I loved fried chicken when I was in grade school. My desire for this greasy treat has faded with age, but last weekend I suddenly had a hankering for some. Perhaps my craving was prompted by the fact I had an interview with Big Name University that same afternoon. I don’t know, and I’d rather not dwell on the possible relationships between Big Name Universities, my preadolescent grade eating habits, and emotional regression. It seems like a way to get caught up in sticky questions that I’d rather avoid.
In any case, it was about noon, and my mother was going to Walmart to purchase the things one purchases at Walmart if one is a member of my family – things like Honey Bunches of Oats, and store-brand raisins, and toilet paper, and anticavity fluoride rinse. I don’t know where my non-relations go to deal with these things. Maybe Walmart, or maybe the more hipster types go to Strawberry Fields (can you get toilet paper at Strawberry Fields?) or the Farmer’s Market (do the marketing farmers sell dental hygiene products?). I wouldn’t know, because my mother is allergic to inconveniences, and morally opposed to hipsters. But since getting fried chicken at Walmart is both possible and utterly convenient, my mother agreed to buy me some.
The fried chicken wasn’t that good. Maybe fried chicken isn’t actually as good as I remember it being, or maybe fried chicken from the Walmart deli is subpar. The chicken's association with Walmart also troubled me, though, far more than I expected it would, and that may have been the reason I couldn't enjoy it.
Lots of people, it seems, particularly hipsters, my piano teacher, and the sort of youthful ideologues one is guaranteed to encounter at a school like Uni, object to Walmart on moral grounds. Usually I ignore these people, because they categorically state Walmart is bad but have no evidence that Walmart is an ethically problematic place to purchase Honey Bunches of Oats. In the instances that they have fact to back up their beliefs, I… well, I ignore them then too.
Lots of people, it seems, particularly hipsters, my piano teacher, and the sort of youthful ideologues one is guaranteed to encounter at a school like Uni, object to Walmart on moral grounds. Usually I ignore these people, because they categorically state Walmart is bad but have no evidence that Walmart is an ethically problematic place to purchase Honey Bunches of Oats. In the instances that they have fact to back up their beliefs, I… well, I ignore them then too.
Well, I don’t ignore them so much as I exercise the skill I honed in school of promptly forgetting the things I am told. The fact is, I don’t want to think about why my family’s close personal relationship with Walmart may not be quite as humanitarian as it is convenient. Walmart is so close to my house, and the greeters are so nice, and everyone in the Walmart commercials is so happy…. and Walmart is just so American, and what could possibly be wrong with being American?
Ok, so maybe there are a couple of things not quite so great about being American. But let us not dwell on these dangerous thoughts.
I really like the way this post embodies the conflict people feel these days with the morally/environmentally conscious messages that are prevalent in today's mainstream media. And it is so true that perceptions matter more in society than actual facts, especially when it comes to arguments about corporate giants like Wal-Mart.
ReplyDeleteYes, great post. In our economy, it really is hard to "buy local" in every realm of life. There are just certain things you can't get a Strawberry Fields or other locally owned businesses. And even if you can buy things like toilet paper and flouride rinse there, not everyone can afford to pay the higher prices that small businesses have to charge to get by. I feel this conflict myself. I shop at Target, reluctantly. I've actually learned from sources I consider reliable that Meijer is the "bix box" store that's least abhorrent environmentally and in terms of labor practices, and I keep meaning to switch to Meijer for that reason. But I know the floor plan at Target and it's just (as you point out) easier to keep going there. I haven't dropped my resolve to switch, but I haven't done it yet, either.
ReplyDeleteI do think there are certain things that it makes sense to buy from local businesses simply because they're better. I pay more for bread baked a Mirabelle in downtown Urbana because it's just the best bread in town. I suspect Walmart isn't the best place in town to get tasty fried chicken. (Though I understand the urge - fried chicken is one of the few things I miss since I gave up eating meat...)
Haha this was funny, I like your writing style.
ReplyDeleteYou could join in on World Since 1945 if you'd care for daily 45-50 minute long explanations on what's /not/ very nice about being American, not that you specifically need it.
ReplyDelete...Anyway, you were quite terribly amusing and you did make me think, because I didn't know what Honey Bunches of Oats were and I had to look them up, and, well, now I know and I suppose that my poor, oblivious mind is a little less sheltered for it. (I still don't know what a hipster is and you haven't really enlightened me on that, except that I suppose they don't go to Walmart very often.)