Walmart, a Boomerang: 3rd Draft

Walmart, a Boomerang:

The Neo-Industrial Revolution

Walmart represents great controversy all over the world, and we can easily feel the heat when we type in “Walmart” in Google or Youtube. Some people nearly worship Walmart as their saviour for industry and positive impact to many communities, while many others are infuriated by the brutality of the company. In some Youtube videos, Walmart employees express their anger by fierce demonstrations and creating provocative videos criticizing Walmart. The truth is, both sides are right; Walmart serves a function like a boomerang, as it seems to benefit citizens, but also creates a viscious cycle.

At first, after watching a Youtube video “When Walmart Comes to Town: A Success Story,” I was persuaded for a moment to believe that Walmart actually improves the lives of people. The video showed complaints by citizens of Chicago who complain about a lack of places to buy fresh vegetables and other materials. People were shouting, "We want Walmart so that we can have something more than some dollar stores…", and they were actually demonstrating to demand the establishment of Walmart in their town. In 2006, Chicago finally got what it wanted, and Walmart successfully fulfilled the needs of people right away. First of all, Walmart boosted the employment rate in Chicago. According to the video, statistics showed that 726 jobs were created, 298 were lost, for a total result gaining 428 jobs after bringing in Walmart. Not only that, but also, since Walmart came in, it brought in 22 new businesses to the area, including the Bank of America, Chase Bank, CVS, and Menards. As more and more businesses were coming in, Chicago kept on moving towards more economic development, also creating new streets and leading to more population within Chicago. All of these positive aspects make it seem plausible to support Walmart chains, as these things actually happened.

Now here’s the reality; after such seemingly-positive effects on a society, Walmart often exacerbates people’s lives and infuriates the employees through horrible treatment.

According to a news article from REUTERS, called “Wal-Mart trims some U.S. health coverage,”

Wal-Mart Stores Incorporation decided to no longer offer health insurance to new part-time U.S. employees who work fewer than 24 hours a week and charge workers who use tobacco more for coverage as healthcare costs rise (REUTERS).

Most American businesses provide healthcare systems for their employees, especially huge retailers with a global chain system. Plus, the system is vital for most people, particularly those who work in Walmart, with such poor income and having nowhere else to go to earn money. Walmart simply reduces funds that are put into health care system only to produce more yields, but in the employees’ perspective, just a small reduction of funds will greatly deteriorate people’s lives.

Walmart’s atrocious acts are not only about health care systems; in fact, there exist other companies that do the same things. In an article Wal-Mart: Merchant of Shame, National Organization for Women (NOW) received complaints regarding workplace environment and employment practices, which include the following:

Sex discrimination in pay, promotion and compensation, wage abuse, exclusion of contraceptive coverage in insurance plans, violations of child labor laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (Merchant).

Reacting to Walmart’s discrimination against women, Dukes filed a lawsuit on behalf of 1.5 million women employees, basing on extensive public records filed against Wal-Mart. However, the Judge of the case took Walmart’s side.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote:

Even if every single one of these accounts is true, that would not demonstrate that the entire company 'operate[s] under a general policy of discrimination … Respondents have identified no 'specific employment practice'--much less one that ties all their 1.5 million claims together. Merely showing that Wal-Mart's policy of discretion has produced an overall sex-based disparity does not suffice" (Merchant).

Now we know that Wal-Mart is actually a bad company that disguises itself as a “revolutionary retailer,” and also know that Wal-Mart power is already so prevalent all over the world that even governments compromise integrity to Wal-Mart.

To sum up, Walmart seems to bring in a lot of things and give positive impact to many communities, but viewing Walmart in the long term, the situation goes back to the original state, if not worse. In this way, I would describe Wal-Mart as industrialization, since industrialization also seemed to greatly improve people’s lives, but then people understood later on that there are more disadvantages than benefits. Also, as my title indicates: A BOOMERANG, as it comes back to its original place after a long trip.

Works Cited

Walmart NYC. “When Walmart Comes to Town: A Success Story.” Youtube (2 Feb. 2011): n.

pag.  Mon. 5 March. 2012.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdtcBiaflUQ&feature=player_embedded>

Jessica Wohl. “Wal-Mart trims some U.S. health coverage.” REUTERS (2 Feb. 2011): n. pag.

Mon. 5 March. 2012. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/21/us-walmart-idUSTRE79K43Z20111021>

The National Organization for Women (NOW) Website. “Wal-Mart: Merchant of Shame.” 2

Feb. 2011. Mon. 5 Mar 2012. <http://www.now.org/issues/wfw/wal-mart.html>

Macbeth Act II, Scene 1,2

Macbeth Act II, Scene 1,2

The Act II opens up with Macbeth heading to the bedchamber of Duncan, to commit what he and his wife have been planning. The author deliberately sets the mood to be really dark, gloomy and depressed, probably to imply what will happen soon. While heading to the room, Macbeth encounters Banquo, who started talking about his dream, where he met the weird sisters. However, they decided to meet again later on to settle on his dreams and part for now. In my opinion, Macbeth probably would have been bothered by this conversation, because Banquo’s dreams even more strongly show that all this is meant to be, decided by the Fortune.

In this scene, we can easily spot Macbeth going crazy over time through his monologue. He finds out that while he can see a dagger he cannot physically feel it. In other words, he is experiencing a hallucination of a dagger heading to the King, which he gets mad about. This may be a behavior caused by the great guiltiness and consciousness of this murder he is going to commit, and extreme stress underneath it.

On the next scene, the tension of the story intensifies and reaches the climax. This is most obviously shown by the most precise and short sentences of the conversations. These short, choppy sentences can be effective in displaying great tension.

The main event happens in this scene when Macbeth finally kills Duncan after Lady Macbeth reappears and drugs the guards of the King’s chamber. On the way back, Macbeth meets Lady Macbeth. Here, this scene most evidently demonstrates the exchange of roles between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, the topic that was dealt with in depth, in Act I.

After the murder, Macbeth is in great shock, especially conscious of what his vile hands have done. He feels so guilty and insecure that Macbeth says “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor / Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more!” which means, Macbeth felt guilty all over again, telling himself that he will never be able to rest easy in his sleep. Also, the fact that Macbeth left his dagger at Duncan’s room suggests that he was so scared and nervous right after the deed that he became manic to make such a big mistake.

On the other hand, the powerful lady, Lady Macbeth, not only drugs the guards of the King’s chamber, but also says that she would have committed the murder herself. Moreover, when Macbeth was in shock and couldn’t get out of the misery, Lady Macbeth harshly criticizes the weakness of Macbeth. And when Lady Macbeth realized that Macbeth left his dagger at Duncan’s chamber, she simply went into the King’s room again so boldly, calmly smeared the blood onto the King’s servant, and took the dagger out. Another evidence of Lady Macbeth being a “man” is shown when she says “the sleeping, and the dead, / Are but as pictures; ‘tis the eye of childhood / That fears a painted devil.” In other words, Macbeth shouldn’t be scared of blood of death, because they’re merely the paint that completes the picture of death.

Seen by her behaviors and words, it is obvious that Lady Macbeth is such a thorough and vicious “man,” and that the role of male and female have changed between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

The Scene 2 ends with somebody knocking on Macbeth’s door, which increases the tension all over again.