photo via BB
Sci-Fi author Charles Platt, a guest blogger over at Boing Boing for the past two weeks, has been pissing some regular BB readers off with his guest blogging. Some of Platt's posts have been controversial and more than one started off with him saying something like "at the risk of stimulating outrage..." proceeding it with some stimulating outrage. At first I was like, whatever, this dude is probably just really into good debates via the comment section. But after reading this post, he might actually just be out of touch with reality.
Platt's post in question chronicles him reading the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, deciding it's too critical of places like Wal-mart, and then getting an entry-level job at Wal-Mart to prove her wrong. Ehrenreich's book (which was first published in 1999) is an undercover journalist's approach to the poor and working class in America. If I remember correctly from reading the book five years ago, Ehrenreich gets an entry-level job and then tries to find housing and a sustainable life on her low income. The book is considered good for class/gender relations 101 and, in the ten years after it came out, has opened a lot of people's eyes to the inequalities within the welfare and class system. Platt doesn't say much in his BB post about the reasons why he decided to work for Wal-Mart because he wasn't doing it to write a book, apparently not even trying this out in an investigative way by living off of only those wages. What he does say is while at Wal-mart he was treated well, had good relations with his employers, that most of the claims against Wal-mart are from shady union-paid organizations and that it made sense he wasn't paid well because he didn't have any particular skill to offer. Well, I say that this is one of the more one-sided, privileged things I've seen come from someone who apparently is considered progressive (I can't imagine BB would invite a conservative hack to guest blog).
The picture I put on the top of this post is the same that was on Platt's post, a picture of him working at Wal-mart. I think the picture, more than anything he could write, discredits his opinions against Ehrenreich. Platt is clearly a white, middle or higher class man. After Wal-mart saw his resume (even if he omitted some of his qualifications) it would be clear he was also highly educated (and had access to a computer/printer for his resume, something a lot of people trying to get jobs don't have). Of COURSE he was treated well by Wal-mart! He was born with more agency than probably anyone else has now working in that store. No one is going to undercut the dapper gent in the turtleneck and wire-rimmed glasses. I am not personally acquainted with the supposedly poor treatment Wal-mart gives to their employees, but if it does exist the higher-ups are smart enough to know who to treat well and who to treat poorly. I don't think I'm stretching when I say it's probably almost only going to be obviously poor immigrants/women/young people/people who are not white. Platt is none of those things. No one is going to sexually harass this dude.
Additionally, as I mentioned before, Nickel and Dimed came to us ten years ago, during a much different time. Platt doesn't mention this, but it's very important when talking about the climate of entry-level positions. I don't know specifics but within the past decade and probably partially BECAUSE of Ehrenreich things within big-box retailers have changed. Maybe I'm being a little too harsh on this guy, he maybe did all of this in earnest. He might think he's going to change the world just as much as everyone else. But, still, I call shenanigans. I can't imagine someone being that close-minded in 2k9. What do you think?
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