Published 2002-09-04T00:00:00Z”/>

<strong>I’m no Hitler</strong>

Hitler wore khakis, but so do I.

While I was waiting for class last week, I caught up on my bulletin board reading. Among the clutter of A.S. Presents posters and CADEC advisories, a flier with a photograph of Adolf Hitler, the blue Gap logo and the line “Hitler wore khakis” attracted my attention. Why was this creepy photo staring me down? How was this posting roping me into the same category as the man responsible for the Holocaust?

“Gap pays workers in Cambodia 28 cents an hour,” the flier read.

The flier is for “Corporations, Globalization and Democracy,” a class offered through the Center for Regional and Continuing Education. As I stood there, Hitler still staring, I felt guilty for the denim skirt I was wearing at the time. Although it wasn’t khaki, it was still Gap.

In situations like this, I consider myself a passive activist. I read things like this flier and in my mind, I feel horrible because I am not the socially conscious consumer I should be.

I have to admit that the follow-through isn’t as frequent– I think before I act, but the action doesn’t always happen.

I can trace it back to sitting in the lobby of an Olan Mills photography studio when I was about 12 years old, waiting in some dated outfit to have a family photo taken. I chose to read a booklet produced by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals instead of Highlights for Kids or Sunset magazine. I remember reading something about Colgate and testing on dogs. In my 12-year-old brain I realized that there was something I could do to protest the practice. To this day, I still don’t buy Colgate.

The problem is, I don’t really check out any other toothpaste I buy. I’m not sure that every product I use is cruelty-free, or that every piece of clothing I buy was made under humane conditions.

I realize that my small attempts at activism are feeble and uninformed next to those who alter their consumer actions to protest the practices of corporations and companies like the Gap.

I doubt I am the only individual guilty of passive activism, but that doesn’t excuse the behavior. I do try to keep my ears and eyes open for civil rights information that will assist me in making better consumer decisions.

I believe education is the first step to making changes, and if I didn’t have a conflicting schedule, I might have taken this class. Maybe offering a class like this will cause people to think and act differently, to make human and animal rights an issue they want to stand behind as they spend.

Loryll can be reached at:

<a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>