Seeing the other side of the story
If you repeat something enough the more believable it becomes. Hence the urban legend of killer Coca-Cola grew a little more recently in these very pages when Social Justice Club president Darius Mirshahi accused the beverage company of a number of fouls, including murder in Colombia.
It has become the mantra of many students across Canada and the United States to bash Coca-Cola. A quick search in the Canadian University Press website shows over 20 stories regarding Coca-Cola. Most of those stories involving campuses that have exclusivity agreements with the cola company and the negative backlash from students to those agreements. The backlash usually surrounds alleged problems Coca-Cola is causing in different parts of the world, and the ethical and moral issues surrounding them.
For the record I do know that Fanshawe College and the Fanshawe Student Union have an agreement in place that makes Coca-Cola the exclusive beverage on campus. Also, I in no way benefit from this agreement. My preferred beverages are water (not Dasani) and tea. I rarely drink pop, but enjoy the occasional Fresca (a Coca-Cola product). When I feel like splurging I'll enjoy a variety of products made by The Pop Shoppe, a Canadian beverage company that had ceased production a number of years ago but is now back on the market, or a Stewart's soda or in a pinch a Jones soda.
One of the usual smears thrown at Coca-Cola is that the company has been responsible for killing, torturing and kidnapping hundreds of union leaders at bottling plants in Colombia. However I'm not sure how these claims have been substantiated since I can't find evidence that suggests arrests and convictions in this allegation have ever been proven. On the website www.cokefacts.org the following:
“In a lawsuit in Colombia brought by members of the local Colombian union SINALTRAINAL, the Court concluded, ‘Nowhere has it been established that any Company executive ever played a role in violating the aforesaid rights. Quite the reverse, the documents produced in this tutela action indicate that the violations of both fundamental rights and criminal laws were reported to authorities, who are properly investigating them.' The Court also noted that the bottler went further to enhance its workers' safety by heightening security at the plant.
“A separate investigation by the Prosecutor General of Colombia also concluded that there was no evidence that bottler managers conspired with paramilitaries to intimidate trade unionists. (Decision by Office of the Prosecutor General of the Nation, Office of the National Director of Prosecutorial Offices, National Human Rights Unit, Case No. 16, April 11, 2001.)
“In the U.S., The Coca-Cola Company was dismissed from a lawsuit concerning the Colombia allegations because the plaintiff failed to offer factual or legal basis for the allegations against the Company. We are confident that as the case proceeds, the court will find no evidence against our bottlers as well.”
As for Mirshahi and others in the Social Justice Club I'm left to wonder if any of these individuals ever declined a Fanshawe student bursary they may have been awarded because the money may have been tainted by Coca-Cola, since the College has earmarked some of the monies they have received from their agreement with the company to bursaries, while the FSU is putting 100 per cent of the monies it receives towards those same bursaries.
I'm also left to ask why is it Coca-Cola that gets the bums rush from students. Coca-Cola is not the only beverage company in the world as there are many breweries, distilleries, bottled water companies and soft drink companies. A quick search on the internet shows that Coca-Cola's chief rival is plagued by the same issues Mirshahi pointed out that exist in India with beverage bottlers, but there is nary a mention of this in his column.
While I will applaud Mirshahi for his activist ways, sometimes the message he delivers needs to be more balanced. Mirshahi's latest rant in the April 9 edition of Interrobang against the chocolate industry is typical negative based opinion writing. While I understand the need to dole out background information on the subject, as a reader I'm left wondering what companies deal in fair trade chocolate and where can I get this chocolate from. And instead of focusing solely on the negative aspects of what's going on in the world, is it possible for Mirshahi to focus on companies and societies that are doing the right thing, after all giving them a positive plug is only going to enhance their image, while bashing others never really has the desired effect.
Maybe if Mirshahi is on campus next year he'll surprise readers with an article on Starbury's athletic shoe that retails for about $15(U.S.) and is supposed to rival the likes of Nike, with that claim further substantiated by a report on ABC's “20/20.”
Finally, I'm left to wonder about Reverend Leigh Cooney and his constant Christian bashing. Why he hates Christian-based faith is somewhat puzzling to me since I don't recall him bashing Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hindus or some seemingly nonsensical Flying Spaghetti Monster faith that seems more meatball than religion to me. I fear for our society when someone appears as intolerant of people's faith as you appear to be.
Also I'm not sure how you acquired the title of Reverend, but if you did so by attending a seminar and dishing out $25 for a piece of paper it seems rather shady to me, rather than the years of study it normally takes a person to acquire such a title. I think you like using that title more out of disrespect to people of the Christian faith than the pride it would take in actually earning that title. In that vain, maybe I'll start calling myself Baron John Said, because I like the power and prestige that comes with the title Baron, and I can do so because there once was a WWF (now WWE) tag team champion, Baron Mikel Scicluna, who wrestled with that moniker and he was from Malta, and that's where my ancestry is from. Hey it all makes sense now.
Have a good summer.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
It has become the mantra of many students across Canada and the United States to bash Coca-Cola. A quick search in the Canadian University Press website shows over 20 stories regarding Coca-Cola. Most of those stories involving campuses that have exclusivity agreements with the cola company and the negative backlash from students to those agreements. The backlash usually surrounds alleged problems Coca-Cola is causing in different parts of the world, and the ethical and moral issues surrounding them.
For the record I do know that Fanshawe College and the Fanshawe Student Union have an agreement in place that makes Coca-Cola the exclusive beverage on campus. Also, I in no way benefit from this agreement. My preferred beverages are water (not Dasani) and tea. I rarely drink pop, but enjoy the occasional Fresca (a Coca-Cola product). When I feel like splurging I'll enjoy a variety of products made by The Pop Shoppe, a Canadian beverage company that had ceased production a number of years ago but is now back on the market, or a Stewart's soda or in a pinch a Jones soda.
One of the usual smears thrown at Coca-Cola is that the company has been responsible for killing, torturing and kidnapping hundreds of union leaders at bottling plants in Colombia. However I'm not sure how these claims have been substantiated since I can't find evidence that suggests arrests and convictions in this allegation have ever been proven. On the website www.cokefacts.org the following:
“In a lawsuit in Colombia brought by members of the local Colombian union SINALTRAINAL, the Court concluded, ‘Nowhere has it been established that any Company executive ever played a role in violating the aforesaid rights. Quite the reverse, the documents produced in this tutela action indicate that the violations of both fundamental rights and criminal laws were reported to authorities, who are properly investigating them.' The Court also noted that the bottler went further to enhance its workers' safety by heightening security at the plant.
“A separate investigation by the Prosecutor General of Colombia also concluded that there was no evidence that bottler managers conspired with paramilitaries to intimidate trade unionists. (Decision by Office of the Prosecutor General of the Nation, Office of the National Director of Prosecutorial Offices, National Human Rights Unit, Case No. 16, April 11, 2001.)
“In the U.S., The Coca-Cola Company was dismissed from a lawsuit concerning the Colombia allegations because the plaintiff failed to offer factual or legal basis for the allegations against the Company. We are confident that as the case proceeds, the court will find no evidence against our bottlers as well.”
As for Mirshahi and others in the Social Justice Club I'm left to wonder if any of these individuals ever declined a Fanshawe student bursary they may have been awarded because the money may have been tainted by Coca-Cola, since the College has earmarked some of the monies they have received from their agreement with the company to bursaries, while the FSU is putting 100 per cent of the monies it receives towards those same bursaries.
I'm also left to ask why is it Coca-Cola that gets the bums rush from students. Coca-Cola is not the only beverage company in the world as there are many breweries, distilleries, bottled water companies and soft drink companies. A quick search on the internet shows that Coca-Cola's chief rival is plagued by the same issues Mirshahi pointed out that exist in India with beverage bottlers, but there is nary a mention of this in his column.
While I will applaud Mirshahi for his activist ways, sometimes the message he delivers needs to be more balanced. Mirshahi's latest rant in the April 9 edition of Interrobang against the chocolate industry is typical negative based opinion writing. While I understand the need to dole out background information on the subject, as a reader I'm left wondering what companies deal in fair trade chocolate and where can I get this chocolate from. And instead of focusing solely on the negative aspects of what's going on in the world, is it possible for Mirshahi to focus on companies and societies that are doing the right thing, after all giving them a positive plug is only going to enhance their image, while bashing others never really has the desired effect.
Maybe if Mirshahi is on campus next year he'll surprise readers with an article on Starbury's athletic shoe that retails for about $15(U.S.) and is supposed to rival the likes of Nike, with that claim further substantiated by a report on ABC's “20/20.”
Finally, I'm left to wonder about Reverend Leigh Cooney and his constant Christian bashing. Why he hates Christian-based faith is somewhat puzzling to me since I don't recall him bashing Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hindus or some seemingly nonsensical Flying Spaghetti Monster faith that seems more meatball than religion to me. I fear for our society when someone appears as intolerant of people's faith as you appear to be.
Also I'm not sure how you acquired the title of Reverend, but if you did so by attending a seminar and dishing out $25 for a piece of paper it seems rather shady to me, rather than the years of study it normally takes a person to acquire such a title. I think you like using that title more out of disrespect to people of the Christian faith than the pride it would take in actually earning that title. In that vain, maybe I'll start calling myself Baron John Said, because I like the power and prestige that comes with the title Baron, and I can do so because there once was a WWF (now WWE) tag team champion, Baron Mikel Scicluna, who wrestled with that moniker and he was from Malta, and that's where my ancestry is from. Hey it all makes sense now.
Have a good summer.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
