Culture: September 2004 Archives

It seems that the anti-gay forces of the world have their backs up against the wall. Everybody knows boycotts against large, diversified companies simply don't work (even boycotts against undiversified companies like Coca-Cola don't work), so it's got to be desperation that made a conservative group call for a boycott of Crest and Tide.

"Procter & Gamble, to my knowledge, is the first corporation in this country that has given money for a political campaign pushing the homosexual political agenda," said the Rev. Donald E. Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association.

Note that they don't ask their members to boycott every other Proctor and Gamble product, like Swiffer, Jif peanut butter, or Pringles. Because that would actually require sacrifice, and Americans are completely and totally unwilling to make sacrifices at the expense of lifestyle.

I'd like to add that as a longtime P&G stockholder, I'm awfully proud of the company.

Somewhere in the East Bay, there is a lady named Maya who isn't very good at remembering the number for her new cell phone. She keeps giving out our home phone number, instead.

I've had this happen before: you get a spate of apparently wrong numbers, but from so many people for the same person that it's not just a coincidence. I've found that being helpful doesn't make it go away. What makes it stop is getting the charming wrong-numberer in a heck of a lot of trouble.

When Samesh or something like that was getting calls at my place in San Jose, not just any calls but long distance calls from India, I told his mother he was out with his fiancee, and that ended the odd-hours calls from around the world just about instantly. It's amazing what you have to do to get people to make a simple correction for family and friends you'd think they wanted to hear from.

So today, when Maya's boyfriend called for the third time (I do have to wonder why her boyfriend doesn't have the right number yet, but he claimed this morning that he called this very number last night and talked to her, so either he's got her twice in his speed dial or he's delusional), I told him she was out with her boyfriend.

He hung up and called right back and insisted on talking to Maya, but I was quite firm. Maya was out with her boyfriend. You know, that tall, buff black guy with the gold nose ring? I could just feel the anger through the phone. I predict an abrupt end to the wrong numbers for Maya.