Enough with the ribbons already. Back in the day, the red AIDS ribbon was a wonderful beacon for action during the dark times when diagnosis meant death. Sadly though, in a "post triple cocktail" era, the red ribbon has been hijacked and co-opted and quite simply done to death.
The folded ribbon as a symbol of anything meaningful or anything I should care about is DEAD. Whenever I see a pink ribbon for breast cancer, or a yellow one for troop support or a purple one for whatever the hell purple ones are for, well, I just don't even see them. How can I? I have been blined by the meaningless array of color ribbons plastered on every car, truck, bicycle, tricylcle, wagon, scooter and refrigerator thanks to the bloody magnet and bumper-sticker people. Have a cause? Have a thought? Get a ribbon. ugh!
Do we really need a patriotic flag ribbon proclaiming your home-country loyalty? Is a polka dotted ribbon for your annoying child's Montessori school fundraiser really necessary?( ...don't get me started on those self-congratulatory bumper stickers schools give out to parents to boast about their kids. Spare me your pride please!)
And while I am at it, how about we get rid of those ubiquitous rubber wristbands popularised by Lance Armstrong's worthy foundation? Unfortunately, that symbol died for me when movie marketers created green wristbands to promote their cinematic tour-de-force "Chicken Little".
Let's face it. We live in a consumer driven world where the successful marketing of a meaningful message invariably morphs into cheap "made in China tchotckhes" that get hawked at every corner so some guy can make a buck. Sure I'd like to be the next person to hit upon the next "red ribbon" or "yellow rubber bracelet" for some good cause, but to tell you the sad commercial truth, I probably want to be the guy with a factory in China, ready to churn out the multicolor counterfeits and rake in the dough.
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