Can I see this without creating a blog?

Clearly, you've never watched wrestling.

Sadly, Shawn Michaels did come to mind. I wonder who's copied whom.

I had one of those universe-provided moments last night where I typed a very long response, and the computer crashed just as I was about to post it.

This morning, I'll just do the short version. Some of the pictures, and some of the responses here, rub me the wrong way.

We are all very lucky people to have the combined elements of education, talent, support and luck. We can afford to pay for all of the necessary things with money left over for art exhibits and nice restaurants and wardrobes.

That is simply not the case for everyone. Ever been to a city that has completely fallen apart? I grew up an hour out of Flint, which collapsed when GM closed all its factories. There are no grocery stores left in the city of Detroit. Things are really bad for people right now.

And while the ridiculous pictures are funny, the ones that just feature photo subjects in poverty just aren't funny to me.

Do you know why you don't see them in art galleries? Because they didn't win the genetic/luck lotto you did. Do you know why they're wearing cheaply-made easy-waist pants? Because they can't afford anything else.

{{{{{LSPE}}}}}

I can't see the photos from work (I assume they're hosted on Flickr) so hadn't commented. But my gut reaction from the comments is along the lines of LSPE.

I'm not fond of the "take pictures of people and make fun of them on the internet" genre of Web site.

ETA: I hadn't scrolled all the way down to see that they're calling these people "Wal-Creatures." That's way too dismissive for my funny bone. Especially since I now see that there is one photo way at the bottom loading for me ("Who Wears Short Short") and other than the fact that they're not among the world's prettiest people I see nothing wrong with them.

Well said LSPE.

It's been 'funny' to make fun of 'trashy' for years (think about how long Kevin and Bean made fun of the "909"). A lot of times the trashy that is being made fun of is poverty.

The areas a lot of those pictures were taken in are very depressed areas. We're damn lucky that this recession and CA being broke hasn't effected us more than it has. Cause it could, and can.

I agree 50%. As you all know, I live in rural Wisconsin. Most of the jobs here are minimum wage. For the better jobs, we had paper mills but only two of those are left now. There's also two big insurance companies but only the executives make good money and one of them has been quietly letting an average of 100 people go each month since November. Dairy farming is a good way to go bankrupt. There's a branch of the University of Wisconsin and several hospitals. Almost all of the good-paying jobs are held by outsiders. This is not a place where a young person has any future.

I see people just like in the photos every day. At the grocery store. At the gas station. They are the families of my children's friends and the girls in my Brownie troop a decade ago. They are the people my husband worked with before he retired.

You can get nice-looking clothes at WalMart, KMart, GoodWill, the consignment shops, and the rummage sales. If you need extra-nice clothing for a job interview, there's a charity here that will hook you up for nothing. There isn't much you can do to cover the general hard living - alcohol and substance abuse, long hours of physical labor, lack of medical and dental care. I wish everyone would try to look their best.

Most poor people keep themselves neat and clean. The people in those photos look like they've just given up.

As for the elastic waists and velcro shoes, check me out. My Eileen Fisher skirt has an elastic waist and my Ecco sandals have velcro. That's called getting older.

I'm trying not to bring my personal background into the discussion, but I'm not succeeding.

Several of my relatives on my mother's side of the family are in extreme poverty. One of my uncles wore sweat pants to my wedding. Sweat pants that we had bought for him. I'm sure people could take pictures of him if he could afford Wal-Mart. But me, all I can see is a sixty-five-year struggle, an abusive father, a school system that didn't understand dyslexia, years and years in fields and factories, digging ditches. Thank god for Medicare, which replaced his two knees which were destroyed by all of that physical labor, so that he can go back to more physical labor so they can eat. There aren't any shelters in rural Michigan. There isn't enough charity when everyone in a city needs charity.

Amen, LSPoorEeyorick.

Here we have St. Vincent and Salvation Army. Each of them have limits on how long you can stay, though. It's rough in Michigan and I'd sure hate to rely on a garage sale in Flint having much useable.

The churches here will help out, as they can. If anyone here is ever in that kind of trouble and doesn't know where to turn, stop by a church. They'll get you a meal, find you a temporary place to sleep, get your kid some Huggies.

I feel guilty about talking about this stuff on this board. It's not swanky.