(seen at Slacktivist)

Wal-Mart's reductionist view can understand nothing truly human, only homo economicus -- the "consumer." This perspective leaves no room for identities such as "citizen" or "neighbor." For Wal-Mart -- and for much of the business press -- we serve no purpose and have no function other than as consumers.

Therefore, they assume, if we ain't out shopping, we must be home watching TV.

It's difficult to fathom how deeply insulting this idea -- "the CNN effect" -- really is. Like President Bush, Wal-Mart fails to grasp that for most Americans -- even most of the ones at the stimulus-response "Support the Troops" rallies -- the nation's going to war is a serious, grave affair, calling for sacrifice and a sense of propriety. Most Americans do not feel it is appropriate, while other Americans are fighting and dying, to stroll the aisles of a big box wasteland where a smiley face flies around enticing us to buy hideous, cut-rate crap.

The "CNN effect" hypothesis could be tested by measuring the level of retail sales during WW2 -- or at least during the week's following America's entry into it. My guess is sales went down, and not because of some reductive "radio effect."