Free Stuff! August 21, 2006 zuzu The Stranger gives us tips on how to get free stuff from Focus on the Family, thereby taking money out of the pockets of an anti-gay, anti-feminist organization. Via Tbogg.
You know, back in my wingnut teenage days, I used to subscribe to Brio magazine (for teen girls), and would send in money for that stuff all the time. If only I had known that you didn’t REALLY have to pay! I’ll go shopping tonight!
Thanks for the tip. I just ordered some “How to cure the Queers” books (for a laugh) and a “Chronicles of Narnia” dvd (for my nephew). I’m gonna do much of my Christmas shopping there (my friends love gag gifts).
What would I do with it? Seriously. I would, except that I wouldn’t use it, couldn’t give it away, and am somewhat pathologically opposed to throwing away perfectly functional items. It would sit in a pile in the living room for a year. My gf would kill me.
I would… but the thought of that crap actually being on route to my home (I don’t have any *enemies)… makes me nauseous, blurgh.
The E-bay idea squicks me a bit. I’d rather not be responsible for putting this trash in the hands of someone who’d take it seriously. Tho the world could always use more rolling papers…
…..or, fuel for a fire? make little paintings on the pages of the books. just be creative! the idea is to help spend the $$$ that would otherwise go to harrassing people that i identify with. i plan on making some art out of this stuff…….
I rather like the ebay idea, especially if you decide to donate a portion of the proceeds to Planned Parenthood or the ACLU.
I’m totally gonna go get The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe move for my little sister, and maybe a homeschool book for my mom. 🙂 This is awesome . . . I only wish they had more stuff I could use for gifts so I could save some cash at Christmas . . .
I can’t believe all of you people that would willingly give something like The Chronicles of Narnia earnestly to a young relative. It’s almost as bad as giving them the anti-gay literature.
i plan on making some art out of this stuff……. Hey April, if you get the Making Informed Decisions About Abortion/Teen Kit, it comes with a tiny fetus. SURELY you could use that! I think I’m going the same route as everyone here and getting a million copies of Narnia.
Oh, and my liberal elitist East Coast friends are getting Citizen magazine in their mailboxes. Oh-ho, this is waaaaay too much fun!! 😉 Who else can I punk?
A similar thing was done back in the day (the 70s-early 80s day) by gay groups with Jerry Falwell’s Bible offer. People would call up (man, it was primitive back then) and order the free Bible and direct it to be sent to a false address; Falwell would send them out and then have to pick up the return post as well as paying for the outbound mail. It worked great. You probably won’t see it mentioned much, but it was one of the reasons for the 1989 dissolution of Falwell’s Moral Majority organization.
Am I the only one who felt a tad bit dirty doing this? I mean, I’m totally going to abuse this for all I can, but yet, I felt just tiniest bit dirty.
I can’t believe all of you people that would willingly give something like The Chronicles of Narnia earnestly to a young relative. It’s almost as bad as giving them the anti-gay literature. It’s been a long time since I read it … was it all that bad? Or was the movie worse?
I just did it! I feel sort of bad because, well, it *is* stealing… but then when I was actually clicking around the site I didn’t feel bad at all. THEN they hit me with the overseas shipping fee, which was also waived when I donated zero dollars- and felt bad again. It didn’t last very long though. I got the Narnia DVD, which I will sell on eBay since I have an overdraft to repay, a book about curing lesbians that I will give as a joke to a friend, a bible story book for kids (because I actually kind of like bible stories, in the same why I like offensive comic books from the 50s), and one of the preventing homosexuality books that I’m sort of interested in for a novel I’ve been writing. I don’t know what I’ll do with that in the end. I don’t want to sell it on eBay since I don’t want to be responsible for someone else reading it, and for the same reasons I don’t want to give it to a charity giftshop. Eh, conversation piece it is.
Bwahaha! Brilliant! “Suggested donation,” my ass. I feel like a terrible person. But then I have to remember – the purpose of this material is much, much worse.
It’s been a long time since I read it … was it all that bad? Or was the movie worse? I’m not Christian, and I don’t remember anything particularly offensive in the movie. And believe me, after hearing it described by the producers as “The Passion of the Christ for kids,” I looked.
Lewis was a big fan of allegory (which is one of the places where he differed from Tolkien). Aslan is a Christ figure and the whole damn thing is an allegory. I haven’t seen the movie, but when I read the books as a kid all the Christian stuff went right over my head. Had my religious upbringing been less half-assed, I might have seen it. It does look like Tilda Swinton has a lot of fun working the White Witch thing. Seeing her driving a sled pulled by polar bears is enough for me to want to take a look.
We really enjoyed The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We were inspired to spend a lot of time in the front yard with plastic swords and bows and arrows and throwing daggers, beating the shit out of the tree standing in for the White Witch. Off to order some stuff.
I’ll be going back often. I think every kid/library/school should have multiple copies of both the Chronicles on CD and the Lion, Witch, Wardrobe DVD. These are resources that many school and public libraries can’t afford, sadly. And I’m guessing I’ll be able to pick up the other movies as they are released. Thanks, zuzu!
I just ordered 96.00 of stuff. I AM SO EXCITED!!!! I got some book for women only about men. I think the tagline said something about “Why men need sex to feel emotional” or something like that. Yes!
It isn’t stealing. They’re giving it away. If you take something that someone is giving you, it’s not stealing. There’s a huge discussion on Pharyngula about the ethical implications of taking advantage of the offer, including that you’re very possibly helping them retain their non-profit status regardless (because of the amount of giveaways they have) and that’s why they have it set up that way. Be assured, a corporation that big has already calculated the probable amount being given to people who don’t really want it and figured it into their bottom line. My only problem (besides ending up on their mailing list) is that it contributes to their total numbers of hits on the site and orders of their literature.
I haven’t seen the movie, but when I read the books as a kid all the Christian stuff went right over my head. Had my religious upbringing been less half-assed, I might have seen it. That’s where I’m coming from. And I also haven’t seen the movie, though it’s on my list, hence the question.
That’s where I’m coming from. And I also haven’t seen the movie, though it’s on my list, hence the question. There are a few prime examples of racism and sexism in the books (wicked dark-skinned worshippers of an evil moon god/demon, the few powerful adult women all being evil) but there’s very mild sexism at best in the movie. The books also have heavy Christian stuff that’s really apparent to adults but not so much to kids – Lewis said that it’s not allegory because Aslan isn’t a Christ figure, he *is* Christ (yeah, I don’t get it either). That is also weakened in the movie – it’s still prominent, but I don’t think any kids watching it are going to think “Aslan died for my sins! I must be redeemed!” or anything. Overall, I found it a thousand times less problematic than the Lord of the Rings movies! Also: less walking.