Brow Beat the Big Boxes.... From the Right? (CS)

Wal-Mart gets it from all ends these days. Now even conservatives are protesting the mega-chain.

There are certain elements of this that disturbed me.

For one thing, the motivation of the American Family Association here is that by becoming affiliated with organizations that promote gay rights and equality in the workplace, Wal-Mart is betraying "traditions, which have included efforts to weed out magazines with racy covers and CDs with explicit lyrics." This sort of connection is the result of one of the many myths/lies that the Right propagates*, this one in particular being "Homosexuality equates to rampant, uncontrolled, and lewd expression of sexuality." I just wonder what it would take to prove to these people that this isn't the case. I realize that in this case logic is almost guaranteed to fall on deaf ears, but still... I just wonder.

Also, (and this is mentioned in the article in where they mention the efforts of WakeUpWalMart.com) Wal-Mart seems eager to improve its image by becoming better employers in regards to gays and lesbians (and would i be naive to assume the trans-gendered?). And yet, I'm sure you'll see no efforts on their part to be better employers in regards to paying a better wage or providing benefits or tolerating unions.

I'd also like to add that it amuses me to watch people go on anti-Wal-Mart tirades, yet find themselves perfectly comfortable with Target. I don't know enough to say that one is worse than the other, though there is evidence out there that " When it comes to wages, working conditions and effect on communities, the two big box stores are eerily similar." I just don't see why, for the most part, Target isn't held to the same scrutiny for providing a proper workplace (and considering its impact on a community) that Wal-Mart is.

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*For other propagated bullshit from the Right see, "Saddam was in cahoots with Al Qaeda" or "Liberals want us to lose the war"