How are Americans perceived? Large and in charge, demanding, impatient, diverse, and loud are just a few suggestions. And what do people think of when they think of American culture? Well, there are many answers, but I personally think of Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart embodies basically every American stereotype -- the prices are low, the stores are conveniently located, and the people are, well, diverse. It is truly a one-stop-shop which plays into our country's need for instant gratification; there is nothing that you can not find at Wal-Mart. The stores are also easily navigated and well organized to help make one's shopping trip that much quicker. The people who shop at Wal-Mart range from the lower class to even the wealthy, from backwoods Americans to new citizens; everyone shops here. Because there are so many different types of people that shop at Wal-Mart, the stores are usually labeled in multiple languages, mainly English and Spanish.
One big characteristic of Wal-Mart though is their prices. Their prices are extremely low compared to a lot of stores because of their outsourcing; they send a lot of jobs over to China. This is very American because Americans today seem to think that they are too good for these factory jobs, they deserve more money than what those jobs will pay. Since Americans turn their noses up at jobs, many are finding themselves out of work and out of money, and Wal-Mart is the only place that they can shop because of the low prices.
It is easy to say that Wal-Mart not only embodies the American persona of impatience, diversity, and connivence, but it is also consuming the public. It is no secret that the gap between rich and poor is growing exponentially in this country, and Wal-Mart is becoming a monopoly because of it. So many Americans already rely on these stores to get their basic needs, and as Americans continue to shop there, the jobs in China will keep growing and Americans will keep losing jobs (that they would turn down anyway), which would cause even more people who will depend on Wal-Mart's low prices -- a vicious cycle has been created.It seems as if our economy is failing just so we can save a few dollars....we're in a sticky spot America.
Nice blog Halle! I never really thought about Wal-Mart like that...well except for in Econ.... I liked how you connected the main characteristics of Wal-Mart to Americans because it really does resemble our basic stereotype.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100 percent with you on this. Wal-Mart basically sums up America. There are tons of people who go to Wal-Mart not just because they want to, but because they have to. I honestly do think that our economy is failing because they want to save money.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Target person...and this blog post sums up why.
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