Any time there is a tragedy in the world, it seems the media splatters the front page and the television screen with everything and anything about the person accused of the crime. Is it so uncommon to hear an Anchor throw a story to a reporter n the field; “Let’s take it to Joey Jones who is speaking to Susie Que who was the first girlfriend to XYZ in his hometown 37 years ago to see if we can gain some insight in why this tragedy happened…..”
Seriously….you’ve seen it, right?
I, honestly do not care about XYZ. I get it, the publishers and producers think these facts of a murderer will draw in the audience. I flip the channel. I have said this before, when a story like this breaks, tell us the name of the person who did it, and I really do not want to see their name again until their sentence is passed. But that doesn’t happen. The more attention given, the more likely someone else will want to be glorified. In so many varying degrees, this ‘type’ of thing happens all the time. Giving attention is sometimes the purpose of any story.
Now this story is a far, far, cry from a story of a murderer but as an example of everyday ways to grab your precious attention there is the story of when American Girl (link takes you to their ‘pump’ page) announced that they were going to provide a package of diabetes supplies so their dolls ‘could have’ diabetes like many of her owners. A nice touch. So successful, it’s now on back order until May 13, 2016 according to their website….good for them. The consumer reviews are sterling on their webpage. Great that a major company is now doing what www.pumpwearinc.com (this link takes you directly to the toys page) has been doing for years and they even have them for stuffed animals. Julie (a dMom and co-founder of the company) donates proceeds to diabetes research. (Fair disclosure, they donate to the DRI and I’m an employee at the DRIF as most of you know). All-in-all very good stuff out there REALLY COOL STUFF.
Recently a ‘publication’ wrote about American Girl and their entre into the diabetes ‘toys’ market; and that reporter could not get the story any more wrong if they tried. NOT A CLUE on what our kids know. I’m not going to share the link because it’s so bad, I have to believe that the focus was just to get people to read it. I reached out to them for a comment, but heard nothing. It is floating around out there but I’m not driving anyone to it because it’s just not deserving of any time given.
I have stated this before, I have learned that yelling and screaming about such things does little and only perpetuates what they want, attention. I have yelled and screamed about issues in the past…..like, REALLY made a big stink……to what end? Nothing really changed. Now if you want to rally against this story, feel free. And I mean that sincerely, far be it to tell anyone not to do as their heart leads them. Don’t get me wrong, I was truly pissed when I read the story but then I thought, “This is just a trap. They do not deserve it, and they are not worth it.”
I think the real story here is what a great thing it is that American Girl is doing, and what PumpWear is doing (and I am sure others are doing it as well……..feel free to add your company’s link to this story at the end of the post)—–it’s not about some dim light bulb story on what some reporter decided was a ‘good angle’. To get my blood pressure up to, maybe, see an “oops, I’m sorry”, just does not cut it in my book. The story is so out there, as I stated, and so preposterous that I question the reason except to gain readership.
Honestly, they aren’t worth the energy. Ignore it and it will go away. If you want to use some energy, hang some posters around town about the warning signs of diabetes. THAT just might save a life. How do YOU REALLY want to spend your energy?
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