From Jim Gilliam's blog archives
Swiftboating the Wal-Mart movie
November 29, 2005 11:24 AM
I have a long post on the Huffblog this morning about the right-wing echo chamber attacking the Wal-Mart movie, and how out-of-step they are with the grassroots conservatives who are embracing the film.
Swiftboating the Wal-Mart movie (11.29.2005)
Next Entry: Wal-Mart's War Room Strategy (11.30.2005)
Previous Entry: Xooglers (11.26.2005)
Read the 11 comments.
Anonymous:
I guess all the Righteous Canadian liberals that frequent this site are hiding under their beds today.
Canada isnt as bad a place as I thought.
Tue Nov 29 2005 1:28 PM
Anonymous:
The liberal way.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/29/D8E69AT81.html
Tue Nov 29 2005 1:31 PM
Tom from Madison:
How about staying on topic and posting using a name that allows you to be identified?
Do real conservatives slither from under a rock only to change the subject?
How about having the courage to affirmatively take a stance on the Wal-mart film? Surely the anonymous one must have at least something resemblling a coherent thought on this issue!
Tue Nov 29 2005 6:33 PM
J:
Exceptionally well written Jim..
Tue Nov 29 2005 6:59 PM
Mr. Anonymous:
Liberal blogs like this need a dose of reality in it. You thikn the liberals being chased out of Canada would ever be mentioned here? No chance. I prefer to not let certain sites hide the truth from its readers.
The liberals like to keep their people as dumb and uninformed as the can, because an informed liberal is called a conservative.
Tue Nov 29 2005 7:13 PM
Dave E.:
Great read Jim. A nice case study in the ridiculous rapid response PR spin and its reach: a disgrace worthy of its own documentary.
And congratulations on the success of the movie. A quote from the most famous 'grass roots' organizer of all-time seems apropos.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Tue Nov 29 2005 8:43 PM
Mike of the Great White North:
What is this Anonymous fool blabbering about.. he's not making any (*$#ing sence.
Wed Nov 30 2005 12:39 PM
Tom from Madison:
Jim,
let me join the voices congratulating you on the movie. It's refreshing to hear real people tell their stories. Middle America has been profoundly affected by Wal-mart. The results of Wal-mart arriving are economic facts. What to do about it is a separate issue. Kudos on getting the facts out!
The voices of everyday people are not heard nearly enough in our corporate dominated media culture. Instead we get PR experts creating their own version of reality. Your film shines a light on a dark corner of what some are calling progress.
Wed Nov 30 2005 12:49 PM
Anonymous:
What are you going to tell the people who lose their jobs at walmart? If you succeed you will certainly cost jobs. Are you going to feed their kids while they find the job from an employer you want?
Course not.
Wed Nov 30 2005 4:33 PM
Tom from Madison:
Anonymous,
What is Wal-Mart telling the people whose jobs They displace with fewer, lower paying jobs?
The obvious answer is we need economic policy that promotes better jobs for all of us. Wal-mart is leading the race to the bottom.
Bush and his sycophants seem to believe that workers should be grateful to have any job. It's sad that some people's expectations are so low.
When Wal-mart loses, small business and workers win.
Thu Dec 1 2005 10:50 AM
Paul:
I finally saw Jim's movie last Friday. It was brilliant. I like Greenwald's style of not having a narrator, but allowing people to tell their own stories themselves.
Wal-Mart is rolling in money, but it can't even pay people for the hours they've worked. The managers are under such intense pressure to avoid any overtime, that they go into the computer and remove overtime hours, or shift them to the following week.
The stores have hundreds of cameras inside to prevent theft, but almost no cameras or security outside the store, making Wal-Mart's parking lots a very dangerous place to be, particularly for employees coming off shift.
Wal-Mart replaces the mom and pop shops which provide health insurance and retirement benefits to their employees. Wal-Mart's profits are sent to Arkansas, as opposed to the mom-and-pop shops, which spend many of their earnings in the local community.
Anyway, very nice documentary, Jim! Very impressive.
Wed Dec 7 2005 4:28 AM