Wal-Mart and Starbucks: Jump to your own conclusions
Social scientists from Columbia University, on their never-ending quest to stereotype us, have come up with the maps below that show us the density of Starbucks and Wal-Marts per capita.
Of course, no conclusions are actually derived from this data. That would be bad science. Instead, the maps are provided to us without explanation. So, if you jump to any conclusions, it’s your own damned fault.
This is what I like to call “tabloid science”.
[via kottke, columbia university]
This is just another urban vs rural comparison put into more consumerist terms. Walmart originally limited its growth to towns under a certain population.
That’s the responsible way to interpret it. It’s too bad Columbia didn’t provide that explanation.
Vancouver has no Wal-Marts and about a billion Starbucks. If you cared.