Sam Walton: Made in America - A Review

7 Responses for "Sam Walton: Made in America - A Review"

1. pete g May 20th, 2008 at 2:56 pm 1

   FUCK THAT

   Burning books is never ok

   Bill, et al, I have a pretty good sense of humour and will laugh at some pretty controversial shit, but this is really beyond the pale. I am very disappointed

2. Dain May 20th, 2008 at 3:04 pm 2

   Freedom of speech and expression - unless its deemed offensive. I see.

3. Ms. Nickels May 20th, 2008 at 3:15 pm 3

   I bet if it was a copy of Mein Kampf, you wouldn’t care.

4. Dallas VonKillbot May 20th, 2008 at 4:13 pm 4

   True, I’m pretty sure that Dain has a burning (no pun intended) drive against printed media towards the masses, rather than this being for pure entertainment purposes…. this being an entertainment magazine and all…

5. pete g May 20th, 2008 at 5:12 pm 5

   Ok, I came off a bit strong. I bet if we were in the same room, the tone would be a lot different. We’d be swilling brews and agreeing on most everything. Ask Spencer, Daniel, Bill, Karen who know me.

   I say “It’s never ok to burn a book.” What if I change “book” to “flag”? Then I am fucked because I believe in freedom of expression like Mr. Sandoval and I ok with burning flags.

   So I have to ask myself, why do books get special consideration that flags do not. Fuck, I am kind of stumped there…but…The ability to form ideas, to reason, to argue, are distinctly human. When governments try to control the people the first thing they attack are ideas and try to limit the free flow of ideas.

   To answer the question, I would be just horrified if it was Mein Kampf. Kind ironic that Ms. Nickels brings up King Book Burner of all times in this context.

   I mean, I am no fan of Sam Walton or Hitler. But…Our minds, and the ideas that come from our minds are just about all we have in this world. So Ideas and books with Ideas, no matter how offensive, deserve special regard.

   If you think that Sam Walton is a dead piece of shit and Wal-Mart is fucked and needs to be stopped, then read Walton’s book understand what he is really about–then use then use that knowledge to take productive steps towards undoing Walton and Walmart. But that’s a scary proposition because you might find things about Walton that are worthwhile or even inspiring. And a shocking stunt is way more fun.

   Again, I am no fan of Wal-Mart, but in many ways S. Walton is the epitome of the American Dream. (I am not saying the American Dream isn’t total bullshit, I am just saying) I’ve been to Bentonville and seen Wal-Mart #1. Think Chico, and the world’s largest corporation starting right there at 4th and Broadway.

   Books and ideas are very important to me, they should be important to all of us, so I am sorry I let this get emotional. I am stoked live in a country where you can burn a book, I can get pissed and we can talk about it and the police don’t come knocking on our door afterwards.

   So, bro, keep burning those books. I’ll keep being disappointed and we’ll both pray some government doesn’t come along and burn up the Synthesis internet tubes because they don’t agree with you.

6. Dain May 20th, 2008 at 10:30 pm 6

   How bout a book, wrapped in a flag, set alight with a $20 bill?

   Its all absurd.

   The printed word is sacred no matter who says/writes it and should never be silenced. To be able to tell stories/opinions freely is a right all should be so lucky to have. It is also true that to beat your enemy, you must know them - and so if i really cared about starting a movement I should have read Sams book. But really, I was just looking to play with matches and lighter fluid.

   Plus, it got some people talking - even if it was me just playing the part of a ’standard asshole’ looking for face time and sucking up bandwidth.

   Remember to laugh folks, sometimes it’s all we’ve got.

7. Ms. Nickels May 21st, 2008 at 11:00 am 7

   I love you, Pete G. In all honesty, I just made the Mein Kampf argument to see if you would argue back. And, after reading your response, I think my mother (who’s love of books knows no bounds) loves you, too. I am also against book burning. But not BRA BURNING! WOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!111 SET ‘EM FREEEEEE!