Starbucks RED Or DDT: The Choice SHOULD BE Obvious

Now, I must say in advance and in all fairness, I despise Star-Schmucks. I never have liked their coffee much. And I probably never will. It really isn’t all that fantastic when you get right down to it. So, as you can probably guess, I also don’t subscribe to the “Status Symbol” effect of it either. As a matter of fact, something I’ve come to enjoy about the place is sparking up a big old fat cigar at their outside seating areas immediately after grabbing a cup. Just to smoke out all the Liberalista that happens to be frequenting the area.

But they have this new campaign, this Starbucks Red, where they donate like $0.05 of some specialty type cup of joe, to help fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa. I can’t speak badly of them for this. I actually happen to agree with them on the premise of, wanting to help AIDS victims in Africa. That truly is a noble cause. So, in this light, I lower myself for a moment to raise a toast to them for at least wanting to do something. But unfortunately, I’m afraid it isn’t going to help much, if at all. It’s kind of like trying to seal up an amputated leg, with a PEZ dispenser.

It just doesn’t work.

Partially, because of the obvious factor not being taken into consideration. That of the turmoil ridden areas, where a good portion of this aid actually needs to reach. Need I bother mentioning how well aid was distributed in areas like Mogadishu, with it’s warring factions, ethnic cleansing and the like? Unless there’s a considerable army waiting to escort any aid deliveries, you might as well just hand the supplies or money right over to the local warlords. Because that’s about as far as it’s going to go. Not exactly the ideal environ to work in.

But more importantly, and it’s the factor that requires the most emphasis here, is the spread of the disease itself. Of course, the fastest climbing majority of the populace in Africa contracting AIDS is teen girls. We can thank the myth being spread that a man with AIDS can rid himself of the disease by “sleeping with” a young girl, usually between the ages of 13-15. I wouldn’t be surprised if NAMBLA came up with this one. But the higher percentage of infections, which knows no demographic, comes thanks to my favorite globally useless organization, the United Nations.

Years ago, widespread use of DDT had been banned just about globally. Some crap about how it harms birds, or the birds’ eggs, whatever. DDT is an insecticide. A pretty effective insecticide at that. Mosquitoes are insects. Mosquitoes are insects that SPREAD diseases. Mosquitoes are insects that spread diseases like Malaria and yellow fever, and guess which other disease? Yup, AIDS. Thanks to restrictions on the use of effective deterrents, such as the insecticide DDT to save some fowl, Africa is teeming with disease carrying insects. Namely, mosquitoes.

As I said, I can’t really knock Starbucks for wanting to help. But if it really wants to be useful in the fight against AIDS in Africa, it would be better served to push for the use of effective insecticides in Africa. This would essentially “lop off the cobras head” and pave the way for those AIDS-cocktail medical treatments to be worth the effort.