Folks, as many of you know my wife has breast cancer. Thankfully, due to early detection, we were able to catch it in its' infancy and the prognosis looks excellent for a full recovery. Due to this unplanned foray into an area that I formerly had very little knowledge about, I have learned a good many things. Most have been very positive, especially in the way family and friends and co-workers have come together to offer my wife their love and support. I have also come to realize just how vast the entire 'industry' built around this disease, has become. Most of it is geared at support and help for the cancer patients themselves, and some for researching the disease as well. But there is also a growing sector of this industry that is more and more involved in promoting their brand name, rather than offering support for cancer patients, or funding research for "the cure".
I am speaking directly about Susan G. Komen for the Cure. This organisation started out with the very best of intentions, but has now become more and more consumed with promoting it's own brand, selling "pink", and preaching it's own political ideology, than it is in doing what it claims to do, i.e. "find the cure".
This all came to a head yesterday when their national office announced their decision to cut it's yearly funding to Planned Parenthood (you know, the folks that actually DO help women with their health). Not unsurprisingly this kicked up one hell of a fuss on the interwebs. As the news spread, Susan G Komen came under increasing fire for what most saw as a pathetic cave-in to the religious right who have been harping on them, and threatening them, if they didn't cut their funding to Planned Parenthood simply because PP provides access to abortions.
This actually should come as no surprise as their new V.P. of Policy is a radical anti-abortionist, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, endorsed in 2010 by none other than Caribou Barbie herself, Sarah Palin for her aggressive "pro-life" stance (unless of course you are an animal, in which case she is decidedly pro-death, especially if it involves high-powered rifles, a pack of wolves and a helicopter).
So this got me to doing even more research about the whole "pink" industry that has mushroomed over the years, and I came across a fabulous website, http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org that offers everyone the opportunity to do a little more digging into the various charities and organisations that purport to be "pink", but may actually not be as pink as you think.
I highly recommend that you check that site out the next time you consider pulling out your checkbook or wallet and donating to the cause because the money you give, might not be used the way you think it is.
As for me, I e-mailed Susan G Komen for the Cure this morning and expressed my feelings about their cowardly decision, and then I donated $10 to http://www.plannedparenthood.org
I know that I am not alone in my outrage that a charity that presents itself as being "pro-women" would do something that is decidedly "anti-woman", and I respectfully suggest that you do your own research, and then give what you can to those organisations and charities that ARE interested in actually helping women, and not just selling "pink"...
Cheers!!!
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