I just posted a "reply" on a Yahoo! message board. Usually so full of vitrol & hate & perjoratives I cannot even stand to read the subject lines, I have a policy of not ever, ever opening one that is directly political. Too much danger of getting sucked in and actually caring about the words of someone who may or may not even mean what they say, and is using, perhaps, the most cowardly forum ever known to humankind in which to have a "voice."
That said, I took my first post pretty seriously. hylton44 is pretty much my thing, so if I was ever "Googled" or researched in a smear campaign, it probably wouldn't be too hard to put all the pieces together. The subject was actually one of WalMart vs. the other "big boxes" in consumer electronics for the upcoming holiday season. Very, very interesting to you-I'm sure. But it was an article for which I had both a professional and person (personal being my hatred of WalMart). I checked the message board since there were only 20 posts, and I wanted to see what the general vibe of the discussion was. Pleasantly genial and, for the most part, WalMart haters. The only two "dissidents" were two people that were using the ol' "I go where I get the best deal." One guy, in two separate posts, made two patently false statements (one, about Best Buy and Circuit City employees getting commission and both of them marking up products 30%-40%) that, weird to say, compelled me to answer and refute (genially, also, I hope).
I did add this tidbit at the end, however; which I like so much I may recall for future use...
For those really interested in saving that extra 1%, consider the extra money you contribute to subsidize public health assistance for their 50,000 some-odd workers in your state.
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3 comments:
I avoid that stuff as well since it is almost never productive discourse.
It is a fascinating quandry how people seem incapable of understanding the larger implications of their choices.
Wal-mart has the lowest prices because they pay health care to a tiny percentage of their workforce, and more importantly, suppress the wages of their workers and of the people that make the goods themselves. If those people live in the US, they are doomed to a life where they face an enormous
uphill struggle to improve their station in life, and if they work in 3rd world countries are already facing a similar struggle.
What most people simply seem incapable of grasping is that it is ALL ted together. The real value of the wages of those in the bottom 90% of workers has remained essentially unchanged since 1970. The wages of those in the top 10% have gone up between 250-450%. A rising tide is said to lift all boats, and the economic tide of this country is not rising equally.
I can imagine a class war as a result of this, or a return of a serf class. It is enormously disturbing, and is intrinsic to one of my main contentions. Inequality in economics are the source of most problems in this world. Not race, not religion, economics.
I suggest that you run for your districts conservation commissioner position. Make a difference where it counts. Stop blogg'in, and start changing. Getting out there is the only way you can mold minds in your favor. I think that you would be great!
Thanks for the endorsement, dude. I don't think I would be qualified-I see someone with a Nat. Resources background getting into that.
I appreciate the vote of confidence and it may be that serving as some level of public servant may be in my future some day, but my brief (3 year) stint on my neighborhood board may have taught me that, at least at this point in my life, I am called to contribute to my community in other ways. I found my time in that "official" capacity to be draining, emotionally and energy-wise. I can get fired up through activism (voting, letter writing), and also energized by making my community better (hopefully) through acting, making music, patronizing local businesses, and "being the change I want to see in the world."
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