this was funny though:

“Knee jerk part II.

Chris works at Cabela’s.

Case closed.

P.S. Don’t act like you know me and I won’t act like I know you.”

Himel

Chris works at Cabela’s.

Case closed.

P.S. Don’t act like you know me and I won’t act like I know you.

First, thanks for responding to my comment, even if it was little more than a speculative knee-jerk rebuke. I’ll dismiss it with a fair amount of contempt, but won’t let it discourage me from wading back into the conversation, which is an interesting one. Don’t be so hasty to deride the thoughts you stirred up in your readership just because it calls your narcissistic world-view into question. And for the record, I kept myself alive through childhood and college in a variety of manual labor jobs which I was grateful to put behind me, though now that I am trapped in retail they’re starting to look good to me again. If you happen to know anyone in advertising who is hiring, I’d be willing to give it a try, though, if it means I never have to empty a Port-o-John again.
Now, my point is not that anyone should or shouldn’t be dressing in faux-hunting/Depression-era-esque garb. If I didn’t happen to enjoy the aesthetic myself why would I read this fine webpage? I have nothing against the bearded Brooklyn masses fopping around in overpriced Woolrich coats while stuffing their maws with artisanal porkchops. It’s only natural–we live in a plastic, hands-free culture and people are desperate for something authentic. Hell, I own two sweaters from Rogue’s Gallery and I am no more a whaler than they are.
My gripe begins when such people leave the confines of their elite world and then cast judgment on the lowbrow world they are emulating. You went to a bastion of the culture you crave connection with and you came away “bored” and lamenting unrealized “potential.” The temerity!
And yet, I don’t know why I’m surprised. My grandfather was a gunsmith at the old Broadway Abercrombie and Fitch for 40 years and I’m only too glad he died before he saw the fully realized “potential” of that organization. The fact is that the more cheaply made and unfashionably designed Cabela goods remain the more likely the store will continue to serve the people who patronize it rather than being co-opted by cask-ale quaffing flaneurs.
So bring on the camo.

Just want to point out I have no affiliation to the rhetoric above.

As you were gents.

But, to each his own. I couldn’t care less who’s a real American…what does that even mean anyway? But I live in small town Oklahoma. nobody sees me dressing like some sort of punk musician or something. It’s not who I am so why pretend?

And I can give a just so story for why I’ve never, or rarely, met a union member who doesn’t try to buy American or union-made when possible. And they’re willing to pay the extra price. I mean Jesus, Ross Perot ran a whole entire campaign off this kind of bread and butter economic nationalism.

People who abandon their local stores for big box retailers deserve everything they get when their cities become ghost-towns, and then they wonder why it is the case. It is dingbats like the people above who are responsible for most small towns becoming nothing more than Wal-Mart supercenter parking lots.

And, for the record, lest anyone accuse me of being a NYC hipster, I actually live in Columbia, SC, surrounded by the kind of economic devastation that has wrecked America’s textile base. Thanks alot!

William you’re spot on in your response to Sean re: the Cabela’s demographic.

Brett, my father was a city driver for Yellow Freight and drove tractor trailers for nearly 40 years. I can’t tell you how many times he spoke almost the exact thing you typed above: “for the cost of one pair of Redwing boots (or any other brand, say Chippewa) they can buy 5 or 6 pairs of their boots.”

Just had to give you guys some props here. Bottom line is middle and lower class Americans can afford Cabela’s and get exactly what they need. Sure they’d prefer to hunt in the now ever popular “hipster” hunting brands, but these are blue collar men without the expendable income to purchase from those “labels”.