Nope. 
Meh. I found this more ironic (if ironic is even the right word for it). Perhaps this, this, or this and my favorite: this. Perhaps Wally World execs ought to start reading the books they put on the shelves, huh?
And it’s 40¢ off.
I think Mein Kampf is the most ironic book title ever conceived. It would be like Dr. Mengele writing a book titled My Pain.
Power To The People!
Hope I’m not making a mountain out of a molehill here…
Do you really think Wal-Mart puts these books on the shelves completely unaware of the applicable social contexts? To me, it sounds like they’re inviting you to analyze an opposing viewpoint within the context of their store and make your own decision. Is that a bad thing? I mean, we’d probably give a bookstore some flak if they shelved only those books which advanced opinions and viewpoints strictly in alliance with the store’s. But here they’re offering opposing viewpoints within their own store, and we’re accusing them of not even paying attention to the books they stock.
It’s ironic, sure - and the joke’s not on Wal-Mart, it’s on Marx.
aw, what does he care?
As long as he makes a buck 
Actually he doesn’t make a buck
. From here at Walmart.
That Richard Marx is older than he looks, eh?
They only sell it there so they can track you.
And then they follow the electronic beacon in the book to your home and insert a chip into your brain while you are sleeping.
It’s not like I’m paranoid or anything. It turns out the chip was bought at Wal-Mart, and it breaks within a day just like every other Wal-Mart product, so no real harm done.
Herein lies the true irony. Wal-Mart is a notorious censor. Their policy is to only sell what they deem acceptable for their customers’ consumption. In light of that, it’s refreshing (and somewhat surprising) to see Wal-Mart selling books that may shed an unflattering light on their own corporate monsterdom. By pointing this out, all I’m saying is that maybe if they (the execs who make Wal-Mart policy) read these books their customers must be reading, one of two things might happen: a) they’d pull the books off the shelves deeming them disparaging of Wal-Mart And All That They Stand For, or b) they’d become enlightened enough to change some of the more heinous of their corporate policies.
Being the cynic I am, I’m voting for c. They’re only offering the books for sale to see how many people actually buy them for the purpose of gauging America’s true feelings for the corporate beast. If you bought one of these books, it’d probably be “on backorder” indefinitely, and in the case of the union book, they’ll be cross-referencing the shipping address with their employee database.*
- Keep yer pants on, I’m joking, of course.
Damn, that’s even more ironic than a black fly in my Chardonnay!
Any corporate monsterdom is the product of its management style. They are not a top-heavy organization and the relative freedom of the regional management to make decisions is what creates the stuff that gets bad press. The legal environment will see to it that this will change over time.
Interestingly, when Wal-Mart was looking to come to our township, some do-gooder (read “asshat”) dropped off an article to show how the firm is so evil. She somehow failed to notice that a big portion of the article was about how the firm was changing its practices in response to requests from the localities in which it was located. In the county there is a Wal-Mart, yet the traditional shopping mall, that is the historic downtown district, is still going gangbusters.
I agree w/ the OP that Wal-Mart selling Marx is funny.
I’ll go for D)Wal*Martians realize the money they can make off these items outweighs the slight miniscule chance that the marginal information spreading caused by these books will get people to actually do something effective that would cut into their profits. Plus no one’s organized a large Anti-Marx campaign yet, if they did, Wally World would pull 'em as quick as you can say John Birch.
Farmwoman, you need to post more often.
–Cliffy
And what’s wrong with that? It’s not like you can’t get the book or the uncensored rap CD someplace else. They are a business and they’ve made a decision on what they want to sell. It’s not censorship.
(BTW, I don’t shop at Wal-Mart, but that’s a whole 'nuther thread.)
I read a few posts before I went to click the link. It would have been far more ironic if Wal*Mart was selling a book titled “How to Unionize Your Workplace”.
Exactly right. If I was a Walmart exec. I’d be giggling every time one of these books sold. There is a big joke in this and it’s on us, not Walmart.