Revolution: Just Do It
By Mickey Z.
25 October, 2012
World News Trust
“It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem." - G.K. Chesterton
Well, whaddya know? Lance Armstrong just may have cheated, after all.
Mic Check: I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise.
The folks at Nike, however, were so shocked, shocked to learn one of their gravy trains (they named a damn building after Lance on their Oregon campus) wasn’t pure, they publicly dumped him.
I’d call this a minor step in the right direction but a much bigger, more powerful step would involve the rest of us turning the tables by exposing and dumping Nike. Why? It begins with a single word: sweatshops.
Occupy for All Workers
Lance Armstrong was well paid for strutting around in lots of free shirts, hats, etc. while factories throughout Nike’s global empire -- in places like Vietnam, China, and Indonesia -- have been dogged for decades by widespread, documented cases of worker abuse.
With almost 75 percent of the price of a garment made in a sweatshop going into the pockets of the manufacturer and retailer, Nike’s sanctimonious denouncement of Armstrong’s alleged doping should not obscure the bigger issues, e.g.
>> Nike has a long history of exploiting workers.
>> When we willingly overpay for the right to become walking billboards for the Nike swoosh, we are financially and culturally supporting such repression.
Think about this, sports fans: You buy a Nike t-shirt and wear it maybe 30 times in a year. Nike, a global monolith with Third World factories that pay the oppressed locals $1.35 a day to make sneakers that retail for 100 times that amount, is using little ol’ you as a billboard for their over-priced products and not only are you doing this without charging them for your services, you actually paid big bucks for the fuckin’ garment.
By purchasing that flimsy Just Do It t-shirt, you have just shelled out good money to advertise the useless products of a multi-billion dollar corporation that adds nothing of value to the world but instead, increases the misery level everywhere from South Vietnam to South Central.
In addition, those who opt to work for companies like Nike tacitly support an entire ethos of exploitation -- even if they’re basically nice people.
In one of his books, Lance Armstrong tells of a Nike representative who spoke with him as he recovered from brain surgery in the mid-90s. Even as the cyclist broke down crying on the phone, the Nike rep promised: “Well, don’t worry about us. We’re with you.” Unlike other sponsors, Nike did not desert Armstrong during his illness... even when it looked like he may not ride again.
This gesture of kindness and support, of course, does absolutely nothing to help the poor souls slaving in Nike factories or the consumers conditioned to think they “need” an expensive pair of sneakers. However, such an episode does demonstrate how good people can sometimes become mired in bad situations... and perhaps not even realize it.
To borrow from the Chesterton quote above, Nike is unquestionably part of the problem, but (thanks to corporate propaganda) so few people even know there is a problem.
Which segues smoothly into yet another connected issue: Animal experimentation.
Occupy for All Species
Lance Armstrong, of course, is known for much more than winning bike races (and dating fellow celebrities). He also created Livestrong, a foundation designed to assist those with cancer and create “awareness” via a yellow bracelet bearing the words “live strong” (alongside a Nike swoosh).
Back in 2005, when my Mom was first diagnosed with cancer, in my shock and grief, I briefly pondered the gesture of buying a batch of these bracelets for my family. After a little poking around, I learned that the foundation supports and funds animal testing.
The folks at Livestrong told me: “We have funded a limited number of studies that utilized mice. All studies have conformed to strict government regulation."
Strict government regulation? (insert laugh track here)
For those of you who still somehow support animal experimentation and vivisection, I urge you to rethink this perspective -- not only because of its inherent barbarism but also because it’s flawed science. I’m written plenty on the topic (just activate the Google function on your interwebs machine) but for now, an excerpt:
"Results from animal tests are not transferable between species, and therefore cannot guarantee product safety for humans,” says Herbert Gundersheimer, M.D.
"Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are like us,'” Professor Charles R. Magel adds. “Ask the experimenters why it is morally OK to experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are not like us.' Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction."
If animal experimentation is both indefensible cruelty and unsound science, why is it still in widespread use?
Dr. Gundersheimer has a possible answer: "In reality (animal) tests do not provide protection for consumers from unsafe products, but rather they are used to protect corporations from legal liability."
Yet again, corporate profits supersede justice.
Mic Check: I quickly came to my senses and chose not to purchase plastic yellow bracelets from a group that doesn’t allow animals or sweatshop laborers to “live strong,” and I hope you’ll consider a similar boycott -- of Livestrong and Nike (for starters).
Occupy for All Possibilities
Until his fall from grace, Lance Armstrong was the ideal role model for our dominant culture. His story reinforced the myth of individualism, his athletic success and ensuing fame promoted ruthless competition and material acquisition, and his role as professional cancer survivor endorsed the fable of Western medical superiority.
But, despite his vast negative impact on the universe, folks like Lance can still be useful as he himself alluded to here:
“Too many athletes live as though the problems of the world don’t concern them. We are isolated by our wealth and our narrow focus, and our elitism. But one of the redeeming things about being an athlete—one of the real services we can perform—is to redefine what’s humanly possible. We cause people to reconsider their limits, to see that what looks like a wall may really just be an obstacle in the mind.”
So...
Fuck Lance Armstrong (and, for that matter: Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, etc.).
Fuck competitive, overpriced spectator sports/distractions.
Fuck animal experimentation.
Fuck enforced fashion trends.
Fuck Nike, its sweatshops, and its relentless quest to ingrain consumerism into our very soul.
But…
Let’s hold on to Armstrong’s quote.
Let’s “redefine what’s humanly possible.”
Let’s remember that what looks like a wall may really just be an obstacle in our minds.
Revolution: You don’t need a $150 pair of sneakers to just do it...
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Mickey Z. is the author of 11 books, most recently the novel Darker Shade of Green. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on an obscure website called Facebook.
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