Right. So. We all know those ribbons floating around for good causes - the ones you wear because you know someone with Aids, someone with cancer, etc.
Prompted by genderist's post, I went and visited THIS WEBSITE.
It is NO FREAKING WONDER that no one pays attention to these things any more. Whilst I completely understand and applaud the attempt to bring awareness to a particular condition and/or cause, ribbons have completely lost any sense of uniqueness and have been effectively rendered useless.
I seriously remember when Red ribbons were just for AIDS research. And awareness. Now you can't assume anything. You have to walk up to a person wearing a ribbon and ask them what that ribbon stands for. Which, I suppose, is good - you'll find out about the cause they're attempting to bring attention to - but with so many things that each color stands for, it really loses its impact.
And I don't know which stole the yellow ribbon first - cancer (?) or suicide awareness (1994) - but if you attempt to put the Yellow Ribbon Program into practice these days, you're just as likely to find someone saying "Oh, a cancer ribbon. How nice." And if cancer got there first, then Yellow Ribbon made a big mistake in choosing yellow. And seriously, who, if you run into them on the street, is going to make a big distinction between "gold", "pale yellow" and "yellow"? Who's going to keep track of whether your black and white ribbon is designed in Zebra stripes or three stripes? And could someone tell me what color "prism" is?
I can't wait for the first lawsuit involving ribbon color... I can just hear it now... "we had lavender first, it's ours"...
I used to have a pink ribbon on my backpack. Because I know a _lot_ of people who have had breast cancer or breast cancer scares. But, forgive me, I don't want people coming up to me and asking whether I'm advocating the rights of birth parents. I couldn't care less. It's not on my radar screen. It's a touchy issue. I don't want to deal with it. I _do_ want to advocate for breast cancer research. Hell, I also have a LiveStrong bracelet, because that's also a cancer-related (I don't wear it often - it's become a massive cliche, but my money went to cancer research). I even question the use of _pink_ ribbons now. Look at that list. There are so many sorts of cancer. Why not just have one blanket ribbon that covers all forms of cancer? I'm sure that when you get one form of cancer cure figured out, you'll probably be able to apply a lot of the results to a lot of other forms of cancer by adapting and doing further research.
I want to create my own ribbon. White. With red polka-dots. I'll call it the 'obscure skin allergy awareness ribbon'. Screw the grey ribbon. That doesn't reflect my condition closely enough.
ARGH! Seriously, I'm about ready to scream.
We need to come up with better ideas on how to bring awareness to these conditions folks. Ribbons aren't working any more.
**Edit - Feb 6/06 - 2:41 p.m. I should add that I have absolutely nothing against those who wear the ribbons. I just think they've lost a lot of their meaning and we need to come up with a new way to draw attention to a cause.
Prompted by genderist's post, I went and visited THIS WEBSITE.
It is NO FREAKING WONDER that no one pays attention to these things any more. Whilst I completely understand and applaud the attempt to bring awareness to a particular condition and/or cause, ribbons have completely lost any sense of uniqueness and have been effectively rendered useless.
I seriously remember when Red ribbons were just for AIDS research. And awareness. Now you can't assume anything. You have to walk up to a person wearing a ribbon and ask them what that ribbon stands for. Which, I suppose, is good - you'll find out about the cause they're attempting to bring attention to - but with so many things that each color stands for, it really loses its impact.
And I don't know which stole the yellow ribbon first - cancer (?) or suicide awareness (1994) - but if you attempt to put the Yellow Ribbon Program into practice these days, you're just as likely to find someone saying "Oh, a cancer ribbon. How nice." And if cancer got there first, then Yellow Ribbon made a big mistake in choosing yellow. And seriously, who, if you run into them on the street, is going to make a big distinction between "gold", "pale yellow" and "yellow"? Who's going to keep track of whether your black and white ribbon is designed in Zebra stripes or three stripes? And could someone tell me what color "prism" is?
I can't wait for the first lawsuit involving ribbon color... I can just hear it now... "we had lavender first, it's ours"...
I used to have a pink ribbon on my backpack. Because I know a _lot_ of people who have had breast cancer or breast cancer scares. But, forgive me, I don't want people coming up to me and asking whether I'm advocating the rights of birth parents. I couldn't care less. It's not on my radar screen. It's a touchy issue. I don't want to deal with it. I _do_ want to advocate for breast cancer research. Hell, I also have a LiveStrong bracelet, because that's also a cancer-related (I don't wear it often - it's become a massive cliche, but my money went to cancer research). I even question the use of _pink_ ribbons now. Look at that list. There are so many sorts of cancer. Why not just have one blanket ribbon that covers all forms of cancer? I'm sure that when you get one form of cancer cure figured out, you'll probably be able to apply a lot of the results to a lot of other forms of cancer by adapting and doing further research.
I want to create my own ribbon. White. With red polka-dots. I'll call it the 'obscure skin allergy awareness ribbon'. Screw the grey ribbon. That doesn't reflect my condition closely enough.
ARGH! Seriously, I'm about ready to scream.
We need to come up with better ideas on how to bring awareness to these conditions folks. Ribbons aren't working any more.
**Edit - Feb 6/06 - 2:41 p.m. I should add that I have absolutely nothing against those who wear the ribbons. I just think they've lost a lot of their meaning and we need to come up with a new way to draw attention to a cause.
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Flowers! Yes, that's what I thought, too! When I lived in Galway, you could buy a different plastic flower each week at the entrance to the shopping centre to show your support of all kinds of worthy causes. And I still got my yellow daffodil from the Irish Cancer Society. :O)
I remember the Cancer Society's plastic yellow daffodil pins from when I was a kid in Ontario, Canada... but haven't seen them at all recently. Although you can usually still buy REAL daffodils once or twice a year. But, nope, everyone seems to have switched to ribbons.
The problem always is that you have a symbol and someone tries to steal it for marketing. We had livestrong and then we had 7,000 colors that meant diva or princess. Sports teams had to have them. I bought a black one that was a "support the arts" band and no one ever asked or noticed. Now I leave one white one on my left hand for the one world organization and the right one says revenge. It's been on since Christmas, and no one has noticed. That's how unimportant they are...A student wore a "red dress" pin that was supporting Women's Heart Awareness to our tournament this weekend and a parent actually told him to take it off because it made him look silly. Wow. I guess I had a lot to say about this issue, too.
I wish I could've been there to tell that parent where they could stick that pin... because as silly as it may seem, people notice things like pins. Like you said, Kate, if the point is advocacy -- advocate your little heart out.