Pilgrims in an Unholy Land

That's right. Wal-Mart. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Not just any Wal-Mart, but the Super Wal-Mart in Scottsdale. I needn't belabor what I think is wrong with Scottsdale right now, though. I'll spare you this time. Mom and I went to Wal-Mart to get a bunch of stuff I needed for school, and since there were some good deals on compact refrigerators there, we headed that way. I figured small children working for the Wal-Mart empire in South America hadn't built that, anyway, and I definitely didn't buy any Wal-Mart brand clothes.

This Wal-Mart wasn't nearly as dumpy as most, but still, I wished I wasn't there. This place is ridiculous. I'll bet the building itself is larger than Costco, and it has almost everything in there. I think Wal-Mart is trying to take over the world. I don't wanna sound conspiratorial or anything, but it wouldn't be that difficult for them to. They've all but banished the need for specialty shops, as they sell clothes, sporting goods, toys, shoes, car stuff, kitchen stuff, office stuff, garden stuff, outdoor gear, electronics, video games, music . . . the list goes on. Then, they decided to include a supermarket (I believe that's two supers . . . a supermarket in a Super Wal-Mart? Aside from being tacky and redundant, that might be dangerous), as well. I heard a couple days ago that Toys 'R' Us is having to close a lot of their stores, because people just buy toys at Wal-Mart. Even their produce is cheaper. It seems like it would be obvious that that's because some of their labor practices are a little shady, and there are entire sites devoted to that, so I'm not about to go into it. In addition, they've got a whole lot of primo acreage in practically every city larger than 40,000 people (the number is arbitrary -- I don't actually know the stats), making them a large player in the real estate market (much like McDonalds, which Ray Kroc actually considered a real estate enterprise rather than a food establishment). Now they're working their way into the wireless phone business. They'll probably just keep expanding until they own GM, Proctor & Gamble, Frito-Lay, McDonalds, Starbucks, Chase Manhattan, a couple sports teams, water rights to everywhere, Halliburton, etc., until they control the entire world. Well, maybe that's a bit of a stretch for "probably," but you see what I'm saying.

In short, Wal-Mart is evil. But, if you need a dorm refrigerator, the 2.7 cubic foot Haier is only 87.73.

Ah, man. I shoulda just left it at Wal-Mart is evil.