anymore. at least, no one cares what anyone has to say about it. grab some popcorn and watch the world die, it's better than cliches.

nah, that's the other thing. the end of the world is another cliche. i give up. change the channel, maybe there's something on.

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How about this?
Tiny

"Americans, rich or poor, now live in a culture entirely perceived through simulacra-media images and illusions. We live inside a self-referential media hologram of a nation that has not existed for quite some time now, especially in America's heartland. Our national reality is held together by a pale, carbon imprint of the original. The well-off, with their upscale consumer aesthetic, live inside gated Disneyesque communities with gleaming uninhabited front porches representing some bucolic notion of the Great American home and family. The working class, true to its sports culture aesthetic, is a spectator to politics ... politics which are so entirely imagistic as to be holograms of a process, not a process. Social realism is a television commercial for America, a simulacrum republic of eagles, church spires, brave young soldiers and heroic firefighters and "freedom of choice" within the hologram. America's citizens have been reduced to Balkanized consumer units by the corporate state's culture producing machinery.

We no longer have a country . . . just the hollow shell of one, a global corporation masquerading electronically and digitally as a nation called the United States. The corporation now animates us from within our very selves through management of the need hierarchy in goods and information. Sure there is flesh within the machine, but its animating force is a viral concept, a meme run amok. Free market capitalism. We got to move them refrigerators, got to sell them color teevees . . .

Meanwhile the culture generating industry spins our mythology like cotton candy. We all need it to survive, Hollywood myths, Imperial myths, melting pot myths, the saluting dick male myths. They keep the machine running. And when the machine is running correctly, it smoothes its own way by terrifying uncooperative people into submission in prisons and torture rooms, where we do not have to look at the corpses on ice and the naked hooded bodies handcuffed to the bars. We are innocent as long as we keep our eyes taped shut. And only with our eyes shut can we keep seeing the hologram. And with duct tape over our mouths, we can recite its slogans with one hand over our heart, with the other one resting on the trigger.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Dec05/Bageant1222.htm

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Quote:

Americans, rich or poor, now live in a culture entirely perceived through simulacra-media images and illusions.

yeah i know where you're coming from, and this is an issue that looks much different for instance, from europe, but all this talk about it really doesn't address any solutions.

there's a lot of "wake up!" and "see here," but not a lot of "...to _____" or "...meaning this:"

no real concrete next step to speak of. let's say hypothetically that the rest of the world "gets it." what exactly should america do about the problem? would ending the iraq war do it? i'm sure you and i agree it would be a great start, but i have to think there's a bigger problem.

and i'm not entirely sure that problem is just a u.s. thing, which complicates matters a bit. i'm not talking any NWO nonsense or anything like that, but politically, i think america is just the focal point of the matter, not the exclusive source. the anti-war machine (long live it) doesn't address the entire problem, let alone solutions, as often as it repeats itself about one smaller thing or another. connecting with it doesn't do enough.

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Re: Engneer
I think I see the issue here. The author of the original article is confused by the myth of America versus the reality.

Quote:

How was the United States transformed from a republic conceived to be governed by way of democratic discourse into a shabby-ass, centerless archipelago of shopping malls, devoid of a public square, dominated by a cultural narrative of marketing platitudes and the collective, sound-bite psychosis of corporatist mantras?

While conceived as "a republic conceived to be governed by way of democratic discourse", the United States has never been one. We had slaves, limited the rights of women and minorities, attempted to limit the rights of workers, etc. All the growing pains felt by many other countries. We have never achieved our ideal, we are still on the journey. We've often had setbacks on that trip and we are in the middle of one of them now. There are still many people of good faith who whould like to move us forward.

Quote:

As for its citizenry: Like Wal-Mart employees who are paid less than a living wage and toil without health care benefits ?- but who, nevertheless, are compelled to assemble every morning before their shift, shellac a phony, so called "customer-friendly," (actually a slave's obsequious grin) across their face and chant "positive" affirmations about the power and glory of "the Wal-Mart Way" ?- the American people have become a society of slaves who earnestly proclaim that their economic shackles are the very wings of freedom

I guess that's one way to look at it, but I see a lot of people with disposable income who are enjoying life. Not everyone, but lots of people. The US may not be number one on the standard of living scale, but we do ok. Of course, maybe I'm just proclaiming that my economic shackles are the very wings of freedom...

Quote:

What are the origins of this Wal-Martization of the American mind? Who are these denizens of the Wal-Mart Republic, these shabby-ass, centerless citizens who unquestioningly follow the orders of immoral authority? Whether they meekly submit to toil in exploitive conditions in retail outlets or they choose one of the other (limited) life options given to them by the corporatist state, such as "volunteering" for the military, and then, as recent events have brought to light, unquestioningly following commands to torment and humiliate prisoners held in their charge, (even nonchalantly trading digital snapshots among themselves of the soul-defying deeds they committed) few Americans seem willing to stand up to the bullying corporate bosses, the depraved military brass, and the corrupt media elitists who have created this culture of cruelty and anomie. Furthermore, far too many American citizens appear to be complicit, if not outright eager accessories (or should we say "associates") to their own debasement.

I guess I just disagree with the entire premise. I don't know of anyone who agrees of Pvt. England's actions or defense. I know there are those out there (like apparently you and the author of this article) who want to paint Ms. England as typical of all Americans. As pleasant a fiction as that may seem to some, it is still fiction.

Quote:

What has caused this cultural loss of the ability of Americans to apprehend ethical consequence, bestow basic empathy, or even experience human resonance?

So you have a chance to interact with many Americans on this board and others. If this is what you believe, I doubt I can change your mind, but on a day to day basis, I see compassion, empathy and integrity all around me. Just because an American wrote this article doesn't make even one of it's assertions true.

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Hey, if the Walmart employees don't like the corporate culture, they can always go to college, get an advanced degree and then move to a big city in a gentrifying neighborhood. Whatever keeps them there is their reality, and the other reality is the factories went overseas. So, why blame Walmart for filling a vacuum of the job situation that a prior generation had? Or rather, why blame the U.S. for the globalization of the marketplace and production?

So, someone tell me, what is a good culture with a good marketplace (no malls)? The marketplace in a developing nation? European marketplaces?

Don't some people like malls? Some people like Walmart. Some Walmart employees like working for Walmart. Am I wrong, or does this article take a negative spin on a situation.

Put me in a U.S. mall anyday where the people are wearing sneakers with socks, and I don't smell any odors if I get close to other shoppers.

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Ramafuchs seems to be very unhappy. Maybe its him or her, not the surroundings?

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you may be right.

on the other hand, if you're implying that one shouldn't be unhappy about the state of the union, i think he has every last reason to be. the only question is whether he's unhappy about this or not- or maybe both.

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I am immensely happy
It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about." Dale Carngie

"Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth." Goethe

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."

M. Scott Peck quotes

Working lives are for the state to influence. Unemployment makes people unhappy. So does instability.

Inequality makes everyone unhappy, the poor most of all, and that is well within the remit of the state. More money gives less extra happiness the richer we get, yet we are addicted to earning and spending more every year.
Polly Toynbee

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So...........? I fail to see where you are going with this. Are you miserable because of everybody else or where you live, .....or what? Is being miserable what makes you happy? Do you also want everyone else to be miserable with you? Pardon the questions but you seem to be a bundle of contradictions.

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Does anyone remember Woolworth's? I always thought most of the employees at Woolworth's liked their jobs? My point is when did it become the responsibility of an employer to make the employee happy? I thought the customer was supposed to be happy?

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Happy customers are the goal, but happy employees tend to work harder and tend to serve customers better, and tend to be more inclined to give the interests of the owners a higher priority, all of which tend to make happier customers and a more successful business. I do not believe Walmart has clear sailing ahead, as I do not believe the company has the optimism and upside potential as it once did. Just judging from Walmarts now as compared to a few years ago, the greeters are more casual and uncaring in general, not all, and the checkout lines are longer. The company now tends to take the customers for granted with the mindset that the customers will always be there. When somebody else comes along to do the job better, Walmart will be on the way down. I think they are near the pinnacle now, who knows really, but one thing certain, Walmart will not always be king on the mountain.

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I don't like shopping at Wal-Mart for the same reason I don't like eating at McDonalds' - they both rely upon a business model that is pernicious to every person involved.

Walmart gets goods from the cheapest possible location (China) and sells it here for the cheapest possible price. They pay the producer of goods, the transporters, and their own employees as little as possible. The quality of the goods in question is generally quite low. When you have a business model which relies upon denying employees health care, which forbids them from working regular schedules or getting overtime - ever, then you aren't looking at a very responsible business. Their stores are environmental disasters and pose significant health risks to any community who has one near them.

It's okay that companies want to make a profit; but, when that's the only concern, it's a problem and Wal-mart is the result of just such a philosophy: profits at any cost.

Cycloptichorn

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I know at least a couple Walmart employees and they tend to be happier working for Walmart than other places they've worked. I'm sure this varies. But I'm curious why you believe Walmart is any more of an environmental disaster than other stores?

In regard to profits, if profits trump quality of products, service, and everything else, profits will eventually go down the tube anyway. Are you blind to the fact that profits require happy customers, happy employees, good service, and good products for the price? You seem to believe profits have no relationship to good products, good service, and all of the other good things.

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okie wrote:

I know at least a couple Walmart employees and they tend to be happier working for Walmart than other places they've worked. I'm sure this varies. But I'm curious why you believe Walmart is any more of an environmental disaster than other stores?

Other big-box stores are bad as well, but Walmart has a spectacularly poor record of cleanliness. The huge parking lots that these stores have encourage gigantic amounts of toxin runoff into the local water table when it rains and actively harm aquifers and local life around them.

The stores themselves are usually quite poorly ventilated and over time build up high levels of particulates in the air. This isn't a problem for Walmart more so then other stores, but a problem with many big-box stores, and they are the biggest.

It takes extra money to design one's store to be more friendly to the surrounding environs - and extra money isn't part of the business model.

Cycloptichorn

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Quote:

In regard to profits, if profits trump quality of products, service, and everything else, profits will eventually go down the tube anyway. Are you blind to the fact that profits require happy customers, happy employees, good service, and good products for the price? You seem to believe profits have no relationship to good products, good service, and all of the other good things.

There's a relation; but there's also the effect of driving your competition out of business, and then the people are left with little option but to shop there. It's the classic walmart complaint; small businesses and companies get shut down, they just can't compete with the volume that Walmart buys in.

In many cases, people don't realize that Walmart doesn't have the lowest prices at all. In fact, they generally are only lower on 10-20% of items in the store. They got sucessfully sued for their slogan 'always the lowest prices, always!' a few years back. It's sort of a shell-game they play; many customers don't realize that they aren't in fact paying the lowest prices on most of their goods there.

Cycloptichorn

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Cycloptichorn wrote:

okie wrote:
I know at least a couple Walmart employees and they tend to be happier working for Walmart than other places they've worked. I'm sure this varies. But I'm curious why you believe Walmart is any more of an environmental disaster than other stores?

Other big-box stores are bad as well, but Walmart has a spectacularly poor record of cleanliness. The huge parking lots that these stores have encourage gigantic amounts of toxin runoff into the local water table when it rains and actively harm aquifers and local life around them.

The stores themselves are usually quite poorly ventilated and over time build up high levels of particulates in the air. This isn't a problem for Walmart more so then other stores, but a problem with many big-box stores, and they are the biggest.

It takes extra money to design one's store to be more friendly to the surrounding environs - and extra money isn't part of the business model.

Cycloptichorn

That is whacky post, cyclops. Unbelievable really.

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Cycloptichorn wrote:

Quote:

In regard to profits, if profits trump quality of products, service, and everything else, profits will eventually go down the tube anyway. Are you blind to the fact that profits require happy customers, happy employees, good service, and good products for the price? You seem to believe profits have no relationship to good products, good service, and all of the other good things.

There's a relation; but there's also the effect of driving your competition out of business, and then the people are left with little option but to shop there. It's the classic walmart complaint; small businesses and companies get shut down, they just can't compete with the volume that Walmart buys in.

In many cases, people don't realize that Walmart doesn't have the lowest prices at all. In fact, they generally are only lower on 10-20% of items in the store. They got sucessfully sued for their slogan 'always the lowest prices, always!' a few years back. It's sort of a shell-game they play; many customers don't realize that they aren't in fact paying the lowest prices on most of their goods there.

Cycloptichorn

I am against false advertising, so if they got sued for advertising fraudulently, fine, that happens in a free society. As far as competition, Walmart still has plenty. The main monopoly I know of is the U.S. Government, whereby they can ram anything down our throats and tax us for it, but not so with Walmart. You don't ever have to darken their door if you don't want to, and that applies to anyone.

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Wal-Martization of the American mind?

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