| June 18th, 2010 |
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At some point soon I need to write a squee post about Leverage, because at least some shows are actually awesome.
The latest round of fail has hit. Many people have commented, in detail and with eloquence; I don't have much to add that will be particularly new, I think, but... you know. If nothing else, I think the more voices in opposition to this kind of thing, the better.
I am bemused by this one, though. There's a mindset in play that I just don't understand - seeing tragedy, real tragedy, unfold and reacting with the thought that it's just an irresistably good background for a fanfic. The lack of empathy is astounding. The arrogance - thinking that she could do that, and do it in good taste, or is it just that it didn't occur to her to tread carefully at all? I don't understand.
Or does suffering just not count unless it happens to people like her?
Because try as I might to think the best of this, because I always want to think the best of people, I can't. Someone said, "Racism aside, it's just tacky." Which, it is, it is tacky as half-dried superglue but this racism is a stain that just won't come out. It seeps through the text - I looked - and it's woven too deep in the premise, because at the bottom of it all is that to her, the Haitians aren't people. They're props.
If they were people, this story couldn't exist, because it would be too riven with pain for the bright, shiny romance to come through at all.
There's just no excuse for that.
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I got salsa today.
This is a big deal for me, because you see, I really like salsa, and it has positive effects for my emotional state, and all sorts of things, but I only know of one kind of gluten-free salsa and lately it hasn't been available at supermarkets.
However, I e-mailed the company that makes it, who sent me the name of the one distributor in Western Australia they sell to. I phoned the distributor, who gave me the names of several shops they supply Jensen's Salsa to, and today I went to one of them and bought some.
(With some unexpectedly intense exertion because I had to kick-start my bike again, and apparently it doesn't like kick-starting on a hill.)
So here's a dilemma for you.
I am concerned about the environment and also about fair trade issues. (To come: A post on why a certain Republican congressman from Texas is a traitor to both his country and humanity at large.)
So what's the right choice in this situation?
The product: Peppermint tea.
Two choices.
One is Australian-produced, in New South Wales, which means it didn't have to be imported from overseas, although it did from interstate, and is unlikely to have involved criminal mistreatment of workers and the like. However, the teabags are individually foil-wrapped, which is not good from the perspective of resources involved in production or the generation of non-biodegradable trash.
The other is imported from the UK, the product of more than one country, which means there's been a fair amount of transport, but it is fair trade and the teabags are unbleached and not foil-wrapped; also the cardboard box is just cardboard, it's not all plasticised for gloss.
Which, in terms of conscientious shopping, is the better option?
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