Obi-J

While traveling in Nepal, I rather enjoyed treating myself to an Fanta Orange after a long days trek. It’s about as close you can get to an orange popsicle you can get without being frozen. On occasion I’ll still buy one, although I’m attempting to not drink soda, though that’s a rather hard thing to do, as I’m a lover of Ginger Beer and Orangina…yumm!

So while watching The Corporation the other night, the documentary stated a connection between Coca Cola and Nazi Germany. At first I was like, “oh my god, coke supported the nazis!!! i’m drinking nazi soda!!” but when I thought about it some more it seemed a bit deceptive in that it implied Coca Cola somehow supported the Nazis during WWII.

From what I’ve read here and here, Fanta Orange was invented by Max Keith in Germany in 1940 when World War II made it difficult to get the Coca-Cola syrup to Nazi Germany. Max Keith was the head of the German bottler and distributor for Coke. “Investigations found Keith did not join the Nazi party despite pressure to do so and that instead of taking the profits from the production of Fanta, he turned them over to Coca Cola after the war.”

Overall, The Corporation is an amazing film and definitely worth watching, but I’m rather disappointed the movie resorted to such a sensationalistic and deceptive example. Especially at the expense of a beverage I think is just tasty. I guess when you want to demonize someone or something, and you can make any sort of connection to Nazis, it’s hard not to go that route. Does it mean corporations are all wondeful and responsible? No way, but it makes me wonder how else the documetary may have missed the mark.

And yes, I shouldn’t drink Coke products in the first place :p

you gonna write something, or continue to be lazy for another three weeks?

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pardon me while i scream some obscenities at myself…

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ok, that’s better

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enough about me, how are you ? :)

Can you imagine a world where cats did their business in the toilet like all civilized mammals should. Yeah, I can’t either. But the fine folks at CitiKitty want you to believe it’s a possibility. I wonder if it really is as easy as they say. Though, I’m far more interested in learning how to train a 19 year old cat how to stop taking a shit on the carpet.

The French street theater group Royal de Luxe put on a tribute to author Jules Verne. Some really cool and enormous puppets. Check it out.

via Tribe

Well, not exactly, but according to the non-profit group Faith, Family, and Freedom, Verizon trains their employees to accept gays. As if, respect for people was a bad thing. While the anti-gay movement of many so-called christian-based organizations isn’t new, using these sentiments to sell long distance is.

“It was in late December 2004 when New York-based comedian Eugene Mirman first received a phone-call from a nonprofit organization called “Faith, Family and Freedom,” asking if he opposed gay marriage and then offering to switch his long-distance service to a “Christian-based telephone carrier” identified as United American Technologies out of Oklahoma.

It turns out that Mr. Mirman had donated $50 to the presidential campaign of Alan Keyes in 2000. His name was consequently added to a conservative database. Amused and a bit disturbed, he recorded the subsequent solicitations…”

At first I couldn’t believe it, but after listening to the three calls, and reading the article & transcript I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. While I can find some humor in the exchange, mostly I’m left feeling sad that there are so many people in the world that hold these feelings. When I hear it, the ignorance and hate are plainly obvious. And that “family values” is acutally a covert system of hate than the wholesome values they purport.

I’ve actually been reading quite a bit about issues of racism, disctimination, white privelage, so reading and hearing the above really struck a chord with me. My main motivation for learning about it originally was because I was told that all white people are racist and I have the tendency to disagree with it. While I do believe that the United States is a racist culture and as a white male I benefit regardless of my own actions, I’m not so certain about the notion that ALL whites are racist. But that’s something I’m choosing to not explain right now, but I plan to.

After a not-so-brief discussion about this the other night Jayeesha kindly lent me a few books to gain a better understanding of the issue. It’s a topic that as a white male, it’s quite easy to ignore, though it’s actually something I think about quite often, as I know it’s something that affects people on a daily basis. I’m fortunate to have many friends who are active in the movement to interrupt the cycle of racism and prejudice, and who are also open to discuss it’s impact on our culture. As I’ve learned, it is with knowledge and understanding that we can have a country where all people are welcome and respected rather than excluded and disenfranchised.