[Vision2020] Wal-Mart cause and effect

[g. crabtree]

So, just what would have the proper amount of dignity to be located across from the cemetery? Perhaps a Health & Welfare office? Second thought, it's a little too late for the graveyard residents, as I'm sure their health is already fairly poor, and food stamps will not help. I would love to hear (read) your suggestions for the use of other peoples land that would have the proper respect and dignity.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Joan Opyr 
  To: Vision2020 Moscow 
  Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 7:27 PM
  Subject: [Vision2020] Wal-Mart cause and effect


  Jeff Harkins, in his list of businesses that have opened in Moscow since the arrival of Wal-Mart, makes the most common of logical errors, i.e., post hoc, ergo propter hoc, meaning because of ABC, XYZ happened. I'll give you another example of this logical fallacy: all of the businesses that Jeff cites have opened since Melynda and I moved to Moscow. Therefore, lesbians are good for business! If it weren't for sodomy, you straight folk wouldn't now be shopping at Winco, Staples, or the fabulous expanded Tri-State. Just for the record, Tri-State is *the* store of choice for lesbian fashionistas! That's where we all get of our guns, knives, and prom attire. 

  Here's a question: what Moscow businesses have closed since the existing Wal-Mart opened? K-Mart. Tidyman's. Ken's Stationery. The Beanery. Creighton's. The Main Street Deli. The Nobby. The Spudnik. Myklebust's. Karen's Ice Cream. The Army Navy Store. The Emporium. The JC Penney's. Ernst Hardware. The Chevron on the corner of Third and Jackson. Is Wal-Mart to blame for all or any of these? I don't know. And who -- apart from Jeff Harkins -- is willing to make a post hoc, ergo propter hoc argument regarding these closures? 

  I'd be willing to argue that Ernst is a direct casualty of Wal-Mart, but I'd use another rationale for my analysis: proximity. The study I forwarded to the list earlier suggests that proximity to a Wal-Mart has a direct effect in terms of both benefit and detriment. Restaurants near Wal-Marts often see an increase in business; hardware stores, on the other hand, go tits up.

  Jeff asserts that hard data should win this argument. Well, there's an old saying among accountants: figures lie, and liars figure. We don't need a Wal-Mart Supercenter period, but we sure as hell don't need one across from the Moscow Cemetery. What a disgusting, tacky, trashy prospect. 

  Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
  www.joanopyr.com



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