Sometimes I feel bad about how hard it is to change the world. It seems that change for the worse happens so much more quickly and easily than change for the better. It feels like we’re fighting a losing battle, because all the power and money is concentrated on the wrong side. Sometimes I just want a victory for the good guys.
And this week we got one!
The Susan G. Komen Foundation de-funded Planned Parenthood because of their stand on abortion, and got slammed so hard by public outrage that they were forced to backtrack and reverse their decision.
That kind of public outrage absolutely restores my faith in our collective ability to change the world for the better.
We can’t unsee what we’ve seen, and what we’ve seen is that the Susan G. Komen Foundation is run by right-wing, anti-feminist, anti-choice bullies, and that it uses some of the money we donate for breast cancer to further its ugly political agenda.
Even though Komen responded to the public outrage by dismissing their vice-president of public policy, it’s too late. They’ve destroyed themselves. It was an organizational decision to hire a right-wing, anti-choice, anti-feminist for that position in the first place. I’m sure she acted with the full backing of the organization. Just because they fired her when the shit hit the fan doesn’t mean they’re not a bunch of right-wing, anti-choice, anti-feminist bullies. It just means they chickened out in the face of a massive backlash, and let her be the scapegoat.
The Susan G. Komen Foundation had a huge cache of goodwill built up around itself. Even though it exuded sentimentality and gooey-ness at times, we all contributed to the cause, by running or walking or fundraising or donating, because we all love somebody with breasts, and what could possibly be wrong with contributing to The Cure?
Well, now we know.
So screw Komen AND their pink ribbon. The commercialization, commodification and politicization of breast cancer has to stop. Breast cancer is a disease – it’s not a brand or an election issue.
This woman says it better than I can:
And now I’m off to see my oncologist, to make sure my breast cancer is still gone.
You tell ’em Zoom!
I’m not sure what the reason is, possibly it’s because my children are grown up and away and I’m alone, but I’m finding myself caring very passionately about social issues lately. I’ve never been to a Planned Parenthood, don’t even know where the nearest one is, but I was one of the people who got worked up about Komen.
I love it when the silent majority (that’s most of us) raise our voices and drown out the noise made by the vocal minority (i.e., social fascists, er, conservatives). Go, us!
Thanks for your clarification. I really like to read it Marcy