The day after Thanksgiving is one of those days in the year when I refuse to watch the news on television, either local or national, as the “news” featured that day will cover the following:
Food for the homeless
Returning soldiers
Black Friday shoppers -using footage from god knows what year
Local news programs, of course, have fallen all over themselves to serve as half-hour commercials for Walmart this week, ,though Channel 5 out of Fort Smith (KFSM) also had a feature with tips from “shopping experts” on how to make Black Friday a much more pleasurable experience while you you are throwing your self-respect to the four winds.
I hope that no one has the bad taste to get murdered today, as it will just have to come after the breathless shopping news and the first of the three (for those with Attention Deficit Disorder) weather forecasts on the news.
I have been thinking a lot about Walmart commercials of late, especially the hokey ones where a shopper is taken around a virtually abandoned store and shown all of the stupendous bargains they can find there.
I dunno: even at three in the morning, Wally World has always had a lot of customers.
Today, there are brave employees of the Bentonville Behemoth who may be protesting outside stores; this is not only a principled act, but one that takes great courage, given the number of cameras that Wally World has trained on their property at the best of times.
I sincerely hope that their jobs are not in jeopardy, simply because they are standing in solidarity with other workers today.
There was a time, and I am sure that most who read this will recall it, when Wally World was anxious to let the world know that their workers (I’ll never use the insulting word “associate”) were in seventh heaven when it came to working for Walmart. I haven’t seen any of those commercials for quite a while.
Now that the annoying Christmas shopping commercials have begun, there is probably even less chance of seeing them.
But isn’t it interesting that there just seems to be no emphasis on employee satisfaction anymore? Almost as if there is no interest at all in it?
Oh, but there might be, in reality.
You could ask the clerk in front of you next time, the one who isn’t wearing the dandy Walmart smock (as seen on all the TV commercials) because she can’t afford one.
Or ask the person checking you out, who is wearing a wrist brace because of carpal tunnel, from all of the twisting and turning she is required to do on her job.
******
Flag desecration and pretended patriotism
Flags in Arkansas have been at half-mast this week, honoring a dead Arkansas soldier.
Well, most flags.
Flags over car lots - those huge, ungainly pieces of cloth that the operators of such establishments don’t even take down at night - have been flying proudly at the top of their flag poles, at least in Fayetteville.
I’m still old-fashioned enough to look upon the American flag and see it as the representative of everything that this country holds close to its heart, all of our ideals, our love of neighbor, our generosity.
It represents not only our military, but also our teachers, poets, factory workers, bankers, union organizers, artists, singers . . .
As a former Boy Scout, I even learned to fold the flag, once upon a time.
I don’t hold to the view that folks shouldn’t handle the flag anyway they see fit, as a sign of ;political protest, however. But I am offended by those who wave the flag as a way to promote their business, without learning even the basics of flag etiquette.
Flag etiquette. Now, there’s a phrase I haven’t used for a few decades.
*****
Second Amendment News: Children shot in the face
Kenton Cowgill, of Carthage. Missouri, was confronted by by his father-in-law about a domestic assault on his daughter (Cowgill’s wife).
After Cowgill grabbed a shotgun, it went off while the two men were struggling with it.
Pellets from the shotgun struck a two year old girl and a four year old boy in the face, though the injuries they received were not life threatening, according to authorities.
Cowgill has been charged with three counts of domestic assault, two charges of armed criminal action and and an additional count of illegally possessing a firearm.
****
Quote of the Day - for the Facebook Age
We spend, I am very certain, the half of our time among people that we do not particularly like and on things that do not particularly amuse us, and consequently we have no time for the people and things that do really matter to us. - Alec Waugh
rsdrake@cox.net`