Seems as though it's time for me to take the bull by the oars and once again tell the world what to think and how to think about it, given that people were for a very short while doing things like #Occupying Wall Street in hopes of getting some economic justice but all that quickly went away in a flurry of downward finger gestures and protests against First World Injustices.
By which I mean: I am going to Rank The Priorities we ought to have, because what I saw this morning led me to think that the uptick in social engagement and activism we saw in 2011 has suddenly been led astray -- I don't know by who so I'll just say "by corporations" -- and people are starting to forget that our world is in a crisis in which the federal government is about a week away from directly letting people who helped create the housing crisis continue to profit from it because not even the Obama Administration really gives a #(#*@ about anything anymore, and as people forget about all that they're using their energy to protest what I was going to call dumb things but instead I'll be politic and call them less than important things.
By which I mean:
Chicago-area mothers joined a nationwide demonstration against restrictive corporate breastfeeding policies Wednesday morning at Target stores citywide.
The "nurse-in" is an increasingly popular tool for breastfeeding advocates and nursing mothers to highlight alleged violations of Illinois law, which does not classify public nursing as indecency. Whole Foods stores were recently targeted after an employee reportedly told a nursing mother to cover up, and Wednesday's demonstration was inspired by a recent incident at a Houston-area Target store, Time reports.
(Source.) There were, at last report, over 6,000 people "liking" the protest or something dumb on Facebook, which, yeah, okay, it takes a second to click that thumb or whatever it is, so that's hardly worth noting -- but also this:
Best for Babes [the people organizing this shenanigan] reached out to Target last week to see if they could work together in advance of this event. "Nurse-ins require a lot of time, planning and effort from busy moms," Best for Babes wrote on their website with hopes that they could come to an agreement with the chain. Target's response was unsatisfactory, and the organization has decided to move forward with their demonstration, which will take place today, December 28th.
(Source.) Nurse-ins require a lot of time? Yes. Yes, they do. So it's a good thing that those mothers used their scarce resources -- time and money are scarce for most of us and especially so for "busy moms"-- for something that ultimately
Isn't.
That.
Important.
Okay, breast-feeding moms, I get it: You want to whip out your boobs everywhere you go because God forbid you should have to feed your baby and not browse those cute tops on the discount rack at the same time. But is that where you want your efforts, your social activism, your time and money and attention to go?
Was that the single biggest problem you could think to address at that time?
I've talked about stuff like this before, noting that people who try to rescue pets while children starved are horrible people, and that people who parade a camel around Washington D.C. were wasting time and money, too, and that mild complaining didn't seem to help, so I decided that maybe we, as a society, ought to have a list, a ranking, of priorities for our society so that we can tackle problems that really matter before problems that only sorta matter.
And I am the person to create that ranking, and this is the start of it. So here we go! On The Great Ranking Of Priorities, I put "Making Sure Women Can Breast Feed At Target" at...
...7,397th.
Also: I'm not just a complainer, I'm a fixer-upper -- so rather than simply make fun of women who took time off from getting the Subaru detailed, I thought I'd also point out that those Chicago-area Moms With Boobs could have done something really helpful, like, say, provide child-care for homeless women.
Over at Volunteer Match.org, it's easy to find charities to volunteer for. I typed in "Chicago" and "Moms" and got this:
San Jose Obrero Mission
One of the greatest obstacles facing single, homeless mothers is an inability to locate affordable childcare. Without affordable childcare, searching for jobs and housing, attending job interviews, attending school and career training, and running errands are extremely difficult tasks. That's why SJOM is searching for volunteers that would like to fill in the gaps so that our women can focus on becoming self-sufficient for themselves and their families.
Childcare is needed most at these times:
Days: Each month, we host a 10-day Career Training session at our Families in Crisis facility for non-working participants. [Contact us for specific days and times.]
Evenings: Every Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. we host Self-Esteem Building workshops for our women.
Childcare providers are encouraged to help children with homework and/or plan other activities to engage them in learning.
So, Moms With Boobs And No Time, you could have spent your time providing some childcare and homework assistance to a fellow (but homeless) Mom who is getting career training to make her life better.
But, no, yeah, I'm glad you were able to show your hooters at Target. Thanks for caring... so little.
0 comments:
Post a Comment