Jon Stewart, who last week earned the greatest honor on the internet -- the title of My Personal Hero -- has been shunned by the evilest multinational corporation on the planet, Wal-Mart.
Apparently, Wal-Mart has pulled The Daily Show's hilarious mock history textbook, America (The Book) from its shelves because the book contains images of the Supreme Court justices in the nude. Nudity, it seems, isn't appropriate for Wal-Mart's customers.
In a related story, Wal-Mart is still selling guns and ammunition. So, from Wal-Mart's point of view, it's OK to sell deadly weapons but not OK to have nude humans in a book.
Well, I'm proud to announce that Wal-Mart has just earned the dubious distinction of My Personal Antihero, aka the Wal-Mart Douchebag Award. Congratufuckinlations, Wal-Mart.
Apparently, Wal-Mart has pulled The Daily Show's hilarious mock history textbook, America (The Book) from its shelves because the book contains images of the Supreme Court justices in the nude. Nudity, it seems, isn't appropriate for Wal-Mart's customers.
In a related story, Wal-Mart is still selling guns and ammunition. So, from Wal-Mart's point of view, it's OK to sell deadly weapons but not OK to have nude humans in a book.
Well, I'm proud to announce that Wal-Mart has just earned the dubious distinction of My Personal Antihero, aka the Wal-Mart Douchebag Award. Congratufuckinlations, Wal-Mart.
Erik, quit pretending that there's hypicrisy involved here. Purchasing rifles - in this case rifles designed for hunting - requires a thorough background check, and I believe a waiting period as well. No such screen exists for the 7 year old who innocently wanders up to Stewart's vitriolic book, opens it to read the foreward by Thomas Jefferson (the one president I'm not related to), and then wonders what that enormous object is dangling from Clarence Thomas's waist (probably Anita Hill).
"Gun's don't kill people. Stupid motherf***ers with guns kill people!" - Chris Tucker, "Money Talks"
The ENN Press Secretary/Chief of Staff
Counterbalancing Erik's liberalism since 1986
Of course there's hypocrisy going on here, but I'll concede that Wal-Mart isn't the only hypocritical actor. It's part of American culture.
Naked bodies = dangerous for kids to see, even if they have to pick up the book and look for it. Guns (and for that matter, DVD's with violent content right on the cover, etc. etc.) = perfectly OK. Ridiculous
Violence is much more dangerous than nudity. America has a silly obsession with nudity, but has no problem with violence. You can see gunfights on prime time network TV, but never nudity.
Just look at the Janet boob incident. I love looking at that incident, because I love breasts. What's the big deal?
So there's some old naked people in My Personal Hero Jon Stewart's book to make a point -- Supreme Court justices are just humans. Dangerous.
Or -- is Wal-Mart keeping the book out because of its political content? There's the kicker.
Walmart can carry whatever the hell they want. I mean who the hell goes to walmart to buy a book anyways. I for one love the book but still feel the whole Supreme Court justices bit just wasn't funny.
James, thanks for your comments. Always good to hear from one of our many conservative readers.
You're right - Wal-Mart can carry whatever the hell they want. And I can complain about whatever the hell I want.
I'd like to complain that Wal-Mart is actually the one of the biggest sellers of books in the United States. Look it up.
And when Wal Mart makes choices about what it carries, literally thousands of people can lose their jobs. Read the amazing series from the LA Times on Wal-Mart to learn more -- this company has more power then most state governments.
I'm not arguing that Jon Stewart, my Personal Hero, or his publisher will lose sales because of this (they'll probably get more sales), but my original point stands -- Wal-Mart is evil and definitely deserves to be given My Personal Antihero aka the inaugural Wal-Mart Douchebag Award. And they're hypocritical for still selling guns.
I agree with you Erik - violence is more dangerous than nudity. Thankfully, you have to buy the guns at Walmart before you can shoot someone (after a thorough background check, etc). Of course, shooting people without justifiable intent is a crime. At least our criminal justice system has taken care of that one.
Nudity is less dangerous than guns, but you don't have to buy the book to read it and see the nudity. Hypocricy, in this case, would be to ban the Stewart book on the basis of nudity while selling Playboy on the magazine rack, or at least another publication that featured nudity. Until you can prove that, and I'm not saying that you won't be able to if you look hard enough, there's really no argument unless you want to change the scope of your comparison. Compare apples to apples, why don't you?
Ian-N
Press Sec.
Thanks for the link. I am well aware that what Wal-Mart chooses to sell can effect people. Just look at Toys-R-Us, the number one toy store in the U.S for as long as I can remember. That all changed when Wal-Mart decided it wanted to be the number one toy supplier and now Toys-R-Us’ future is bleak. They moved into the baby market and that was working out for them and now I read somewhere that Wal-Mart is going to focus on that area as well.
Also now Wal-Mart is focusing in on consumer electronics and wants to dethrone Best Buy, which may not be a bad idea since I have worked at a Best Buy and have seen how they they are. But now Best Buy is scared and for good reason.
I am surprised to hear that Wal-Mart accounts for such a large number of book sales, considering some of the people who shop there.
Also even though I’m conservative, I dislike guns, and in addition to their dirty environments and unfriendly service, has always been a big reason that I don’t shop at Wal-Mart too often.
I guess what I was trying to say in my rushed post above was that it is ok if you want to criticize Wal-Mart, just don’t do it because of a choice not to carry a book.
Oh they aren’t being hypocritical when they sell guns, however, they are when they edit their music ( and I concede: not sell the damn book), yet will sell movies that contain the same content they try to keep you from hearing and seeing in other forms of media.