John C. Bieber: In defense of Walmart

Many of us have seen the photos of the “People of Walmart.” Candid photos allegedly taken of people shopping inside Walmart stores all over America. If you haven’t seen them they are hard to describe. Imagine photos of people who look like one or all of these types; circus freaks, extraterrestrial aliens, morbidly obese, tattooed, pierced, stoned, drunk, transgendered and the semi-naked out roaming store aisles looking for stuff while the song “I’m Sexy and I Know it” plays over and over in their heads.

I have personally seen way too many of these people. I wouldn’t take a photo of them because I want to forget them not capture them. These people are why parents tell their children “Don’t point.”

Many of us have seen photos of Americans from the 1930s and 40s who were well dressed; men in suits and ties and ladies in dresses out to a movie theater. Suit and tie to the movies!?!? Yes. Now-a-days many people just believe that anything goes and if you don’t like what they are wearing or if their lack of modesty and overexposure bothers or offends you then… too bad.

It is not fair call these clueless dignity zombies “Walmart people.” The dignity zombies shop everywhere, not just at Walmart. No public place is safe from them. Growing up in Boyertown I first experiences some on Friday nights at Zern’s in Gilbertsville. For the dignity zombies, propriety and modesty do not exist and they wouldn’t understand the words even if you hit them in the back of the head with a dictionary.

We can probably blame reality TV for some of this present darkness. Low intelligence people see this behavior and copy it. Train wreck TV shows like “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,”“Real Housewives of (insert town name here),”“Amish Mafia,”“Jersey Shore,”“Toddlers & Tiaras” and countless others.

Recently, one of these new train wreck TV shows didn’t leave the station. “All My Babies’ Mammas,” was miraculously cancelled before it started. It was set around some third tier rap artist who is the father of eleven children with ten different women. The father of our county, George Washington is spinning at 1,000 RPM in his grave.

These reality TV shows teach people to be fat, stupid, selfish, foul mouthed, over-sexed, arrogant and obnoxious. No wonder so many of people are out of control. Parents sit there with their kids watching and approving of this junk on TV. American culture has become full-time Pop-Culture. With YouTube and Twitter, everyone thinks they are a celebrity and they will do anything for attention. Real attention deficit disorder is this plague of “look at me, look at me.”

Very recently while out shopping on a very cold day, I observed a middle aged man in a large retail store wearing a normal looking coat and plaid pajama pants and slippers. The only time an adult person should ever leave their house wearing pajama pants is in the middle of the night when their house is on fire.

It is not Walmart’s fault if strange people with bad taste and no self control shop in their stores. I shop there too.

John C. Bieber can be contacted at Facebook.