Common Folk Using Common Sense

From the Washington Post:

The Oscars are all about product placement, those delectable swag bags filled to bursting with Montblanc pens, with Heather Hyde jewelry, with Icelandic Glacial bottled water. Get a starlet to bust out the giveaway designer doggie duds on the next morning’s duty walk with Bruiser, and baby, you’ve made it.

On Sunday night, the goody with el primo placement — right near the collars of Best Actress nominee Julie Christie and two-time winner Paul Haggis — was an orange ribbon. A cheap, ugly, dear God we thought the age of lapel-activism (AIDS, peace, veterans, breasts) was over ribbon. Or an orange bracelet, a cheap, ugly, when will this rubber fetish quit livingstrong — bracelet. Inscribed with Torture + Silence = Complicity.

These represent the orange jumpsuits worn by Guantanamo prisoners, and call for the closing of the prison, and the cessation of a range of controversial U.S. behaviors. But how did do-gooders get this cause to accessorize the glitterati?

Enter Allison Walker, the entertainment industry liaison for the ACLU (whodathunk!?), which sponsors the Close Guantanamo campaign and distributes the ribbons. Walker is a former talent agent who once worked at William Morris. She left the biz after a spiritually cleansing sabbatical studying orangutans in Borneo, at which point she realized she wanted to use her industry connections to do good.

Walker and her colleague Jenny Egan took out a full-page plea in Variety, which read, in part: “Whether you are walking the picket line, the red carpet or standing on the supermarket line, wear an orange ribbon.”

It’s simple. It’s easy. And you can do it while driving your Prius.

Says New York Magazine:

Did you notice the orange ribbon pinned to Julie Christie’s dress and Paul Haggis’s lapel at the Oscars? It was a lovely little accessory to show their support for the closing of the Guantánamo Bay prison because of the U.S. government’s controversial interrogation tactics there. The orange represents the jumpsuits worn by the prisoners and is also the color of a rubber bracelet worn by Haggis that reads “torture+silence=complicity” included in the Oscar swag bag. Organizations like the ACLU, which sponsors the Close Guantanamo campaign, ask stars to don these stamps of activism well in advance so that they have enough time to consult with their stylists.

Pining away for murderers while ignoring the victims. People used to wear POW bracelets (I did) and yellow ribbons for our troops, but now these losers are wearing ribbons to demonstrate sympathy for al-Qaeda.

The Hollywood Liberal Elite wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a red, white, and blue ribbon - their hearts are really with those poor sexist, racist, homophobic, theocrats who wear orange jumpsuits at Guantanamo.

Real America is a America is a freedom defending warrior class, not a panty-wearing, limp-wristed, self-centered commune of surrender monkeys.

I need a drink.

Julie Christie, Paul Haggis, Guantanamo, Allison Walker, Jenny Egan, orange ribbon, al-Qaeda

Spread The Word: