[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by sherrenee

Hmm, last time I check the people of Arkansas never asked for Wal Mart, we were just the unfortunate ones who got it. Why should the residence of Arkansas apologize for a major corporation that we have no control over nor did we form it? Most of the people of Arkansas could not afford to go up against the giant. I love the mom and pop stores however around here there are few left yes due to Wal Mart. When the mom and pop stores go out of business you have to buy food and supplies somewhere and if all that is left is Wal Mart what choice do you have? I happen to live outside of Fayetteville and there are two smaller stores that a still in business, thing are higher there than at Wal Mart but I shop there to one help support the smaller stores and two because I try to avoid Wal Mart at all cost.

Perhaps you should place your hostility with Wal Mart not the good, honest hard working, simply trying to make a living people of Arkansas. By the way there is a heck of a lot more to us than Wal Mart.

As for Mike Huckabee, most of the people in Arkansas thought he was horrible but he was probably the lesser of two evils.

What you are saying is about like me saying I hate Texas and people from Texas because that is were George W is from. I like Texas but that sure doesn't mean I like our dumb*** President.

Absolutely! You can't judge an entire state based on what a few have done.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by The A-Team

Yes SWB, you say you want people to move to Scranton(I still have yet to find it on a map LOL) but then you set an example like this!?! Come on man, don't be ignorant! Its not the people of Arkansas fault, its just a company that is based there. You could also blame the thousand other towns supporting Wal-Mart in their own communities! For example, i typed in the zip code for your little town and their were 10 wal-marts within a 40 mile radius!!! Thats a lot for small town America! But it is nice to see you not spamming Scranton for once (), but come on man think before you type! I will NOT apalogize for something that is NOT my fault! Anyways, I'm from Fayetteville, grew up and moved out here to Seattle when i hit 18. I love NWA, Fayetteville is beautiful!(Mt Sequoyah is still one of my favorite places in the world, you know what i'm talking about right OP???) Although people can be kinda close minded(I'm a metal head, with Deicide shirt, leather pants, hair down to my belt, etc) and its not uncommon to run into judgemental people who base what they think about you on what you where,or what your religion is rather than your personality. But i've found people in general(at least in NWA) to be quite friendly, i had and still have tons of friends in Ark that i talk to!(Many every day!) I think many people just base their opinions on Arkansas without ever going, and also realizing that the different regions of Arkansas vary DRASTICALLY!

I would like to visit sometime and will keep Fayetteville in mind.

[sherrenee]

Originally Posted by missymomof3

I would like to visit sometime and will keep Fayetteville in mind.

Fayetteville is a very nice town. It is home of the University of Arkansas so it has a "young" feeling to it. Fayetteville is quite strict about keeping its beauty and feel, if a building is built it is required that you do landscaping (correct me if I am wrong but I think it is required that the landscaping contain trees). There are no billboards in Fayetteville, no huge signs, etc. It is very clean. Fayetteville is a big participant in America in Bloom. Fayetteville is a mid sized city (population when school is in is probably around 80 k- 90k, but it has kept the smaller town feel to a certain extent. Fayetteville is also raked on Forbes best places to live.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by sherrenee

Fayetteville is a very nice town. It is home of the University of Arkansas so it has a "young" feeling to it. Fayetteville is quite strict about keeping its beauty and feel, if a building is built it is required that you do landscaping (correct me if I am wrong but I think it is required that the landscaping contain trees). There are no billboards in Fayetteville, no huge signs, etc. It is very clean. Fayetteville is a big participant in America in Bloom. Fayetteville is a mid sized city (population when school is in is probably around 80 k- 90k, but it has kept the smaller town feel to a certain extent. Fayetteville is also raked on Forbes best places to live.

Thank you for the info!

[ontheroad]

How is this helpful...attaching negative sterotypes to defend a stereotype?

I love Arkansas, loved it when I was there and never for a minute made a sweeping generalisation about it and I am from New York.

Shucks, talk about our prejudices?

Originally Posted by sweetclimber

The majority of the nation fortunately does not think Arkansas is backwards, it is usually California and some Northeast people that try to portray Arkansas that way. Don't worry, I like Arkansas alot personally!

[The A-Team]

Yes I believe you are right about the landscaping and required to have trees. I know in my parents neighborhood, they have very strict lawn requirements, you have to have a good amount of trees, no basketball goals out front etc. Of course they live in a neighborhood with strict requirements lol, and most aren't like that. But yes most buisnesses must have certain landscaping requirements met. Thats why Fayetteville is still so beautiful with so many trees, etc. And I hope you get a chance to Missy, you'll enjoy it! Definatly let me know if you go, there are some great Ozark views you wont wanna miss out on, but you'll have to get info from a local because they are not advertised lol. One of those things that keeps Fayetteville's charm. Springdale though, is a bit different. I don't think they require as much landscaping(drive down sunset and you'll know what i mean) more billboards, less scenery, etc. Though there are some beautiful areas and beautiful neighborhoods in Springdale that i wouldn't mind living in a bit!

[guestposter24]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

I don't hate Arkansas, but I had my first trip there this past January. It was definitely an eye opening experience coming from a large city. We were in Mountain Home though, which is very rural and hours from the nearest larger city.

There were guns everywhere, Confederate flags everywhere, and people were hard core baptist and kinda judgemental about "northerners" and pretty racist. I was surprised.

My friend is down there for 9 months working, and she said everyone in her office referes to black people as "the blacks", and are always warning her not to trust them, and to avoid things like Memphis cause "that whole place is just run by the blacks". I'm also gay, and she said she's heard a lot of stereotypical and hateful things from the locals about gays. I also don't understand why everyone kept calling us "yankees", and threw this bizarre north-south divide into almost everything. I didn't know people in the south were so bent up and not trustful about northerners.....I never even thought about "southerners" living up here....

Again, that's a small town in northern Arkansas that's 99% white. I know the rest of the state doesn't hold those beliefs.

Some people don't see the rebel flag as racist. granted it sounds possible they did where you where lol.

I know Yankees who called themselves "Yankees". Just means northerner or outsider. Some still are offended by it.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Why? They are uneducated, brainwashed, indoctrinated dolts who trust everything that the media tells them, and who have an inability to think rationally.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

I don't hate Arkansas, but I had my first trip there this past January. It was definitely an eye opening experience coming from a large city. We were in Mountain Home though, which is very rural and hours from the nearest larger city.

There were guns everywhere, Confederate flags everywhere, and people were hard core baptist and kinda judgemental about "northerners" and pretty racist. I was surprised.

My friend is down there for 9 months working, and she said everyone in her office referes to black people as "the blacks", and are always warning her not to trust them, and to avoid things like Memphis cause "that whole place is just run by the blacks". I'm also gay, and she said she's heard a lot of stereotypical and hateful things from the locals about gays. I also don't understand why everyone kept calling us "yankees", and threw this bizarre north-south divide into almost everything. I didn't know people in the south were so bent up and not trustful about northerners.....I never even thought about "southerners" living up here....

Again, that's a small town in northern Arkansas that's 99% white. I know the rest of the state doesn't hold those beliefs.

100% garbage.

Sure, I'm sure that you saw a few Confederate flags. So what. It is a part of southern heritage and history. Get over it.

What "racist" experience did you note? I doubt you encountered any, as you probably only stuck with your family or group.

Racism exists everywhere, and it is found within most individuals, as it is part of the human condition.

Chicago is one of the most segregated big cities in America, second only to Detroit. Look at your own city's history. Nothing wrong with segregation, as it relates to personal preferences. Would you prefer to dictate where people live?

You honestly think that whites up in Chicagoland don't refer to black people as the "blacks", and white people as the "whites". You're beyond hope. Those are descriptive terms.

Your "big city" argument is pitiful, considering that there is plenty of rural area in your home state of Illinois and surrounding areas.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by SWB

...and whose fault is that? The lemmings in your towns, of course. I'm sure most of these small Arkansas towns used to have various mom-and-pop stores that catered to different specialties and where knowledgeable employees knew you on a first-name basis. People did not have to then shun them in favor of Wal-Mart when they pulled into the peripheries of these towns, but they did anyways being as short-sighted as they are. Wal-Mart relies on predatory pricing when entering new markets in smaller towns.

If they know that, per se, Eureka Springs has one small independent hardware store, then Wal-Mart will slash prices below cost in order to entice enough people to leave that small store to eventually put it out of business, after which point they can then raise their prices to what that mom-and-pop venture WAS charging. How can they do this? Well, those small specialty shops rely on those products as their main "bread and butter" and can NOT take a hit on them financially. However, Wal-Mart can more than absorb any losses incurred by pricing items near or below cost by having mark-ups on all other items. How can they do this, you may still be asking? It's called having dominance over your suppliers. Let's assume that Hank Hill's Tractor Showroom on the fringe of Downtown Eureka Springs purchases most of its products from MTD, a major lawn tractor manufacturer. Wal-Mart also purchases most of its products from that same supplier. Wal-Mart will order bulk quantities of MTD products and more or less say "We'll buy 10,000 of these tractors at $1,100 each and not a dime more. Make it happen or we'll take our business elsewhere." MTD complies, even though they may USUALLY sell their tractors for $1,300 each to retailers. Why? They want the exposure that having their products sold at Wal-Mart will afford them to have. Hank Hill would be LAUGHED AT if they made similar demands from MTD, so they instead have to pay the full $1,300. Wal-Mart might then mark up their prices from $1,100 to $1,299 while Hank Hill obviously can't sell them at the same price without breaking even or even losing money. Eventually enough short-sighted consumers (in this case Arkansans) say "Hey. Why should I buy this at Hank Hill's for $1,400 when I can buy it at Wally World for $1,299?" Before you know it Hank Hill is out of a job and has yet another blighted storefront lining Main Street.

This, my friends, is how Wal-Mart puts Main Street America under. Then again, most of you couldn't care less about keeping independent retailers in business as long as you can cut corners and save a few bucks here and there, right? I earn $15,000 annually, yet I still patronize mom-and-pops as much as I possibly can. What's all of your excuses?

I'll continue to hold a grudge against Arkansas until their residents apologize for cursing our nation with Wal-Mart and the advent of commercial urban sprawl as we know it.

Wal-Mart stores were much smaller when they only existed in Arkansas. Think something on the order of K-Mart, or even smaller, like a Woolworths. At the time, it was a local business, and they only bought American goods. The descent didn't start until around the time Sam Walton died and his son took over, bloating the size of the stores to Super Center Size, purchasing Chinese products for all aisles, and placing them in every decent-sized town that many of the problems started.