Comments on: I’m tired of… http://www.dcvegan.com/2009/01/im-tired-of/ Reporting on all things Vegan and Animal Rights in and around Washington DC Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:11:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Robin http://www.dcvegan.com/2009/01/im-tired-of/comment-page-1/#comment-94 Robin Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:36:48 +0000 http://dcvegan.com/?p=678#comment-94 I'M tired of consumerism disguised as philanthropy. Why don't you all stop buying bracelets and shite and start giving the ENTIRE sum you would have spent on stuff you don't need to the charity of your choice? If you need to have some sort of proof that your kindness happened, why don't you just start blogging about it (if you don't already) instead of acquiring crap you're going to throw in a landfill in a couple of years or lose behind the couch? Stop encouraging production and consumption of needless things. If you want to commemorate the occasion of your donation, why don't YOU make a bracelet or something out of things lying around your house? Or, you could just tell everyone you know about whatever great charity you've given to and provide contact information for them to do the same. There's an endless need out there for funds for all sorts of causes. Buying a 20 dollar Something that will provide a charity with 10 cents or a dollar from that sale SUCKS compared to just writing a check for 20 bucks directly to an organization working on whatever issue you're concerned about. Especially for causes that have a desperate need for vast funds (disease research/human rights campaigns/animal rights campaigns), why would you give some marketer DOLLARS and the thing you're supposedly concerned about CENTS? If I were the theoretical beneficiary of your purchase, I would either think you were a fool or just really didn't care. Thanks for your dime. That's really gonna help with the chemo/food drops/vivisection intervention. If you'd donated the entire 20 bucks, maybe a research lab could've afforded a little more time doing computer simulations or 20 more pounds of grain could have been airlifted to a community that really needs it or ...get it? I'm not saying one should NEVER buy any of this stuff--it's especially useful if whatever it is can be used to start a conversation about the issue of concern, to spread the word and raise awareness and sometimes, darnit, the tee shirt is just SO fab/the jewelry really expresses your special unique snowflakeness/the stuffed animal would be great for your baby or dog/you really might need to have TEN reusable shopping bags (not). But there's too much impulse buying with too little thinking going on. That's my rant and I'm sticking to it. I’M tired of consumerism disguised as philanthropy.

Why don’t you all stop buying bracelets and shite and start giving the ENTIRE sum you would have spent on stuff you don’t need to the charity of your choice?

If you need to have some sort of proof that your kindness happened, why don’t you just start blogging about it (if you don’t already) instead of acquiring crap you’re going to throw in a landfill in a couple of years or lose behind the couch? Stop encouraging production and consumption of needless things. If you want to commemorate the occasion of your donation, why don’t YOU make a bracelet or something out of things lying around your house? Or, you could just tell everyone you know about whatever great charity you’ve given to and provide contact information for them to do the same.

There’s an endless need out there for funds for all sorts of causes. Buying a 20 dollar Something that will provide a charity with 10 cents or a dollar from that sale SUCKS compared to just writing a check for 20 bucks directly to an organization working on whatever issue you’re concerned about. Especially for causes that have a desperate need for vast funds (disease research/human rights campaigns/animal rights campaigns), why would you give some marketer DOLLARS and the thing you’re supposedly concerned about CENTS? If I were the theoretical beneficiary of your purchase, I would either think you were a fool or just really didn’t care. Thanks for your dime. That’s really gonna help with the chemo/food drops/vivisection intervention. If you’d donated the entire 20 bucks, maybe a research lab could’ve afforded a little more time doing computer simulations or 20 more pounds of grain could have been airlifted to a community that really needs it or …get it?

I’m not saying one should NEVER buy any of this stuff–it’s especially useful if whatever it is can be used to start a conversation about the issue of concern, to spread the word and raise awareness and sometimes, darnit, the tee shirt is just SO fab/the jewelry really expresses your special unique snowflakeness/the stuffed animal would be great for your baby or dog/you really might need to have TEN reusable shopping bags (not). But there’s too much impulse buying with too little thinking going on.

That’s my rant and I’m sticking to it.

]]> By: Tim Meinberg http://www.dcvegan.com/2009/01/im-tired-of/comment-page-1/#comment-95 Tim Meinberg Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:28:56 +0000 http://dcvegan.com/?p=678#comment-95 very cool! very cool!

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