Bennington, Vermont. The Friday after Thanksgiving. 8 p.m. The boredom has begun to set in and I’ve barely been home for two days.

I went to the movie theatre the previous night, and Vermont’s natural beauty just doesn’t seem that enticing when it’s 40 degrees and the fall foliage has withered off the trees, so I search for a Friday night activity. The only places open past 8:00 p.m. are the grocery stores. Except, that is, for Wal-Mart.

The Bennington Wal-Mart, one of four stores the retail giant has managed to open statewide, looms, its neon sign glowing. It stays open until 10:00 p.m. And though it’s a far cry from M Street as far as Friday night entertainment goes, I decide it’s worth a try and pull into the parking lot.

As I wander the aisles and note the merchandise, I am reminded of the truth of Wal-Mart’s claim of “always lower prices, always.”

There’s a sweater that looks just like that Abercrombie one everyone wears, but for one-third of the price. There are ribbon belts for $6. Maybe I’ll buy myself a pair of pants that look like they’re from The Gap.

Of course, Wal-Mart’s affordability comes at a cost. Workers in the Third World probably labored long hours with minimal pay, just to make those imitation-Gap pants and to enable them to be so inexpensive. Across America, contracted workers work long nights under equally bleak conditions. All of this enables Wal-Mart to keep their prices down.

According to many I know who consider themselves progressives, this also makes Wal-Mart the epitome of corporate evil. Wal-Mart’s egregious labor violations and profit-maximizing business practices make it the quintessential greedy corporate fat cat, and to shop at a Wal-Mart is all but immoral.

Looking around the store, however, I didn’t think any of the customers saw themselves as contributing to an evil. They were busy getting an early start on their Christmas shopping. Knowing the demographics of my town, I know that many of the Wal-Mart shoppers have no alternative to “always low prices, always.”

Working minimum-wage jobs and barely making enough money to make ends meet, these people shop at Wal-Mart because it is what they can afford.

Criticism of Wal-Mart often comes with an inherent bias against the working poor.

“Liberal elite” was an over-politicized term this election season and as an ardent liberal I hate to say it applies in this case. Many liberals preach of the evils of Wal-Mart with little regard for those Americans who cannot afford to buy elsewhere. Underlying their disdain for Wal-Mart is a bias against those who cannot afford better than the garish neon storefront and the fashionable imitations.

The documentary “Supersize Me” does the same. cDonald’s food is of marginal nutritional value, but I doubt a diet of solely desserts from an upscale restaurant like The Cheesecake Factory would be much more salubrious. It would, however, be a lot more costly. McDonald’s, with its $1 menu, is seen as disgusting and undesirable simply because the demographic that frequents it is not in the higher income brackets.

Before criticizing and bashing places like Wal-Mart and cDonald’s, we should reflect on whether we can afford to shop elsewhere. If we can, we should realize our privilege and be sensitive to those who cannot before we start our name-calling.

Being poor in one of the world’s wealthiest nations already comes with enough inner humiliations, and being told where to shop shouldn’t be another one. To stigmatize places where the poor can shop only makes things worse for those who are less fortunate.

I don’t mean to be an apologist for the exploits of multinational corporations. In Wal-Mart’s case, the exploitation of the poor occurs on both sides, as those who work for Wal-Mart are exploited to the benefit of the poor – who can only afford to shop there – and wealthy capitalist CEOs gain from both sides’ perils.

For me, the $30 I saved buying clothes at Wal-Mart instead of the Georgetown Park Mall might go towards a spring break trip or a nice dinner out. But for others, this small savings could go towards dinner for their family or heating oil for the cold Vermont winter ahead.

Consider this next time you bash Wal-Mart or sneer at cDonald’s.

And I bet you can’t tell these pants aren’t Gap.

Kerry McIntosh is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service and Opinion Editor of THE HOYA.