rock and roll is wicked

[suaso]

There is a Wal-Mart near my campus that is on land owned by the monks. Since it is the monk's land that Wal-Mart is leasing, they had to build their store in keeping with the school's Gothic aesthetic. The store's facade has false, vaulted Gothic windows. We call it Catholic Wal-Mart, or as some have dubbed it: St. Walton's. They also just built St. Lowe's of the Holy Renovation next door

As for Rock 'n' Roll being wicked: Yes, it is wicked. Wicked awesome. Touch my guitar and my distortion pedal, and there will be conflict...

 

[Harley_Angel]

suaso...you wouldn't happen to know where I could get pictures? What you said just rocked my world as a business major and christian...St. Waltons...ftw.

 

[suaso]

lol I don't think I've ever took a picture of St. Walton's or St. Lowe's of the Holy Renovation. It isn't phenomenal, but it definitely doesn't look like the outside of a normal Wal Mart or Lowe's.

*edit* From Online:

Not a great view, but you can see one window to the right

 

[Harley_Angel]

Be still my heart! My glee is overwhelming. I will never look at a corporation in the same way muhahahahahaha.

 

[MahogonySnail]

So no one cares about the greed of corporate organisations such as Walmart, the bullying, harrassment and racial discrimination , abuse of laws and death for shoplifters?:

http://www.intellectualpoison.com/WalMartisPureEvil.html

 

[Harley_Angel]

Sorry Mahogany, but that's the way of the world. Of course, did you ever think about the good things corporations have done? Like community projects, offering jobs to people who can now feed their families, donating billions of dollars to charities, giving jobs to third world countries, and honestly, how would you like to pay $300 for your t-shirts instead of $30? Without these big corporate organizations, that wouldn't be possible. How would you like the food you eat and things you have limited to only what YOU yourself could grow and make? You probably wouldn't have a bible, internet, or any other luxury in your life that came from a big store. What brand is your computer, because I'm guessing you didn't find the materials and make all the components yourself. In fact,I'm gonna bet it camefrom one of those bullying, harassing, and discriminating stores. Oh, and while we are at it, do you denounce people going to school? Junior high was probably the most hateful, humiliating, and discriminating thing I've ever been through, but, we need an education right?

If you are going to pick on corporations and point fingers at all the bad stuff they do, then you need to go find yourself a nice little plot of land, build yourself some tools, farm your own food, weave your own clothes, build your own houses and never ever buy something from a store. Or you could try to see the good that can come from them and maybe even work to help them continue spreading goodness. Did you know Target gives 5% of it's profits to charities each week? That's about 3 million dollars A WEEK going to charities. When was the last time you gave 5% of your earnings to a charity?

 

[MahogonySnail]

And here you are Harley, justifying and defending these "ways of the world". It never used to be like this at this scale 10 or 20 years ago. There's a difference between greedy monopoly organisations and fair and just business.
Harely I give over 5% of my earnings to charity, do you?

The irony is, that these big organisations give so many million a week to charity, and the charities support the small business and little guy who these large organisations put out of business in the first place!

 

[Harley_Angel]

Also, to put some perspective on it, Wal-mart owns over 7000 stores worldwide, and that's not including the thousands of factories, warehouses, and other affiliates they have. Just based off of those numbers, if only 2% of all their STORES ALONE had corruption, that's still almost 150 stores. Walmart strives to keep corruption, accidents, and problems down to 1% which is still about 70-100 stores having problems. The sheer size of this corporation with the over 3 million people it employes means yeah, there are going to be some problems. How do you expect to have ANY business with over 3million people in it be friendly, Godly, and perfect? Get real!

 

[Harley_Angel]

It's called competition Mahogany. The POINT of a business is to make money and provide a service/product. Some businesses found an excellent business model and ran with it and they BEAT the competition. If you can find a sustainable advantage over your competition, you run with it, you don't say, aww, these other people who don't have quite as good of a strategy as me aren't doing so well, I think I'll sabotage my own business so they can do better. Maybe in a perfect world, but we aren't a perfect world. We are talking about busineses that have millions and millions of people working for them. Someone is goign to be corrupt, someone is going to be good. That's the mix of it. Without competition we wouldn't be able to afford any of the goods we own. That's why the governement helps to control true monopolies.

Yes, the scale has changed, but so has the world, so has business in general. Technology means we can travel distances in an instance, we can do business with someone 800000 miles away without actually having to be there. Globalization has boomed and we've grasped the idea of sustainable competitive advantage. Not all businesses can be run by mom and pop anymore. The entire population has asked for convienance, affordability, and variety, and guess what? Big businesses gave it to us. These businesses couldn't be making the profits they do if people weren't buying from them. So is it their fault for doing what WE asked them to do, or is it our fault for buying from them in the first place?

 

[imoss]

thinks about changing her name to charity.

 

[MahogonySnail]

Well it just shows how much we love mammon doesn't it?

 

[imoss]

nah, just have a few outstanding bills at the moment & the folks who owe us decided to go to Hawaii instead of paying. Its all good, the Lord has provided exactly what we need as we need it & they are due back soon. Sometimes these things happen to keep us focused on the Lord & relying on him.

 

[Harley_Angel]

Hey we asked for it, businesses gave it to us, and they BOOMED and made lots of money. Do I think individuals are greedy and manipulative? Yes. Do I think we should take it out on corporations just because they were sucessful, no. If you aren't big on making money then don't be a business person. That's what a business does, that's what it's for. It's profit is a reflection of how well people like it. People obviously like shopping at Walmart. They make money off of it, people are given their salaries and wages and bonuses, everyone goes home. We should really be scrutinizing how the people who made the money spend their money. And it's not just ceo's. How many lowly night stockers go spend their cash on fast food and drugs? Probably the same amount as corporate big wigs who spend their money on fast food and drugs. The bigger guys just have more to spend.

 

[imoss]

oop... you werent talking to me were you???

 

[Harley_Angel]

Nope, it was more towards Mahog. ^.^

 

[MahogonySnail]

But we're all guilty of buying from the big guy instead of the little guy, I know I am myself. That's how these companies got big in the first place. I buy fruit and vege from local market suppliers now instead of shopping chains, and try to buy meat from local butchers. The main problem is, the consumer gets worse value for money with these big chains, and in a round about way there's some little guy earning 5 cents an hour in a sweat shop in asia making it all work. Here the farmer gets 20 cents a litre or less for milk and it costs us nearly $2 a litre. Our agriculture and dairy industries are not looking well for the future.

 

[suaso]

That's the American way. The philosophy of our society is to look out for ourselves, save ourselves as much hassle as we can afford to avoid, and to gain as much as we can with little effort. That's what drives corporations to outsource to cheap manufacturers overseas to have a supply of low-quality, mass-produced goods that can be sold quickly. That is also what drives the average consumer to shop at a big box store, where everything is convenient and cheap.

When the average family around this area (the most illiterate area in NC, and that's a fact) can barely afford to keep the power in their house on, do you think that they sit back and go "Hmm, but how can I support my local farmer's market?" Nope. They think "I got $50 to spare on groceries this week, I have to drag my 3 screaming kids with me, and I can go to Wal-Mart on the way home from wherever and stretch my dollar out for some food and necessities." One could argue that because of places like Wal-Mart, independent stores have to charge more to compete. Well, that's capitalism. If you believe in capitalism and all that, then you have to acknowledge that such is the price we pay to live the way we do: someone is going to get exploited, and you best thank God it ain't you. Or, one can realize that maybe this is a wicked form of industry for our country, but then you'll go spouting off like some class of socialist or a liberation theologian from the 70s.

Where I live, there is an abundance of small scale "mom and pop" stores to compete with Wal-Mart. I can walk 2 miles off-campus and go either to Wal-Mart or the shops downtown. The shops downtown have all of the specialties in food and beverage and wares that wal mart doesn't, but when it comes to needing a pack of socks, a lamp, and a pound of cheese at 2am Wal-Mart is the place for it. There aren't many jobs in this area as our economy has shifted from textile/agricultural to servile, so guess who the largest employer in the area is? Yes, Wal-Mart.

Does this mean the status quo is good? No. We make do with what we have until everyone realizes this isn't working right, for the betterment of the human condition. Heck, it's great for the human condition in America, but obviously, overseas, it's hell.

 

[MahogonySnail]

Thanks for that insightful insight into the American way Suaso, and oh yeah, rock and roll is evil , just to stay on topic .

 

[imoss]

we can do our part as the Holy Spirit moves us in our daily lives. the spirit prompted me at a stop light to have traffic back up behind me and honk while i asked this lady who had a heavy burdon if she would like a ride. she got in the car 4 bags of groceries she was walking with & was sweating already & was only 1/2 block from superstore. she said, i'm sorry, its very far. I drove her 3 miles to her home. There were stores closer but she is a single mom with 2 kids so she walked 3 miles to superstore for milk & other necessities because of the cost. Suaso's post made me think of her. I suppose my point is as Christians the Lord will prompt us to assist and to minister to these people... even briefly in the Christian rock music i was playing on my stereo... the words they will know we are christians by our love audiable to this woman. as I pulled over to retrieve her satan whispered in my ear... what if she smells like pee... theres too many cars behind you... get behind me satan I'm going about the Lords work today and I can clean my car if it gets smelly. praise the Lord what a blessing it is to listen to the Holy Spirit and have it validated by how far that woman had to walk. Also... just to keep on topic, i think she noticed the words of the music I was listening to & felt my sincere God bless you as I dropped her off. Please pray for Tammy on Taber & her boys.

 

[Semiazas]

render unto ceasar what is ceasars. oh but im sure mahogany was just "joking" about walmart.