This Country Is So Screwed Up...
As you log out of Hotmail, you get shot into MSN's homepage. They have banners of things that might be interesting to catch your eye, so hopefully you read and then get bombarded by advertising, of course. The main banner had the following article to link to under "Ways to make the holidays more romantic"
“10. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. You'll get to spend quality time together, plus you'll realize how fortunate you really are.”
WHOA! Now I don't curse, but this sort of quote makes me want to. How #*$(#*$'ed up is THAT?!?! Not "volunteer at a soup kitchen because if you are any sort of a human you should care about those less fortunate than you and want to help them and do something to help them practically and show you care about them and hopefully bring some joy into their life." not even, "volunteer at a homeless shelter because it'll build character." No, folks, we're supposed to volunteer because we'll "realize how fortunate [we] really are" Yes, that's right. the real reason to volunteer is to be smug, self-satisfied individuals who can clap ourselves on the back for being more fortunate then those we're 'serving'. And not only that, it can be 'quality time' with our sweetie! Oh yes, just another way to entertain ourselves, once we've been to all the good movies and coffeeshops. Oh how sweet and romantic! I guess you don't go volunteer at a soup kitchen to show those who may be feeling like they've been rejected by society that there are people who love them and care about them, or practically help them, or even the stand-by "to build character", nope, we do it to serve ourselves by "being romantic" and cute. Yay! Another way we can be self-absorbed! And then we can go home and pat ourselves on the back for performing a "selfless" action and give a "whew! I'm glad I'm not one of THEM. Man, how great am I?" and then keep passing homeless people on the street without acknowledging they're human or maybe, if we're really great people, think to ourselves "How fortunate I am!"
We really are bastards aren't we?
“10. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. You'll get to spend quality time together, plus you'll realize how fortunate you really are.”
WHOA! Now I don't curse, but this sort of quote makes me want to. How #*$(#*$'ed up is THAT?!?! Not "volunteer at a soup kitchen because if you are any sort of a human you should care about those less fortunate than you and want to help them and do something to help them practically and show you care about them and hopefully bring some joy into their life." not even, "volunteer at a homeless shelter because it'll build character." No, folks, we're supposed to volunteer because we'll "realize how fortunate [we] really are" Yes, that's right. the real reason to volunteer is to be smug, self-satisfied individuals who can clap ourselves on the back for being more fortunate then those we're 'serving'. And not only that, it can be 'quality time' with our sweetie! Oh yes, just another way to entertain ourselves, once we've been to all the good movies and coffeeshops. Oh how sweet and romantic! I guess you don't go volunteer at a soup kitchen to show those who may be feeling like they've been rejected by society that there are people who love them and care about them, or practically help them, or even the stand-by "to build character", nope, we do it to serve ourselves by "being romantic" and cute. Yay! Another way we can be self-absorbed! And then we can go home and pat ourselves on the back for performing a "selfless" action and give a "whew! I'm glad I'm not one of THEM. Man, how great am I?" and then keep passing homeless people on the street without acknowledging they're human or maybe, if we're really great people, think to ourselves "How fortunate I am!"
We really are bastards aren't we?
posted by Xana Ender @ 10:21 AM
2 Comments:
At 10:25 AM,
Yukkione said…
dont log out of hotmail.. your loggin will eventually time out anyway.. no need to expose yourself to all those ads. :)
At 7:40 AM,
Anonymous said…
okay so do you want to know what *I* think is messed up? (not that i dont' whole heartedly agree with your comment too....) all of the posters in highschools that say "don't drink and drive." i've been subbing for fowerville schools and i swear there's 2 or 3 posters saying "don't drink and drive" on every corner in the building.
but you know what there's not one single poster that says "don't drink" it's like telling these kids (13-18 y.o) that it's OKAY to drink as long as they dont' drive while drunk. ARG. how's that for a messed up message?
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