Wherever you go
The homogenization of our society is disturbing. Corporations drive out smaller businesses, and begin the process of standardization.
Fast food chains are built on standard blueprints. The design of a McDonalds might vary a bit, based on zoning and population, but you pretty much know what you’re going to get. A restaurant that looks the same, with the same color scheme and menus, and same tasting food.
I often rail against the evil Wal-Mart (to be referred to as EWM), for various reasons, but it’s weird sometimes how you seek out that which you hate.
I happened to see one in a town neighboring Fresno, and thought going there would be the best way to pick up a few things.
Because all EWMs or SuperEWMs are the same. This one was a regular EWM, so I knew the layout just fine. It was easier for me to find super glue and a file organizer, than try to hunt all over town and get frustrated. EWM saved me time and money.
I still hate them, but for once, the sameness worked to my advantage.
The same with my trip to PetSmart the other day for a higher end cat food that will hopefully keep cat poo from being so smelly and soft. (TMI, I know.)
I was able to pick out what I needed fast, because the layout, while it was a litle different from the one I’m used to was close enough to get what I was after.
Trip to Target: same thing. All these stores are knowns. I’d love to shop somewhere different, but I have to find it first.
Speaking of things that are the same, I stumbled across this news site which is extremely cool graphically, but also a bit disturbing. It monitors stories based on their usage in publications.
Try it out. Tell me what you think. As a journalist, I’m quite aware that wire stories are wire stories, that it’s essential that we use wire to keep people informed of what’s going on the world. But at the same time, there’s less variety.
I also understand that there are news filters which will do the same thing for you. Because now we’d much rather look at something on the web than open up our local paper. But I’m thinking of my job security here.
http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm
There’s a trend of less media outlets, less music choices and even choices in shopping, if you consider EWM pushing smaller stores out of business by undercutting prices. We won’t get started on how workers are treated. And to be fair to EWM, they don’t have the corner market on evilness in corporations.
Wow. I can see how you would hate Wal-Mart, what with them saving you all that time and money. It’s a good thing they’re able to trick poor defenseless people like you into shopping there, or else all the good people of North America would have thrown all the Wal-Marts into the sea by now.
You should be proud, standing up for evil like that.
Smarty-pants.
Have discovered other places to shop since then. Still evil.