class(ism) and the New York Times (again)

Gawker today commented on another installment of Alex Kuczynski’s "Critical Shopper" column in the Times.

This reminded me greatly of an article from last July that I never got around to blogging about, but which bothered me in the way much of the Times does (the article is now archived on the Times' site and available only for a fee but, for now, the entire text also appears here).

Kuczynski, wanting to see what "Tar-zhay" was all about, went to a Target, complained about the lack of designer-name merchandise (Michael Graves and Isaac Mizrahi have Target lines), and then said she was bothered by the "disconnect" of mixing highbrow and lowbrow culture, as a Mocha Mint Frappucino ($4.90) at Target costs more than a pair of children's shoes ($3.74), and therefore we can all tell the rich people from the poor people by who's drinking the Mint Mocha Frappucino.

Because, without the help of Target's in-store Starbucks, we'd never be able to tell a rich from a poor person in this country. No no, we couldn't look at how they're dressed or what car they drove to Target or where they're driving the car to afterwards ... it's the Frappucino that makes poor people feel bad for being poor. And to solve this "disconnect" that so bothers Kuczynski, we should clearly go back to a system of poor people shopping exclusively in their own stores. Being relegated to a rat-infested Conway away from the judgmental eyes of Isaac Mizrahi will do far less damage than -- by God -- having to watch someone drink overpriced coffee.

In the end of the article, just for the hell of it, Kuczynski purchases "a large mirror to hang on a guest bedroom wall and six other smaller ones for around the house; a leather lamp; a silk lampshade; two pairs of hiking shorts, a pair of Mossimo camouflage pants and three pairs of underwear for my stepson; seven pairs of underwear and a pair of Hello Kitty flip-flops for my stepdaughter; Mossimo blue jeans for me; 20 sturdy wooden hangers; a box of Ritz Bitz cheese crackers, half of which I ate in the parking lot and the rest of which I threw into the garbage before I could eat any more; a copy of People magazine; a bottle of water," for the bargain basement total of $234.42.

You can just see her laughing, "This leather lamp is practically free!"

Women who throw away newly-purchased non-perishable food as a weight loss method should not be writing reviews of discount stores.

Related post:

economic elitism