TRIGGER WARNING/s
In what certainly reads like parody, Lynn Stuart Parramore writes over at AlterNet (it’s like the World Net Daily meets Natural News of opinion blogs for the left) that a Trader Joe’s in NYC “Defends ‘Racist, Sexist, and Misogynistic’ Songs” on its in-store play list. What?
I know what you’re expecting, it was “Rape Me” from Nirvana, right? Some obscene rap music?
No, it was the Rolling Stones classic “Under My Thumb.”
Ms. Parramore (never trust people who go by three names in print, I always say) had her shopping experience ruined hearing the song because she was thinking about the Elliot Rodger killing spree as she was listening to it.
I can empathize, since I often think about tax, wage, and collective bargaining policy when I’m perusing the aisle of my local union-run grocery store. We all think about politics, public policy and tragedies when buying our groceries, right? Right.
Now that we’ve all agreed this is a completely normal thing to do, what should one do about living in the real world with other people when things don’t go our way?
For Ms. Parramore, she went to the manager — who she goes out of her way to name — with the lyrics printed out and tells him: “I heard a song playing over the sound system which, in the wake of the Elliot Rodger killing spree, made me feel uncomfortable.”
Parramore complains he didn’t even look at the sheet before dismissing her complaint. To the manager’s credit — and anyone who worked in retail can tell you — employees know every song and roughly the order in which they play, because the music is on repeat until ears are bleeding. I, for one, can recite the lyrics to “You Gotta Be” by Des’ree thanks to my time as a sales associate at Eddie Bauer.
He knows the songs. He doesn’t need to read the lyrics to know them.
But Parramore insisted, asking the manager to read the lyrics and tell her “how he interpreted them.” The manager, probably surprised that somebody objected to the Rolling Stones, compared it to popular classic rock songs you hear on the radio in your car since, well, it is one of those songs.
Parramore wasn’t buying, responding, “But it’s not like the radio in my car. I can turn that off.” There is, surprisingly, a way to turn off Trader Joe’s music if you don’t like it: shop somewhere else. Or buy those cognitive dissonance Beats headphones that Richard Sherman hawks.
Music decisions for large commercial enterprises are almost always made at the corporate level and executed by third-party vendors. I suspect Parramore knew this, or perhaps she never had a retail job growing up.
Either way, she chose to harass and publicly internet-shame by name this manager over a decision he couldn’t make all so she could write a feel-better-about-herself blog post about the institutional misogyny of Trader Joe’s.
Even the name Trader Joe’s invokes a mysterious hidden misogyny. Was Joe a slave trader? Did he trade women? Nobody knows.
Not satisfied with an answer she probably already knew, Parramore took the matter to the store Captain, who wasn’t available to take her calls. She complains — I’d say absurdly, but the whole blog post is absurd — that she was told the Captain would only take her calls while at work. Imagine that! A manager who doesn’t want to be bothered at home in his quarters! Oh, captain my captain! What gall!
Finally, Parramore went to Trader Joe’s corporate — where she should have gone to begin with — and like any good corporation should do in an instance like this, they told her to buzz off.
Parramore wasn’t finished.
That low-level manager needed more lecturing on the topic, so back Parramore went. He gave her the name of the Muzak supplier, suggesting maybe she call them.
“Doesn’t Trader Joe’s have any responsibility?” asked the incredulous writer who already knew she was talking to the wrong person.
It’s unclear whether Parramore will take her dollars elsewhere, like normal liberals do when the real world gives them an unacceptable reality that forces them to make relatively easy choices.
Perhaps Trader Joe’s is a Catch-22 for her. Boycott them and lose all the sweet savings and trendy foods or keep your pride knowing that you don’t patronize places that hold you captive like a musical prisoner in an Island-themed private-label version of the Village from Patrick McGoohan’s classic “The Prisoner.”
Interested parties can play this game at home!
Here’s how:
Option A.) Walk out of any restaurant, grocery store, boutique, cab, or concert the next time you hear a song you don’t like.
Option B.) Complain, belittle people who aren’t involved in the decision-making process, write a blog post about it, making sure to identify them by name because you’re a stellar individual, and see how far that gets you and helps your cause.
Option C.) Realize that lots of things happen all across the world, little things, that will bother you and that you cannot easily change, and go on living your life like a normal person.
