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Colors
Carrie's recent post about the craze for silicone cause bracelets got me all nostalgic about ribbons. Entering elementary school in 1980, I arrived just in time for Nancy Reagan's 'Just Say No' anti-drug campaign. We had 'red-ribbon weeks' when everyone wore red ribbons and made red ribbon anti-drug posters and hung them in the hall.
As the years went on I remember being confused when red ribbons started to mean AIDS awareness instead of drugs. With the Gulf War came ribbons in support of the US, and the troops, and soon after breast cancer, and child abuse. Ten years later I stumbled across a handy guide like this one. Ah ha! Finally a legend for this map!
The thing I find amusing, admittedly in a really dark way, is how this whole colored ribbon thing seems really poorly planned. Like, lavender is for cancer. But then there's all these other, more specific, cancers that get mixed up with other causes. For example, blue is for colon cancer ...and education? Then it shows that brown is also for colon cancer (very funny, colon cancer advocates!). Light blue is for prostate cancer and pro choice - perhaps there's some relationship there? Green is for the environment, safe driving, Leukemia, organ donors, and missing children (you know, of course!). But what if I'm for safe driving, fighting leukemia, donating organs, finding missing children but just sorta luke-warm on the environment? How will people know!? And light blue and pink together is for Infant Loss/Pregnancy Loss awareness. But yikes, who wants to be more aware of that?
My favorite is this ribbon. It clearly states that if you wear this ribbon you support but don't necessarily practice polyamory. Although I think it's safe to say if you see someone with this one on their lapel, they're down for a party.
I love that you can get all these in chocolate form. That means I can buy a purple one and increase domestic violence awareness. And as I unwrap that foil to enjoy the real milk chocolate ribbon, I can slowly come to support colon cancer awareness as well.
Posted by Steve Lambert on 03/18/2005 | Permalink
Comments
when i was in Louisiana over Christmas, i noticed that everyone had those huge giant Support the Troops ribbon/sticker things on the back of cars. apparently, people are so cheap down there that they steal these magnetic ribbons off of other cars so as to not pay for them, yet to "support troops". the whole "wear a ribbon/support the troops" thing makes me mad as it is, but its hysterical that people are stealing and not even giving proceeds to help support the troops. ahh, the South.
i am rambling. thought i'd share.
Posted by: olivia | Mar 18, 2005 1:58:42 PM
I'm not sure that all those "Support Our Troops" magnets are intended to raise money for troops to begin with. I think that they are to show moral or political support which is why I sometimes think they might as well read "Support Our War."
If you want to be certain that you are not supporting anything, get one of my "Support Our Pants" ribbon magnets available from stickergiant.com http://www.stickergiant.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=fm6004
Posted by: Mr Pants | Apr 5, 2005 8:00:34 PM
What's the point of a C-section ribbon? Is it sort of a more exclusive reincarnation of "Baby On Board"?
Posted by: Hilario Bruthzoo | Apr 6, 2005 5:36:35 PM
Well, ok here is my comment though it does not exactly fit into the light and amusing nature of your blog here. Who wants to be aware of infant loss?! Well, noone, but who wants to be aware of cancer either? The fundamental purpose of an awareness campaign is to raise the profile of things people don't want to think about. And get them to realize that these things do happen, it's not always to someone else and that it *is* important. When my son died, i felt completely isolated, like i was diseased and the only person on earth who had had a baby die. It is a boon for someone who is suffering deeply (whether from grief or sickness or anything) to find that there are others who really care, even if it is a stranger wearing a sticker on their car. Though of course we all wish bad things never happened. But life is not like that, eh?
Posted by: kate baloh | Apr 13, 2005 8:46:24 PM
I'd just like to add my two cents about awareness OF Pregnancy and Infant Loss.
I am the mother of an angel. An angel who died shortly before birth weighing 7 lbs 14 oz. Beautiful and healthy and perfect in every way. I saw him and held him and sang to him before i had a funeral for him. The world DOES need to know that this happens and that these precious babies STILL MATTER, even though they aren't physically here. Still Birth happens 35,000 times a year in the United States alone. Scary but true. This stealer of babies lives knows no boundaries of race,income or religion. I hope that along with awareness, that people will realize that it could be THEM that it happens to and also that it's OK to still talk about them and LOVE them and share that love. God Bless the angel babies in heaven. We miss and love you very much.
Posted by: Dylan's Mommy | Apr 15, 2005 8:00:54 PM
Just to clarify, I think we'd all agree that not many people want to be aware of infant and pregnancy loss. That's not to say that more people shouldn't be. The way our culture avoids the topic of death creates all kinds of problems from dealing with the hundreds of thousands of children who died (and are dying) in Iraq for the last 12 years, to individual mothers here in the US feeling alone and isolated when they lose a child. If a ribbon helps them, I think that's great. There are also support groups available.
I wrote this post for an audience of Stay Free readers: people who are interested in exploring "the politics and perversions of mass media and American (consumer) culture". Although there may be overlap, I was not intending to specifically address an audience of greiving mothers. It was meant to examine a different side of awareness ribbons using humor. I apologize to those who read it differently.
Posted by: Steve Lambert | Apr 18, 2005 1:42:19 PM
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