- Multinationals -

it all sounds too easy to me

Posted by: camus ( existenz ) on August 18, 1999 at 15:46:45:

In Reply to: I think they can.... posted by Mike Bacon on August 10, 1999 at 10:44:12:

It's a nice theory mate and I wish I could share your optimism. We all get our just deserts, if we work hard we'll get what we deserve -that seems to be the general gist. Sadly, people are drawn to big stores like Walmart for reasons of 'convenience' without really thinking about the consequences of their actions. By moving over a large proportion of their business to the big stores they also lose the convenience of the local stores. They probably want both Walmart and their local shops to coexist but find themselves spending more and more in the large stores and less in the small. I think the issues are far more complex than the simplistic notions of hard work and attention to quality. The big stores sap people's will. They exert a pull on people to apathetically surrender their shopping autonomy - ie. deciding which shops to support and for what - to a generalised shopping experience in one giant arena, the negative effects of which are well chronicled elsewhere.
In England we haven't been honoured with the presence of Walmart yet. But they're on their way apparently. I'll be sticking to a stubborn and probably futile boycott of Walmart so as to prevent a further McDonaldization of our lives.
camus
camus




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