MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow joined forces to condemn a Wal-Mart store for having decorated a four-year old boy’s birthday cake with his name: “Adolf Hitler Campbell.” The grounds for the criticism were never specified, it being sufficient that the store had acceded to his parent’s request to have his name placed on the cake. Such a clumsy ad hominem attack – the type one might have expected from Olbermann’s perpetual menace, Fox News – had nothing to do with the character of the boy or the political opinions of Wal-Mart. Were these two network gigglers concerned that Hitler’s name was being utilized as part of a business transaction? If so, then can we expect similar condemnations of bookstores that sell books with Hitler’s name in the titles? And what about the many stores that sell T-shirts with the name and picture of the butcher Che Guevara emblazoned thereon? Will these two condemn colleges or universities which, should this young boy eventually seek higher education, agree to enroll him?
Wal-Mart was not selling a line of “Adolf Hitler” cakes, but was only doing what it is in business to do: respond to customer preferences. But if profiting from the sale of one such cake is the basis for their reaction, what about the lucrative salaries these two are receiving for reporting on this occurrence? Are they not profiting more greatly – in terms of dollars – by reporting this name-on-the-cake story than Wal-Mart did placing it there?
Of course, this make-believe sensitivity to the use of Adolf Hitler’s name is but a shabby cover for the real purpose of such reporting: to condemn Wal-Mart for its long-standing opposition to labor unions. Anti-unionism is the moral offense for which those on the left like to pillory Wal-Mart, and any incident will suffice. The preoccupation with news reports about boxy store designs, or an employee being trampled, or inscribing a young boy’s unfortunate name on a birthday cake, are but fodder for anti-Wal-Mart purposes. If I am wrong about these reporter’s intentions, they can correct me by reporting how non-union Wal-Mart stores continue to prosper while heavily unionized auto manufacturers are facing bankruptcy; and how Americans are purchasing fewer and fewer cars produced by the “big three” while, at the same time, increasing their consumer buying at lower-priced Wal-Mart stores.
