Susan B whatever the hell Komen race for the whateverwhatever foundation (stupidest name ever) has caved from pressure from YOU. They have changed their policy about not funding organizations “under investigation” to not funding organizations that are “actually really under investigation for something real” and explicitly state that the will not denounce organizations for political reasons (but wait, there’s more … see below..).
You know, of course, what the response to this must be: TOUGH COOKIES. Komen is still run by a right wing yahoo, and it is still liable to political pressures, and they still carried out an UNFORGIVABLE ACT by coldly and without compassion or consideration telling every single woman in this country who is underprivileged that they can go somewhere and crawl under a rock and die of cancer.
Komen caved, quickly, to appropriately applied pressure. But what we need to see now is the fire sale at which they liquidate their assets, turn to dust, and blow away in the wind.
By the way, there were multiple reasons given by Komen to not fund Planned Parenthood, and Komen has NOT reversed its decision on all of them. All we know for sure now is that they will continue the current grants and that they will consider Planned Parenthood to be eligible to apply in the future. With some of the reasons for not funding Planned Parenthood left un-addressed, continued support of Komen by racers, donors, or others would be a matter of trust.
And that, we now know, does not exist. In the end, Komen’s policies are irrelevant. ‘Komen’ must always, from not on, be a word associated with Fundy Right Wing Hate and it needs to always stand as an object lesson: There is a line, it can be crossed, and if you do cross it, you are done.
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Exactly. They caved, but far too late to make a difference. They revealed themselves to be useless, foolish and unduly influenced by politics instead of the cause they claimed.
Well they always have the pink gun business to fall back on http://www.inquisitr.com/190169/susan-g-komen-foundation-promotes-pink-guns-following-planned-parenthood-controversy/
I only hope that people in congress were paying attention. Turns out that a whole lot of their constituents actually support Planned Parenthood.
They made a good decision, but they only made this decision because they got bad press. I wi ll not be ever donating to SGK because they chose at one time to put politics ahead of womens’ health.
Well said.
Katherine Lorraine @ #4: I’m going to get into contact with the many, many companies they pinkwash that I use (not living in a cave and building everything out of sticks and leaves means you likely do too) and telling them exactly what I think as well.
@HappiestSadist:
Actually, I live on a desert island, I made this computer out of coconuts and seashells
(*hums Gilligan’s Island theme song*)
I agree that, as things stand, SGK doesn’t deserve our money, and does deserve our enmity, but like any organization, its course can be changed. A genuine apology, a change in leadership, a clear commitment to underpriviledged women, and less pinkwashing (pink guns, really?) and I might feel comfortable making donations again. All this “crossing the line and your done” and “never donating to them again ever” stuff doesn’t really seem constructive. We, and the women who might be aided by such a charitable foundation, would be better served by turning our outrage toward meaningful change of SGK’s leadership and policy, rather than its complete dissolution.
I agree that, as things stand, SGK doesn’t deserve our money, and does deserve our enmity, but like any organization, its course can be changed. A genuine apology, a change in leadership, a clear commitment to underpriviledged women, and less pinkwashing (pink guns, really?) and I might feel comfortable making donations again
Well, they’re never going to do that, but even if they did, I would prefer to make an example of them. They are not necessary. Other organizations can do the same sort of fundraising. A true reversal would probably involve so much staff turnover that their potential claim to have expertise is vacant.
Complete dissolution is appropriate and even necessary.
Walther SGK Rage for the Curse.
Like the American Cancer Society (that discriminated against atheists), even an unlikely full reversal of this problem still wouldn’t address the fact that too little of the donations they receive actually go toward cancer research and prevention, rather than ‘awareness’ and internal expenses. There are other more-deserving organizations out there.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2010/10/sink_pink.single.html
Greg, your last sentence omitted a couple of words, causing it to be a bit garbled (what I think you meant in bold):
Komen has put itself in a hole; it’s a lose-lose for them from here on. They’re not going to get back the support they lost by the dumb move and by backing down they’ll gain the hatred of the religious right.