Monday, November 01, 2004
You've all no doubt seen those bright yellow Live Strong bands on everyone's wrists these days -- the brain child of Tour de France winner and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. By wearing one of these bracelets, you are showing support for cancer victims and cancer research. I don't mean to be a party pooper here but why don't people just send in a $10 check to cancer research instead? Just the expended energy to produce these bracelets (not to mention whatever toxic substances and dyes that go into making them) is probably more carcinogenic than anything cancer research could come up with to off-set the disease.
First you've got miserably paid laborers stirring cauldrons of toxic yellow goo in dank, hot sweat shops across China. And as if we didn't have enough plastic already, the molded Lance Armstrong Live Strong bracelets then get packaged in even more plastic -- soon to be placed on diesel-spewing tankers en route to ports of destination around the world -- soon to be trucked by diesel-spewing trucks to people seemingly obsessed with belonging to the 13 million-and-growing group of yellow-banded bracelet wearers. Is the plastic recyclable? Or are these trendy bracelets of support one more thing to be tossed onto a landfill to never rot forever. If you wear these bracelets 'forever,' do toxic remnants rub onto your skin and ultimately end up in your blood stream? Stranger things have happened...
I have similar complaints with the Support Our Troops magnetic ribbons everyone has on the back of his/her SUV these days. If people really wanted to support the troops they would stop driving SUV's so that we could reduce our dependence on oil and hence not have to be in Iraq under the pretense of bringing the people liberation when really our ulterior motive is oil. These same people could also vote for Senator John Kerry for President November 1st. Because voting for four more years of delusions that all is going great in Iraq isn't going to support our troops one iota.
First you've got miserably paid laborers stirring cauldrons of toxic yellow goo in dank, hot sweat shops across China. And as if we didn't have enough plastic already, the molded Lance Armstrong Live Strong bracelets then get packaged in even more plastic -- soon to be placed on diesel-spewing tankers en route to ports of destination around the world -- soon to be trucked by diesel-spewing trucks to people seemingly obsessed with belonging to the 13 million-and-growing group of yellow-banded bracelet wearers. Is the plastic recyclable? Or are these trendy bracelets of support one more thing to be tossed onto a landfill to never rot forever. If you wear these bracelets 'forever,' do toxic remnants rub onto your skin and ultimately end up in your blood stream? Stranger things have happened...
I have similar complaints with the Support Our Troops magnetic ribbons everyone has on the back of his/her SUV these days. If people really wanted to support the troops they would stop driving SUV's so that we could reduce our dependence on oil and hence not have to be in Iraq under the pretense of bringing the people liberation when really our ulterior motive is oil. These same people could also vote for Senator John Kerry for President November 1st. Because voting for four more years of delusions that all is going great in Iraq isn't going to support our troops one iota.
Comments:
Post a Comment
