Poll: Is Wal-Mart evil?

[rt052192]

my english class has been doing a section on poverty in america and we just watched a documentary stating the "horrors" of Wal-Mart. My class has proven to have many communistic/socialist beliefs, while myself and a few others remain staunch capitalists and pro-business. I won't go into the details over how to handle poverty in america b/c it can't be solved, in my opinion. But the Wal-Mart movie made the store seem like Nazi Germany. The movie was incredibly biased to the point of comedy. In one section it showed the construction of a Wal-Mart in this one "All-American" town in Ohio and it had eerie music playing making it seem as though the construction of Wal-Mart was as bad as a Nazi invasion. The point i am trying to make is that yes Wal-Mart may not treat its customers with much respect and should, but does it deserve to take all the blame for what many companies, along with Wal-Mart, do to their employees.

Long story short: stay in school and get an education!

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

Nope because the wages they cut on their employees are made back by employees from the discount they get and the mom and pop stores don't offer health care so it seems pointless to mention that wal-mart doesn't give health care. And the entire community advantages from the lower prices of the store.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

It's not Evil, but if you want to have fun at every trip, do what me and me bro do whenever we go there.

Once you reach the entrance door yell "Wal-mart, Corporate Greed. Always!" in a boast kind of tone. (It's a parody on their "Always low prices. Always!" thing, based on the fact that their prices can be a bit high at times)

Long story short: Their prices can be unbelievable at times, but they're not evil yet.

Yeah, I re-read the OP, and I guess it's about the Employees, they seem decent enough at my Wal-Mart, and as I said I doubt that Wal-Mart is Evil yet.

 

[Deofuta]

No, they are a corporation set out to make money. This is not good, this is not evil. It is merely a buiseness.

ow, if they were selling Gas chambers, I may be inclined to change my opinion.

 

[RatRace123]

Of course it's evil, but goddamn, do we need it.

 

[iggyus]

They're not evil, but I am still disgusted by it. Wal-Mart is a textbook example why capitalism fails hard

 

[mrbones228]

Yay for living in Australia, where he have K mart instead... That lovely red K, those low prices and the friendly employes
... Sorry, where was I

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Bias, in documentary? Gasp.

I don't think you understand what bias is. Bias is when the author takes a point of view. Bias is only objectional in news reportage. When you write an essay, you usually have a thesis, an argument - at least point of view. Think of a documentary as an essay (or an Editorial), on video. The filmmaker constructs an argument, and provides evidence relevant to that argument. The detatched "voice of god" very rarely plays a part in modern documentaries. Telling people "this hour long film is the pure, objective truth" went out of style with Grierson and government-funded propaganda.

Taking a side is acceptable in editorials.

 

[EnzoHonda]

Is Wal-Mart evil? No, it's a store.

They treat their customers with respect because they give the lowest price in the neighborhood, let you return anything easily ("Why are you returning this, sir?" "Cause I can." "Ok, sir."), and don't even stop shoplifters who run (look it up, things changed when security killed that guy in Texas). They treat their employees with respect because, well, have you seen a Wal-Mart employee? Yeah, they should be happy to be employed.

 

[Cliff_m85]

Walmart literally did more for Hurricane Katrina victims than the United States government did.

 

[internetzealot1]

You were watching a movie, you say? Well, there's your problem right there. All forms of media, by default, contain liberal bias.

 

[ultrachicken]

I'm apathetic towards it, as its pros and cons mix together to create one big neutral.

 

[doctorwhofan]

I am a fan of Meijer, who started the whole "super" concept. Wal Mart stole the idea for that from them. Meijer, which I know many of the family who still runs it feels like home.

BUT Meijer isn't in Hawai'i. I have a ton of Wal Marts and a ton more moving in. I was so happy a Target FINALLY came to the island, less choice and I always head there after checking out The Exchange first for what I wanted.

Whether or not they are evil is only subjective...for now. If the law finds out they actually did something bad, that's a differnent story. FOr Now, it's K Mart and Target for me.

 

[Space Jawa]

As someone who actually works at Wal-Mart, I can say based on on some level of first-hand experience that no, it's not evil. At least it's not at my store. I may not agree with some of the policies or decisions they make sometimes (nor may they make any sense to me), but tell me it's not the same way for a million other companies.

Nor may I enjoy working there, but it's not because I'm treated badly or it's a bad place to work. Well, unless you consider some of the people I have to put up with every day. But again, tell me it's any different at any other of the millions of work places anywhere. Rather, I don't enjoy working there because I don't want to waste my life working retail (It gets pretty depressing sometimes, especially when I think about it too much). On the bright side, of all the places I could be working till I find something I would be OK spending my life doing - or better yet, obtain my dream job - Wal-Mart is far from the worst place I could be tiding myself over at.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

The only blatantly "evil" thing I can think of about Wal-Mart is their active anti-union stance.

The unions are supposed to be organized groups of workers making sure that decent working-standards and wages aren't just swept away from them due to the whimsical behaviour of corporate owners. Stating that you as a company owner will actively distance yourself, your workers and and your business from unions is basically saying that you wish to monopolize on your workers rights and standards of living and making them more dependant on you than you will ever be of them.

And it doesn't really matter how many "extra benefits" in the form of healthcare, vacations, or increased wages you offer in return of this dependancy, because you're actively trying to stomp out your workers' rights and opportunities to safeguard THEIR interests in order to safeguard your own.

That is, in itself, really bad and anti-social practice. Although I'd hate to use the term "evil", since it carry too many religious meanings.

 

[Space Jawa]

To be frank, aside from paycheck, not having to worry about any union involvement is one of the few things about working there that I chalk up as one for the 'good things about working at Wal-Mart' column.

But then again, I'm the kind of guy who'd love it if he could go his entire life without ever being the member of a union, so I'm probably bias on the matter.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

To be frank, aside from paycheck, not having to worry about any union involvement is one of the few things about working there that I chalk up as one for the 'good things about working at Wal-Mart' column.

But then again, I'm the kind of guy who'd love it if he could go his entire life without ever being the member of a union, so I'm probably bias on the matter.

Union corruption is a big problem where ever it might occur. But not something that's impossible to solve. If a company was truly altruistic in it's practice then they'd allow their workers to join labour unions, but at the same time take steps to insure that corruption within unions is being fought. Perhaps by having a foundation that funds lawyers and private investigators who go after corrupt union officials and the like. And not necessarily in order to fight the union itself, but improve it and make sure that it works as intended and sheds it's more corrupt elements.

Basically doing something/anything that says to the people and the workers that the company doesn't want to make it's workers unhealthily dependant on itself and wish to safeguard the workers opportunities to gather assistance from unions in case they are wronged, but that the company itself won't suffer corruption in neither it's own structure nor inside of potentially hostile labour unions.

 

[omega 616]

I don't know about evil but I heard they banned the scissor sisters album for explicit lyrics but don't they sell guns and ammo? Just seems a little double standard to me.

I Don't see how they can be evil, unless they pay buttons to people who provide the food and sell it for 200%+ mark up then I can't see them being evil.

Remember we class people like Hitler as evil, comparing Hitler to a supermarket is extreme.