Elle

It’s pretty juvenile — actually nasty middle school — to mock people for the way they look or dress. Maybe they seem odd to you, and who knows what you consider “pulled together,” but holding people up to ridicule on account of their weight, dress, style, age, income level, and so forth just exposes you for Babbity little conformists. I’m sure you’d feel most comfortable in a world where everyone looked neat and stylish, but what a boring, conventional world that would be! I shop at Wal-Mart from time to time, though I disapprove of their labor policies; worry at their size and bullying clout on competitors; object to the politics of their founders; and so forth. But I would never sneer at their customers for being poor or a little offbeat. Under those unusual exteriors, I am sure, are some of the warmest hearts and quickest wits — probably a lot funnier than your clumsy, transparently obvious broadsides. Just because people didn’t get all the breaks in life shouldn’t set them up for pinioning by callow punks.