Komen for the profits

Whew! This Komen for the Cure thing is a true mess, isn't it? I am sad to see such a well-respected, far-reaching organization be so tone deaf in making their decision to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood organizations all over the country. The worst part to me is the utter lack of understanding on their part of how this move would be seen by the thousands and thousands of Komen supporters. Maybe they should hire my husband's company to help them with their PR problem. :-)

Thanks to a friend via Twitter (@jessflynn), here is the Komen response, long overdue:

In my opinion, this video does nothing to ease the concerns of their critics. It never addresses the politics behind the decision. It is a poor example of what to do in the aftermath of completely screwing up the narrative.

Today I find in a blog post by Kivi Leroux Miller (again, thanks @jessflynn) that Komen spent the last day deleting negative comments on its Facebook page. What the what??? I'm sorry, but that is not helping your situation. And it's not something that you can do without getting noticed. It makes you look guilty of something. Of what? Who the hell cares?

Years ago, I stopped supporting Komen. It had nothing to do with abortion, or really anything political. I just felt that the pink-washing was over the top, did nothing but make Komen money, and I didn't feel like we were getting anywhere closer to a cure. My basic feeling is that when any non-profit with a mission of ridding the world of breast cancer, say, gets that large and profitable for so many companies, it will no longer be able to justify completing the mission.

Think about it. If Komen did find a cure for BC, where does that leave them? There would be no need for their organization anymore. All those dollars, all those partnerships that make all those dollars for other companies, all gone. Do you really think in the world we live in today that corporations would allow that to happen?

I am cynical. I admit it. Sometimes I wish I could live back in the "matrix" and not worry about all this nonsense. But I can't. It's nice to see that more people have become aware of the frailties of do-good organizations like Komen.

The people I feel bad for are my friends who work so very hard within the Komen corporation. They are there for honorable reasons, and do have the mission of Komen at the forefront of their everyday work. Please, friends, don't take the criticism personally. We still want to support the vision of ridding the world of breast cancer. Some of us just can't support Komen anymore.

So, now that you know how I feel about it all, how do you feel about this mess? Are you still a Komen supporter? Do you feel they are fulfilling their mission still? Does their Planned Parenthood decision make a difference to you?

More than anything, I would love to see a cure for breast cancer in my lifetime. I stand whole-heartedly behind that mission. As in previous posts, there are plenty of other organizations that could use your dollars and support. Give where you feel comfortable.