Sunday, July 22, 2007

Talk is cheap, coffee is expensive

Et Tu, Starbucks?

9 comments:

  1. Oh I can't take it. Et tu, Starbucks indeed! :-( This bums me out on many levels, the most superficial of them being that I will need to seek my chai teas elsewhere.

    karen in CA

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  2. According to a news story I read recently, Starbucks also managed to annoy a large number of Christians by printing a quote from an atheist on their cups.

    Do the marketing people at Starbucks all have coffee grounds where their brains ought to be?

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  3. Well, they say they're not endorsing any of the quotes, they just want people to have something to talk about while they drink coffee (I thought we were the ones who were supposed to have trouble thinking of something to say?)

    Anyway, they are also in trouble with right wing Christians for a quote about accepting homosexuality. Go figure!

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  4. The person that said that thing on the side of the original cup is at the helm of a nasty organization, but do you have anything against the actual words on the side of the cup?

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  5. VAB,
    As you point out, the main issue for me is that I don't wish to be confronted with ANY words from an organization which wishes people like me did not exist, especially when I have paid $2.75 for a cup of coffee (which I fully admit is not a smart thing to do).

    As far as the words on the cup, they are among the least offensive things this organization tends to say, but still, I believe there is a misrepresentation of fact. Do 1 in 150 people have autism or is this how many are as Sen. Clinton might say "anywhere along the spectrum"? Organizations like this want to use the numbers of people identified with AS, PDD-NOS, etc. to create public scares, but then when we try to speak about the issues, they tend to say we don't really count as we are too "high functioning". I take issue with that and also with the reference to "intervention" which is vague and somewhat frightening to me personally. Sometimes it means good things like speech and occupational therapy; sometimes not so good things; other times terrible and dangerous things.

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  6. Crap like "early warning signs" is pretty offensive, though as you say, not quite as offensive as, y'know, "I often think about killing this kid right here". Damn it, the coffee is so friggin' delicious! I've known there were probably good reasons to boycott Starbucks for a long time; this seals it.

    As far as "We don't endorse this quote; we just want to make you think" goes, BULLSHIT. This is not some lofty philosophical fortune-cookie type message about the mysteries of the universe, or some Yogi Berra-esque quip that would be more appropriate to fall under "The Way I See It". It's a specifically targeted AGENDA, with a specific call for action, and make no mistake, it was solicited by representatives of that money-devouring machine. I'd like to know how to get The Way *I* See It printed on thousands of those cups. I guarantee they're not just letting any old body's quotes on there. Campaigns as pointed as that one must come brandishing political influence, or at least cash. Autism Speaks' powers of manipulation have become like that of the pink ribbon campaign and all those others -- and folks just witlessly answer their syrupy rhetoric with, "Well yeah, that's a good cause; they have a ribbon!" and feed the monster.

    Now I have to formulate another "strongly-worded letter", and infiltrate it with the same kind of sappy "Won't somebody think of the children" language. I suppose "Autism Speaks wants to kill children" is a good place to start. But chances are I'd get more response by scandalously hyping up exactly who is taking that money. So voila! I have another writing assignment.

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  7. I want this one on a shirt, too.

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  8. Though you should probably wipe out the Starbucks blurb at the bottom, eh?

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  9. hahahaha Starbucks got everyone here talking. But their intent was to get us talking inside their store lounge, not in this blog. Their latest campaign was to try to get people to talk about race. That also backfired. And Starbucks is a bit expensive, plus, for some reason, their coffee tastes a little burnt to me. Is it just me? Perhaps it's some sort of autie hypersensitivity.

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