I visited a friend last night, and called in to Waitrose near his house (yes, well off my beat). After paying, I was given a green token, and told it related to charity. By the exit was this:
Each compartment was for a particular charity, and shoppers placed the token in the charity of their choice - Waitrose hands over some £1000 according to votes cast. It horrified me - the idea that somebody's future health depended on whether I preferred a renal charity over a bloody dogs' home or whatever the third organisation was. I don't want charity to exist at all - governments exist to solve these problems - but the Darwinian ruthlessness of this game-show scheme made me very uncomfortable. What's next? Cancer v. AIDS: who deserves to survive?
I put my token in the renal slot - balls to the animals until we've got decent healthcare.
2 comments:
I always try and put my token in a box that doesn't mention kids or football. Sometimes it's difficult!
I have seen these on the rare occasions I shop in Waitrose. I must admit I have given it very little thought as I have never considered that it would make any difference other than superficial, and I ONLY give to animal charities, as I believe that government should be doing the people stuff. I know that that is not reality, but as I said I do not believe it will make any real difference anyway.
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