I live in a city still recovering from a decades long racial divide and I live and shop basically along that line in the city, and that includes the closest Wal-Mart. Now this part of town is still suffering from the social tensions and all that tends to come along with that, namely, poverty, a lack of a sense of community, and division between groups along racial lines.
While I was at this Walmart, I noticed something. I think I was the only person in the parking lot with an NPR sticker on my car.
This brought about a revelation for me. I've been listening to the political coverage quite a bit lately and it seems as though, traditionally, politicians tend to appeal to our caricatures rather than us. And that's not really a knock on politicians; I would too. It's easier to treat people as stats and create new demographics rather than trying to understand the whole person. Hispanic Voters will break this way, Soccer Moms that way. But people who fit into these categories it into thousands of different other categories. The problem as I see it is that, when these things get repeated enough, we start to buy into it, too. We put down all the little things that make us interesting and adopt these labels and deny ourselves.
I shop at Wal-Mart, and I know that says something about me. I also listen to NPR and I know that says something else about me. I think that the world is far too simplistic when we see those two things as being opposed to one another.
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