People of Wal-Mart

[Kahns Krazy]

If you haven't been to this site, it's fantastic. Both the pictures and the captions.


http://media.peopleofwalmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/1224.jpg

Listen hunny, the “one size fits all” tag is lying to you, so I suggest we try things on before we buy.

http://media.peopleofwalmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/1206.jpg

You would be a perfect fit if Dr. Suess were to create a character that is a prostitute.

http://media.peopleofwalmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/1123.jpg

Domo Arigato Mrs. Roboto, Domo (Domo), Domo (Domo).

[PMI]

One of my (and XULucho's) good friends from Xavier created this site. One of the funnier people you'll ever meet. You can kill days at a time on this site. There are going to be other similar sites coming soon too, I'll keep you posted.

[nuts4xu]

You can go to any Wal Mart, anywhere in the United States, in any neighborhood and will see the same people shoppoing there.

I have no issues shopping at Walmart, and the entertainment value speaks for itself.

[JimmyTwoTimes37]

If you haven't been to this site, it's fantastic. Both the pictures and the captions.


http://media.peopleofwalmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/1224.jpg



http://i33.tinypic.com/flhnk7.jpg

[XULucho27]

One of my (and XULucho's) good friends from Xavier created this site. One of the funnier people you'll ever meet. You can kill days at a time on this site. There are going to be other similar sites coming soon too, I'll keep you posted.

Indeed. The brainchild of this site is a proud Xavier alum and our good friend. Enjoy the site, it's consistently comedy gold.

[xnatic03]

3 more sites that are time killers and hilarious are lamebook.com, textsfromlastnight.com, and itwasoverwhen.com

[PM Thor]

I actually had to go into a Walmart today (after striking out at 4 other stores for a specific item). I hadn't been in one in years.

It was quite....interesting.

I HATE dayton.

[GuyFawkes38]

I feel sort of uncomfortable about a site like this in the same way I feel uncomfortable about Sacha Baron Cohen comedies (Borat and Bruno).

Yes, I guess it's funny. But that comedy is most often directed towards laughing at an underprivileged segment of society.

I think there is something ultimately cruel about this type of site.

[MCXU]

Guy, I am going to agree with you on this.
I get a huge laugh out of this site, but after I feel a little sad.
There but for the grace of God go I.
Sorry, no more preachy preachy from me.

Maybe we could start a site called peopleofdayton.com. I would have no problem laughing at that.

[D-West & PO-Z]

I feel sort of uncomfortable about a site like this in the same way I feel uncomfortable about Sacha Baron Cohen comedies (Borat and Bruno).

Yes, I guess it's funny. But that comedy is most often directed towards laughing at an underprivileged segment of society.

I think there is something ultimately cruel about this type of site.

I'm not really sure I agree with you on the baron cohen films. His films are usually pointing out the sterotypes against those people and bringing to light the ignorance of the majority.

[GuyFawkes38]

I'm not really sure I agree with you on the baron cohen films. His films are usually pointing out the sterotypes against those people and bringing to light the ignorance of the majority.

No doubt, Cohen's projects are more sophisticated than taking pictures of overweight shoppers at Walmart and mocking them on a website.

But it's still sort of the same thing.

The people in Cohen's films have no idea that they will be seen by millions of people. Cohen and producers set up a situation which nudges people to say and do awful things (or make it come across that way). And they generally target southern and rural Americans.

just a random example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb3IMTJjzfo

Some people in that video sing along. Does that mean they are anti-Semitic. It comes across that way. But the whole thing is at a bar with people drinking and trying to have a good time. They have no idea the camera crew is part of a show that millions of people watch. I'm sure they want to show an outsider a good time. Maybe some people are trying to be ironic.

[D-West & PO-Z]

No doubt, Cohen's projects are more sophisticated than taking pictures of overweight shoppers at Walmart and mocking them on a website.

But it's still sort of the same thing.

The people in Cohen's films have no idea that they will be seen by millions of people. Cohen and producers set up a situation which nudges people to say and do awful things. And they generally target southern and rural Americans.

just a random example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb3IMTJjzfo

Some people in that video sing along. Does that mean they are anti-Semitic. It comes across that way. But the whole thing is at a bar with people drinking and trying to have a good time. They have no idea the camera crew is part of a show that millions of people watch. I'm sure they want to show an outsider a good time. Maybe some people are trying to be ironic.

Fair enough. I actually thought you meant he was making fun of the people he was portraying.

[GuyFawkes38]

Fair enough. I actually thought you meant he was making fun of the people he was portraying.

Ha, yeah, I don't think Kazakhstanis should be too offended. I read somewhere that Cohen modeled Borat on a stereotypical Polish man. If Borat was officially from Poland, I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't like that.

Maybe I'm being too preachy. I like watching Cohen's works. It just makes me a little uneasy.

[Kahns Krazy]

I feel sort of uncomfortable about a site like this in the same way I feel uncomfortable about Sacha Baron Cohen comedies (Borat and Bruno).

Yes, I guess it's funny. But that comedy is most often directed towards laughing at an underprivileged segment of society.

I think there is something ultimately cruel about this type of site.

You are a toolbox. If you look at those pictures and see anything but people who have gone out of the way to make spectacles of themselves, you're reading more into it than you should. Maybe you see too much of yourself in those pictures, and that's what is making you sad. Or possibly you dated the girl at the meat counter. Whatever. You seem privileged enough, and we all still laugh at you. It's not about singling out the underprivileged.

[GuyFawkes38]

maybe I overreacted a little.

[Kahns Krazy]

Meh. No big whoop. I meant the post to be a silly diversion. I think a lady in silver earrings, a silver jacket, silver pants and silver high heels is funny. I don't care if she is shopping at Wal-Mart or Saks. That's some funny crap.

[STL_XUfan]

3 more sites that are time killers and hilarious are lamebook.com, textsfromlastnight.com, and itwasoverwhen.com

whythef***doyouhaveakid.com (http://whythe****doyouhaveakid.com) is also great, but you have to spell out the starred word since it won't let me on this site. Booo censorship

[blobfan]

Guy, I am going to agree with you on this.
I get a huge laugh out of this site, but after I feel a little sad.
There but for the grace of God go I.
Sorry, no more preachy preachy from me.

Maybe we could start a site called peopleofdayton.com. I would have no problem laughing at that.
I'm with you to an extent. Some of the photos are just poor overweight people and the comments are crude and cruel. I could have been happy spending my whole life without hearing the term gunt. I'm a poorer person for knowing what that means.

Meh. No big whoop. I meant the post to be a silly diversion. I think a lady in silver earrings, a silver jacket, silver pants and silver high heels is funny. I don't care if she is shopping at Wal-Mart or Saks. That's some funny crap.
And this is why I love the site! Some of the outfits people wear to the stores are just begging for attention. You don't wear head to toe silver and expect people to ignore you. Some of the car pictures are priceless. I think there was one covered in dinosaur figures. You just don't see that every day.

[Jumpy]

I think there was one covered in dinosaur figures. You just don't see that every day.

I remember that one. It was special. Of course, (as it should be in the dinosaur pecking order) Godzilla had the place of distinction right on the top of the car, surrounded by his minions.

[Snipe]

I feel sort of uncomfortable about a site like this in the same way I feel uncomfortable about Sacha Baron Cohen comedies (Borat and Bruno).

Yes, I guess it's funny. But that comedy is most often directed towards laughing at an underprivileged segment of society.

I think there is something ultimately cruel about this type of site.


Reminded me of Pauline Kael's review of Michael Moore's "Roger and Me" (http://eddriscoll.com/archives/000181.php) in the New Yorker:


What happens is that Moore, a big, shambling joker in windbreaker and baseball cap, narrates his analysis of the ironies and idiocies of what’s going on, and deadpans his way through interviews with an assortment of unlikely people, who are used as stooges, as filler. He asks them broad questions about the high rate of unemployment and the soaring crime rate, and their responses make them look like phonies or stupes; those who try to block his path or duck his queries appear to be flunkies. Low-level GM public-relations people make squirmy, evasive statements; elderly women on a golf course are confused as to what’s wanted of them; visiting entertainers are cheery and optimistic; Miss Michigan, who is about to take part in the Miss America Pageant, tries to look concerned and smiles her prettiest. What does Moore expect? Why are these people being made targets for the audience’s laughter? The camera makes brutal fun of a woman who’s trying to earn money as an Amway color consultant, and it stares blankly at a woman who’s supplementing her government checks by raising rabbits. (For a minute or two, we seem to be watching an Errol Morris movie.) Moore’s final jab is at a woman with a Jewish name, whose job promoting the attractions of the city has been eliminated. He asks her what she’s going to do next. When she says she’s going to Tel Aviv, Moore seems to be drawing the conclusion that the rats are deserting the ship; something distasteful hovers over the closing credits.

and ends with this:


The movie is an aw-shucks, cracker-barrel pastiche. In Moore’s jocular pursuit of Roger, he chases gags and improvises his own version of history. He comes on in a give-’em-hell style, but he breaks faith with the audience. The picture is like the work of a slick ad exec. It does something that is humanly very offensive: Roger & Me uses its leftism as a superior attitude. Members of the audience can laugh at ordinary working people and still feel that they’re taking a politically correct position.

Not that it is directly related to the topic at hand at the Wallmart site, it just made me think of this. I didn't see the link so I haven't really even seen it.

As far as Sacha Baron Cohen goes, I am not a big fan. I never got into the Jackass movies either.

[GuyFawkes38]

yes, Moore is a great example of someone who makes people look like idiots in front of millions of people.

Ha, I remember when he targeted a US defense manufacturer (I think Lockheed martin ) in Bowling for Columbine. Somehow he was trying to make the connection that their presence in Denver contributed to the shootings. What an ass.

[American X]

PeopleofWalmart.com mentioned in WSJ article:

Surviving the Age of Humiliation (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703612804575222580214035638.html?m od=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks)

[blobfan]

PeopleofWalmart.com mentioned in WSJ article:

Surviving the Age of Humiliation (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703612804575222580214035638.html?m od=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks)

Good article but I think they missed an important point, alluded to by the professor they interviewed.

Mr. Holt warns his students ... The most proactive step they can take is to assume everything they do may end up as part of the public record.

I don't think this happens because people are meaner. It's because people are less private. The line between public and private behavior has blurred to the point it is virtually indistinguishable. It used to be that we kept our more colorful sides confined to our home and the local bar. Now it's out there on TV and the internet. People make a living out of being a$$holes (see most shows on MTV, Style, etc).

There was a time when even the poorest people wouldn't go to church without a hat or to a store without at least mending their tattered clothes. Today anything goes. There's no point in blaming the medium, which is simply reflecting current behavior.