I'm not a Wal-Mart snob, I do shop there, but this saddens me.

[Archae]

Wal-Mart the "Best symbol of the US?"

Nearly half of the respondents chose Walmart as the institution that best symbolizes America today, leaving in the dust runners-up Google, Microsoft, the NFL, and the banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs.

http://www.wisn.com/news/21133006/detail.html

[Mari333]

1. it is sad but its not far off base

cheap shoddy goods from slave labour countries, minimum wage, overworked, underpaid employees, ugly warehouses full of crap made of polyethylene, sad, unhappy people shiftlessly wandering through the aisles in a daze wondering if they will lose their jobs or homes.
yeah, thats what america sort of seems to be coming to. highly representative.

[Confusious]

10. +1

[iamjoy]

15. Wal-Mart Is The Best

I am a Wal-Mart snob - I refuse to shop there and yet I do think it best symbolizes America today. Only for me "best" does not indicate a superlative or positive, it means quintessential. Wal-Mart symbolizes homogenization. It symbolizes sprawl - an utter disregard for land and how we use it. It captures the mentality of "how cheaply can I get this?" rather than "do I need this?"

so yes, it is representative.

[Eric J in MN]

2. They didn't say "A symbol of the best of the US," just a symbol. NT

NT

[Rick Myers]

4. Phuck Walmart... n/t

[SPedigrees]

7. Walmart certainly symbolizes the United States of corporate greed built on the back of slaves. nt

[Sal Minella]

11. Indeed.

[bigwillq]

3. The NFL?

:wtf:

Huge sports fan here, but I don't think the NFL symbolizes what America is about except for the greed part.

[Kievan Rus]

12. Playoffs? Playoffs? Ya kiddin' me? Playoffs?

[MrModerate]

13. To folks outside the US, the NFL (aka American gridiron) . . .

Is a leading symbol: oversized, freakishly muscled cyborgs bashing one another in a proactive, strategic manner; every move practiced to precision; intense in-the-mud violence paired with balletic grace; and instant reassessment and consultation with the home office after every play?

Yep, that's America to much of the rest of the world.

[bigwillq]

18. I guess I am misreading this.

I thought they choose the best companies that symbolize what's right with America. Not what's wrong with it.
I agree, even though I am a huge sports fan, pro sports are what's wrong with America, as in Walmart. But I don't think that about Google or Microsoft. Maybe I am just confused.

[MrModerate]

20. This is the respondants view of the world. I'm not sure I think the NFL is part of the problem . . .

While WalMart may well be. It is definitely creepy to think that WalMart would win out over Microsoft, Google, and a whole host of other companies that actually represent American exceptionalism. The exceptionalism of "buy more stuff" leaves me cold.

[Lagomorph]

22. Wouldn't it be fun to...

...send all the WWE "wrestlers" and football players to Afghanistan and watch a bunch of scrawny little Muslims hand them their ass?

[DireStrike]

25. Has to be mentioned - George Carlin on football and baseball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om_yq4L3M_I

[ladym55]

5. That is despressing

The runners up don't do much for me, either.

The US is best represented by a greedy, multinational corporation that exploits its workers, has destroyed local businesses nationwide, and sells cheap, imported crap.

Wow.

[Touchdown]

6. Actually I think that's kind of accurate.

It'd be nice to think that we can be still an innovator such as Google or MS. AT&T had a patent every day for 70 years, inventing the transistor, microwave technologies, the laser beam and others. Now, they are known for wiretapping the American people because Bush paid them a wad of cash.

Wal-Mart is an image. An image of homogenization, sameness, cheapness, and lowest common denominator politics/commerce. It's stark, bland, and at times, ugly. Look at any town/city in this nation. They all look alike. Every one has a McDonalds, a Pizza Hut, and a Motel 6. When I can go to a new town, and the person I'm visiting wants to take me to their best restaurant, Olive Garden, then America has turned into Wal-Mart.

Snobbery really has little to do with why most people don't shop at Wal-Mart. Many of us have very good reason why we don't shop there.

[HughMoran]

8. Exactly why I don't shop there

The US is filled with morons.

[prostomulgus]

9. About the same percentage that think WM is a good US symbol

also disapprove of President Obama's in job approval polls.

That's also about the same percentage as regularly go to church.

All this proves is that "nearly half" of the American public are stupid, superstitious, and racist.

Actually, it's a good sign. I thought the percentage was higher than that.

[XOKCowboy]

14. It's like Kraft declaring that Kraft Singles are the true "American cheese"

:puke: Both of those examples make me ashamed of being an American.

[lpbk2713]

16. Here's a link to the poll.

Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/25/60minutes/main5339910.shtml?tag=60VF

I was hoping they would have an 'unrec' feature like DU but they don't.

There seems to be one question that's being freeped though ... "If the Obama administration proposed a tax of 50 percent or higher on the incomes of the very wealthiest millionaires, would you support it, or not?" It's running about 50/50 right now.

[Grey]

17. Sad but True....

My sisters tell me so.

[Ron Green]

19. Yeah, well, when Bill Clinton called Wal*Mart "the greenest company in the world"

the other day, I decided to hell with both of them.

[Touchdown]

21. He must've meant green to mean money grubbing.

You know, backhanded compliments. Like George Bush is a traitorous liar and should spend the rest of his life behind bars. But compared to Dick Cheney, Bush is a saint.

[Stevenmarc]

23. Americans are like terriers wave a low price sock in front of them and reality disappears

they can't connect that all those cheap prices have a cost somewhere down the road, like the loss of manufacturing jobs, sweetheart tax deals that rob the community, the loss of mom and pop stores, ect.

[DireStrike]

24. I would choose that too.

Walmart and the US - both dependent on china, doesn't take care of their workers, systematically hostile to small businesses. Filled with guns and twinkies. Put on a good face, but underneath there is nothing except profit for the owners.

[undeterred]

26. All terrible choices.

[sohndrsmith]

27. how are they defining "institution"? I was thinking apple pie and that sort of thing...

not a mega-corporation.

I'm not keen on Wal-mart, but they're prices are significantly lower than anywhere else - I've only found one or two things that they charged more for (and I am very much about doing my research, being of extremely limited means - I do cost comparisons because I have to).

But I can't think of Wal-mart as the "best" - "institution" that symbolizes America... I'd want to know the actual definition of what that means (for the study) before I could offer a valid answer I think. If they were restricting the idea to companies, then so be it. I didn't find that in the link, but I read it quickly...

hm.

No back-yard barbecues? Family picnics? Hot dogs and hamburgers? National Parks? Yard sales? The Bald Eagle (I know, I know Mahr's issue with the eagle... ) but I love seeing them along the Hudson now whenever I'm there - or even at the pond up the road (my entire family went to go see him/her one Thanksgiving - two-to three at a time until we annoyed this majestic bird to the point of saying "I'm outta here, kids... ". Can't say as I blame him.

I dunno, I like to think of something positive when considering this idea. For all that's gone and going wrong, there are wonderful things about this country of ours that aren't necessarily political or fiscal or any of that, but just "good"... no?