Now, let's have fun with it. Imagine putting a Walmart in front of a campus full of half-asleep bears. I hope you get the picture.
As the past few weeks have passed, the possibility of a downtown Walmart is becoming less of a spook and more of a real danger. Columbia City Council voted Oct. 11 to sell Capital City Stadium for $1 million to Bright-Meyers LLC, a company that has always worked closely with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as a property buyer and developer. Perhaps even the idea of a Walmart wasn't much in mind, but the rumors and resident outcries have certainly made it an issue. Environmentalists, homeowners, developers and Statehouse occupiers all have something to say, a something that can be summarized into a pretty clear "no."
How would a downtown Walmart affect USC? Pretty badly. See above: A student's sense of consumerism isn't the most conscientious in the world. The big blue box would only make this worse and, more than likely, further alienate us from the Columbia community than we already are. Our participation in this city depends upon how we consume, how we interact with those who make this city for us a temporary home. A Walmart will take us out of Five Points, the Vista and Main Street; it would take us away from what should be the beating heart of Columbia and what is now a quiet murmur of economic growth.
"So what?" one of you is saying, followed by some strange argument incorporating capitalism, small businesses and the survival of the fittest. Wal-Mart has succeeded where others haven't; why should we turn the cold shoulder to a hugely successful retail giant that makes our budgets strangle us just a little bit less?
Where to begin? Substandard products, jobs that actually keep people on government assistance, major infrastructure shifts within congested urban areas and practices that take advantages of impoverished work forces the world over. I think that covers everything.
But for all you convenience lovers out there, here's a final suggestion: Drop out of USC and get a job at Walmart. You can earn nearly half the credit required for an associate's degree just by working at Walmart, with none of the hassle of classes, professors or an education that requires anything more from you than a glazed stupor. If you love your convenience to the point of giving up on your spending habits positively affecting your community, then the doors to Walmart University are wide open.