Moral Sex
I've subscribed to Playboy, on and off, for years, and I just bought a copy, along with one each of Maxim and FHM. (Not to worry -- I only look at the pictures.) Luckily for Wal-Mart shoppers, who might be tempted to do the same, those very prim and proper Christians running Wal-Mart are very firm about keeping "objectionable" music and magazines out of their stores. How weird that these same Wal-Mart mucky-mucks don't find it the least bit objectionable to screw their workers -- the foreign ones making their clothes (see Tuesday's blog item), and the U.S. workers staffing their stores. Silly me, I must have missed the bit in The Bible about how good it is to gouge people. And just an aside, but I'll bet Larry Flynt pays his people a living wage. I know writing for Penthouse was a gold mine for Cathy Seipp.
LA councilman Eric Garcetti, whom I heard on KABC? yesterday, noted the hidden cost of shopping at a company that doesn't pay its staff a living wage. Maybe you save a few dollars at the register. Ultimately, you (and the rest of us) end up paying the price for those savings -- by picking up the cost of "affordable housing" and emergency room visits for workers who don't make a living wage and can't afford health care. Now, that's obscene.
I think the issue between what WalMart chooses to stock is separate from their labor practices. I know a lot of families that choose to shop in places like that so that their kids are exposed to less explicit material. Adults can find their supposedly 'objectionable' materials elsewhere--I think it's important that some places choose not to stock those materials as an alternative for people who want to take their kids shopping and not worry about them finding a Hustler that someone pulled out of the rack.
As far as the labor practices go, it's the fault of our society for being so greedy that we want more and more for less and less. Unless a shift occurs in the national psyche, and we become less obsessed with possessions, then I don't see these types of practices coming to an end.
Peggy C at November 27, 2003 10:33 PM
I'm still reeling over the sweatshop conditions existing in third world countries to provide us with cheap clothing. I used to pride myself in my unpretentiousness, content to find attractive, affordable clothing (which I called "frugal chic")without selling out my identity to big names like Dior and Armani. I don't need a $1000.00 suits and a watch that costs as much as a decent used car. JCPenney's does me fine and anything more portable and accurate than a sundial for my left wrist. Unless your name happens to BE Tommy Hilfiger, you shouldn't have those tags all over your clothes.
On the other hand, affordability doesn't mean much if the person who labors to make the clothing can't even afford to starve.
Patrick at November 30, 2003 9:55 AM