Fashion!

Have you ever noticed that a cause becomes intensely fashionable for a year and then, as quick as it appeared, is gone? Need I remind you of the bay snow seals or the anti-fur movement of the late 80’s? These causes rally everyone to their banner for a quick media blitz and then drop out of sight. Where are the fur crusaders? Where are the mass protests against nuclear power? These problems have not gone away, and may have increased, but we seem to have forgotten their very existence. Nuclear power plants are still dumping toxic waste in Idaho and animals are still being slaughtered for their skin but do we care? We're too busy filling out our subscription to Cigar Quarterly or deciding if our mohawk is straight to worry about such insignificant problems like groundwater contamination.

Everyone rallies around fashionable, celebrity-endorsed causes and feigns concern but do we truly care? When all the lights and cameras have gone, when the celebrity fund-raising balls have left town, is anyone left to fight the problem? Just like our clothes or the products we purchase, our causes have become trendy, pre-packaged crusades that look nice on TV but accomplish little in terms of solving the problem.

The second the six o'clock news tells us what the new cause Americans are concerned about, we switch views faster than a vice-presidential nominee, leaving a real problem unsolved. Right now we have our AIDS benefits but what will it be tomorrow? The same problems we were so concerned about a few years ago (Greenhouse effect, starving children in Africa, dolphins in tuna nets) still exist as no doubt AIDS will when it gets dropped from the celebrity limelight.

We need to actually solve a problem for once, instead of continually getting bored and hopping on a new, shiny bandwagon. The problems we leave behind today will surely rise up tomorrow and steam roll our short attention span asses. Just because some bought and sold celebrity doesn't support the cause doesn't mean it's not a valid one! How many of us believe heart and soul in the indie vs. major debate? We don't need no stinking celebrity telling us that indies rule to know the truth. Why can't we transfer that to the problems we face as citizens of this fucked up nation? In closing, just because something isn't plastered across the front pages doesn't mean it's not important. Don't let the hype and the media agenda setting tell you what to believe in.

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