|
Jewish World Review Feb. 16, 1999/30 Shevat, 5759
Larry Elder
The fur coat death notice
(JWR) --- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com)
Thinking about buying a fur coat?
Well, if you live in Beverly Hills, your coat may soon contain the
following message:
"Consumer notice: This product is made with fur from animals that may have
been killed by electrocution, gassing, neck breaking, poisoning, clubbing,
stomping or drowning and may have been trapped in steel-jaw leg-hold traps."
This May, Beverly Hills residents vote on whether furriers must place this,
ah, "death notice" in fur coats. The Beverly Hills Consumers for Informed
Choices, the group behind the death notice, argues that people have a
"right" to know how the animals get killed. Can't people who want to know
ask? The group's spokesperson, John Stern, says that salespeople simply lie
to customers.
The organization distributed a secretly recorded videotape
showing salespeople either lying to or misleading customers about the way
animals are killed. Since you can't trust salespeople to level with
customers, says Stern, this law provides truth-in-execution.
But what if a customer does not want to know? I recently ate a chicken
taco. I don't believe for one moment that a chicken voluntarily diced and
cooked itself, and then jumped into a taco shell just to satisfy my hunger.
Yet I'm not particularly interested in knowing how the animal went from
breeding farm to take-out. I frequently eat in a local restaurant and once
had to pass near the kitchen to go to the rest room. Great food, but dirty
kitchen. For a while, I enjoyed the food a bit less. For a while.
Does the average fur coat purchaser really think that the animals died a
natural death, that some lucky fur coat maker spotted dead animals on the
side of the road, scooped 'em up and said, "Hey, look what I found!"?
Spokesperson Stern says that any customer who does not want the information
can just not read the card. Thus, we impose a burden on someone who does not
want to know. Yet we impose no obligation on consumers who want to know by
simply expecting them to take measures to find out.
But salespeople lie. They withhold information that could sour a sale.
Shocking! Simply shocking! When the used car guy tells you the '82 Nova
purrs like a kitten, do you accept that? When the home seller calls his
house "pristine," does the prospective home buyer take his word? Or does the
buyer operate under the assumption of caveat emptor -- let the buyer beware?
C'mon, sure salespeople lie, mislead, obfuscate. So, protect yourself. Get
information. Call the Consumers for Informed Choices.
Movies using animals often run disclaimers telling us that the animals were
well treated. Filmmakers provide this because they assume customers want to
know. Do fur buyers want to know how the animals were turned into coats? Are
consumers demanding this information? If so, furriers need no push
compelling them to do that which their customers demand. If fur buyers
wanted information and didn't get it or were lied to, customers have
choices. They can not buy or buy from someone who will be candid.
The consumer group collected 3,300 signatures to place this "death label"
on the ballot, proof, says the group, of the demand. Really. Of the
signatories, how many own fur coats? Will owners toss their garments in a
big bonfire once they discover the animals' fate?
What's next? A death label on hot dogs? What about hamburgers, shoes, belts
and purses? And don't get me started on sushi.
Is the group's true goal to make fur coats illegal? Stern says no. Does he
hope sales decrease? Well, he admits he would shed no tears if sales dropped
but insisted that the issue is disclosure. Still, it's hard to accept the
group's alleged pro-choice position on fur when a spokesperson for the
Humane Society of the United States says, "Fur is a purely status symbol,
and more and more, it is a symbol of cruelty. Beverly Hills has a warm
climate. The only reason why people would want to wear fur is for the
status." OK, let's outlaw status. The list includes BMWs, polo lessons and
five-bedroom homes.
Maybe, as President Clinton likes to say, there is a third way. Perhaps the
death notice can satisfy both the need to know and the desire not to know.
Simply give the death notice to Clinton's speechwriters for a re-write.
"Consumer notice: This animal experienced a premature cessation of its
neurological functions as a result of the administration of a variety of
measures, all designed to induce a 100 percent mortality response. If you or
anyone else objects to the animal termination methods described herein,
please be advised we will accept a strongly worded
01/29/99: A Malcolm X postage stamp? What about George Wallace?
01/21/99: Racism is only a conservative problem, right?
01/18/99: Police brutality? What about policy brutality?
01/04/99: The NBA slam-dunks taxpayers
12/28/98: "Evil" Republicans impeach Clinton
12/21/98: On to the Senate!
12/10/98: Will the real America stand up?
11/30/98: Save the children:tax the poor
11/30/98:Ken Starr and the vast left-wing conspiracy
11/19/98: Will the real hypocrite stand up!?
11/13/98: The Clinton 400
10/23/98: My evening with Chris Rock
10/15/98: Slavery is not funny
10/02/98: Clinton --- friend of the working woman
9/28/98: George Washington vs. the Grand Jury
9/18/98: It's the perjury, stupid
9/14/98: The "Larry List" of the most fascinating women in politics
9/07/98: Why blacks shouldn't support Clinton
8/27/98:The Brown bomber strikes Justice Thomas
8/21/98:So very clintonesque
8/17/98: Gary Coleman, hate criminal?
8/07/98: How much mea culpa?
7/24/98: ATM Al?
7/24/98: Advising the advisors
7/17/98: Camille Cosby's carelessness
7/9/98: Moses mugged
7/2/98: Al Campanis -- forever a racist?
6/25/98: And you thought "coke" was worse than smokes
6/19/98: Is Jasper ‘America'?
6/12/98: Guess who's not coming to dinner
6/5/98: What now, NOW?
5/29/98:What's next, ‘burger busters'?
5/21/98: 'Stuff' happens
5/18/98: This just in
5/11/98: Stepping up
4/30/98: Who's faking whom?
4/23/98:PRESIDENTIAL HOOP DREAMS
4/16/98:To spank or not to spank
4/10/98:TWA: TEACHING WHILE ASIAN