{"id":163,"date":"2009-09-05T09:25:21","date_gmt":"2009-09-05T09:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayethics\/2009\/09\/people-of-wal-mart-watch-your-backs.html"},"modified":"2009-09-05T09:25:21","modified_gmt":"2009-09-05T09:25:21","slug":"people-of-wal-mart-watch-your-backs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/09\/people-of-wal-mart-watch-your-backs.html","title":{"rendered":"People of Wal-Mart: Watch Your Backs"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

“A whole website just to laugh at discount shoppers?” you
\nscoff? <\/p>\n

Why, yes. Apparently, so.<\/p>\n

I decided I had to run a mention of the site, PeopleOfWalmart.com<\/a>, after a commenter
\non our own blog said: “Has anyone ever noticed this sort of thing always
\nhappens at Wal-Mart?” in referring to the story of a man
\nwho slapped a stranger’s crying toddler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Without commenting personally on the megastore’s clientele –
\nthere isn’t a Wal-Mart where I live so I don’t get to tour one regularly – I’ll
\njust tell you that on the site, you can view, in the site’s own words, pictures
\nof “400lb mothers of 6 wearing a pink tube top, leopard tights, and hooker
\nheels…” and they urge you to be on the lookout for the “greatest mullet of all
\ntime paired with a mustard stained wife beater (which only accents the extreme
\namount of body hair) and camo pants that were actually used in Vietnam.”<\/p>\n

The site goes on to say it’s only for entertainment purposes
\n(rilly???) and that they don’t want you to be an “a*hole” and post photos of “seriously handicapped people.” <\/span>In
\nother words, they are all about the good,
\nclean fun here<\/i>. <\/span>They even,
\noddly, offer a “charity of
\nthe month” page<\/a> (perhaps to offset their tackier moments?)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Like Mullethunters<\/a> and gofugyourself<\/a> (and many other sites that cater to people’s WTF moments), the site is all about shock value. It’s also about the assumptions we make about other people based on their clothing, economic status, weight, hair, etc. We get a feeling of moral superiority out of pointing a finger at others and saying, “thank goodness I’m not that<\/i> fella.”<\/p>\n

But here’s the thing. While I feel like it’s rotten to publicly mock people (especially if they didn’t give consent), I think at some point one has to have a sense of humor. Absurd is absurd, and a guy in a Speedo carrying a goat in one arm and a shovel in the other definitely deserves a double-take. Whether that second look gets posted to the internet is another question. The creators of People of Walmart claim the site was only meant for them and their friends<\/a>, but then it went viral, and the rest was history.<\/p>\n

Is People Of Walmart funny? That’s up to you to decide. I went on the site, and, to me, it seemed kind of half-hearted at best, in a “you-had-to-be-there” kinda way. I did think the photo captions were mean-spirited and generally low, though I was heartened to see the site’s creators claiming “any picture submitted must have the full consent of the person(s) in the picture and the person(s) must be over the age of 18.”  <\/span>Whether they actually bother to check any of that is highly dubious, but I suppose anything’s possible.<\/p>\n

The overarching question here – if you can call it that – is: Are sites like these lighthearted fun, or petty-minded people picking on their peers?<\/i><\/b> (Say that one three times fast!)<\/p>\n

More plainly: What’s funny, and what’s simply cruel?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n


<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Subscribe to receive updates from Everyday Ethics or follow us on Twitter<\/a>!<\/strong> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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She attended St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she studied classics and philosophy, and then respectfully declined to spend the rest of her life in an ivory tower. Instead, she turned to the life of a writer and editor, penning three romance novels published by St. Martin's Press and contributing features to such periodicals as Cosmopolitan magazine. Her fascination with the moral dilemmas that crop up in everyday life--and the many intriguing ways people handle them--has always colored her writings. Now, that interest is leading her to take the discussion online; where, hopefully, the addition of reader feedback will bring these quotidian quandaries--and their potential solutions--vibrantly to life. When she's not plumbing the ethical mysteries of humanity, her passions include cooking (especially baking), origami, kittens, reading, watching really bad television and playing online scrabble. 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