« Can someone please explain to me... | Main| The founder and head of Kubi Software »

Support Our Troops

Category
I would like to say before I write anything, I fully support our troops, whether they be British, American, Australian, Polish and the two Philippino guys. But I have to ask how guillable people really are buying these stupid yellow support our troops magnets that are most likely made in China. Do we really think the guys in Iraq, Afghanistan or wherever can see all the magnets on the car? How exactly do the the profits of these magnets help our troops, is it paying for better intelligence? This morning I was feeling a little feisty so when I stopped for petrol I decided to ask my petrol station a few questions about the magnets they sell...

"How much is the sticker?"
"5 bucks"
"How does it support our troops?"
"It shows the county is united behind them."
"Do the troops get sent a regular report on how many cars now have magnets?"
"I don't think so"
"How much of the profits for the magnets goes to the troops, and how does it get distributed?"
"I don't know, the magnet isn't a for charity magent."
"Wow, so it's possible no money from this magent goes to charity?"
"It's possible, but I think it's highly unlikely, would you like one to support the troops?"
"No I'll skip it thanks, I'll bake them a cake instead."

So I am not convinced about these magnets, basically the petrol station buys them from the wholesaler like a packet of chewing gum and sells them at the best price he/she can get, if they want to donate their profits to some official charity that's fair enough, but I think most of them are not.

Comments

Gravatar Image1 - I've seen people complain about this before, and I don't really get it. I can't speak for anybody else, but I'm not surprised no money from the magnets goes to "the troops." I never expected it to. Nobody ever claimed it did, at least not to me. I treat the magnets like the flag bumper stickers. Moderately harmless, functionally useless, rah!, rah!, I'm patriotic. No big deal if you've got one, no big deal if you don't.

If they're selling "support our troops" bracelets, on the other hand (like the LiveStrong ones Lance Armstrong pitches for cancer research), they'd better be giving the money to a charity - because all those bracelets support some charity or other. It's all about the expectations, I think.

Gravatar Image2 - This kind of stuff is a lot more about fashion, I think than actually doing something charitable. The Livestrong bracelets are in style now. It's not that there weren't better ways to support cancer research before they came out...getting a bracelet gives a warm fuzzy feeling of helping people while getting a trinket that's "in".

The "Support Our Troops" thing is similar except that generally nothing's going to support anything but the profit margin of the seller. There are lots of better ways to actually support the troops (Navy Marine Corps Relief Society (http://www.nmcrs.org/) is a good one and there are others for the other branches). You just aren't going to get anything "in" to stick on your car/wrist, etc.

Gravatar Image3 - http://www.antimagnet.com/

"We support the guy in china making these idiot magnets"

Gravatar Image4 - you are a bunch of whiney little babies. go to www.magnetamerica.com they do infact support the troops. they are the original designers of the yellow support our troops car magnets, and my brother and cousin and friends who are in iraq do sleep better knowing that there are people over here who do support them. They are fighting for our freedoms and I will give them any support i can including putting a support magnet on my truck. check out the facts. there are 1000 s of groups buying these magnets from magnet america and using them to send packages etc to the troops, plus magnet america supports walter reed medical center, freedom calls, operation we care, honorthefallen foundation and many more. so shut up and acutally do something instead of complaining.

Post A Comment

:-D:-o:-p:-x:-(:-):-\:angry::cool::cry::emb::grin::huh::laugh::rolleyes:;-)