helpmepleaseandvote
jasper, alberta is a sweet little place with an awesome bicycle shop, freewheel cycle. they have hooked me up with places to stay while i take some rest days and wait out the crappy weather. the icefields parkway through jasper, banff, and kootenay national parks is all about views so i’m waiting for the clouds to dissipate and in the meanwhile, my body can resuscitate.
i have started this trip big doing about 80-100 miles a day. with the super long lit days up here. it’s been no problem covering this kind of ground. sometimes, it’s a bit hard to find a place to camp. so i just have to keep on riding until i see something relatively flat and dry. and something always comes up...but sometimes it’s a little later than i’d like.
i’ve taken some slack for my first blog. i hoped i wouldn’t but i have. it’s just my perspective...how i feel. i realize that i may have a tendency to oversimplify life. but, quite simply, it makes sense to me that way. i believe most complications are self-introduced, and, following, can be self-removed. it’s just crossing that line, taking that step, or pushing that peddle...that is all that’s required.
the side of the road is the lazy man’s garbage can. have you made any contributions lately?
i’m at a rest stop and a dog is walking by which brings me to an interesting statistic. americans, according to pet industries, inc., spent $32 billion, yes with a b, on pets and pet products. meanwhile, children barely cling to life in other countries having never felt what it’s like to have a full stomach. don’t get me wrong, i love pets, but it is an interesting world.
i have learned that i am an intensely nostalgic person. my memories are my greatest godsend. i fear alzheimer’s. will it get me? do i already have it? what about cancer? is it just a matter of waiting for a manifestation and metastasis...hmm, what’s that strange spot on my leg....dang it all, i can’t remember what i had for dinner two nights ago...it’s scary. how will i die? how will you die? i can’t imagine my non-existence, but then again, that’s the point.
when i’m cycling i’m seven again and everything is just so perfect and happy and i’ve not a care in the world because my backyard and the creek is my world and nothing bad happens there and it’s comforting to know of nothing else. but now i know of too many else’s and it can be a bit overwhelming because there’s just so many questions that lead to more questions and the more i know the more i know i should know but at the same time i want to know less because the bliss of ignorance, once gone, is gone forever. and forever’s a pretty long time.
my dilemma is this. i purchased some granola bars. the box contains coupons for mcdonald’s fruit and yogurt parfaits and for an entree salad (great coupons for a vegetarian). i hate mcdonald’s and will not buy food there. i’m not giving myself a self-congratulatory pat on the back for my little meaningless one man battle against the megalopolis, it’s just what i do. an interesting sidenote about mcdonald’s and jasper, alberta (where i am now): there used to be a mcdonald’s here. it closed, yes, closed, two weeks ago. the community did not support it and it turned out to be a money pit. it just goes to show what can happen when a concerted effort is made. it can happen. if everyone stopped patronizing wal-mart, there would be no more wal-marts. it’s that easy. back to the coupons. no purchase necessary. translation: free food. translation: makes hIrSch happy. but it’s dadgum mcdonald’s...so should i not use them? i have almost justified the rationalization that if i indeed use them, the result will be positive for me (full tummy) and negative for them (decreased profit margin). but it’s mcdonald’s...so i leave the question up to you. click on "comments" and vote. so i guess, ifItiStObEiTiSupToyOu.
posted by h I r S c h @ Saturday, July 16, 2005
38 Comments:
Do not eat the MacDo's food. Yes, a salad sounds good, but they are not real salads. There is nothing good for you in a MacDo's salad. Same for the yoghurt parfait - have you ever tasted one? It is not real yoghurt.
If you need a meal I will send you some American money. Just let me know which town you will be biking into in about two weeks (the time it will take to get there) so I can send it "general delivery."
DON'T DO IT! Think of the money they've spent on those stupid coupons that could have been spent elsewhere. All designed to suck you in.
P.S You should check out the Fair Dinkim Food campaign running from the wild North West of Tassie. Tasmanian farmers recently lost a major contract to grow spuds for maccas. It's going to devestate the farmers and their families, and all because the big corporate decided to use cheap overseas french fries imports. rooooar!
I agree hang on to them!
You are the winner if thet're good, if not...
Either way, you win. However, if you feel as strongly about not patronizing the company as your comments indicate, don't use the coupons.
i'm not going to call you the word that comes to my mind, b/c, a few years ago, it caused us to get into our first and only fight ever. hey, you may decrease their profit margin, but you also might allow them to roll their counter over to "over 3 billion served!" ANYONE who eats at mcdonald's does it to get a "full tummy."
Hirsch and anon with the "american money:"
See below. I respect your comments, and hope the following will help you make the decision. Without large corporations and the money they generate, it would be impossible to help others in need to the extent that they do. Unless of course you are a communist and feel that everyone should be made economically equal, regardless of their hard work and dedication to what they do. Is it any wonder why we lead the world in Medicine, Business, and Technology? It is these fields that we clearly imporve lives for others. And yes it trickles down to the less fortunate in this world. So if you hate the institutions, why do you want to send "american money???" Surely this has circulated through our horrible way of life. Go find an island and live there. Quit making us who live in the system feel like we are doing something bad in our every day lives. We feel like we are doing good for us and others.
With a focus on education, children and communities, Wal-Mart contributes – through the Wal-Mart/SAM’S CLUB Foundation – more than $18,000 an hour, or nearly $5 a second every day of the year. In fiscal year ending January 31, 2005, cash donations through Wal-Mart Stores and the Wal-Mart & SAM'S CLUB Foundation exceeded a record $170 million. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, this makes Wal-Mart the largest corporate giver in the country.
McDonald's owner/operators and company-operated restaurants give back to their communities in countless ways. They:
Support health, recreation, and other community programs.
Provide aid during natural disasters and other emergencies.
Support their local schools and provide education assistance.
Contribute to local community development.
Support Ronald McDonald House Charities and RMHC programs.
McDonald’s has long led its industry in environmental
conservation. They are launching new initiatives so that resources used to meet today's needs will remain available for the needs of tomorrow.
You see their commitment in:
Community balanced, active lifestyles event
New Orleans, Louisiana
Our neighborhoods, in anti-litter and community beautification programs.
Our restaurants, with state-of-the art technologies and packaging materials designed to conserve natural resources and reduce waste.
Our supply chain, where we are working with our suppliers to help them effectively manage their environmental impacts.
Our global policies for the McDonald’s System worldwide.
McDonald's works with their suppliers and expert advisors to:
Improve animal welfare.
Preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics important to human and animal health.
Ensure top food quality.
Maintain the highest standards of safety for our food, PlayPlaces, and toys.
Ensure essential protections of workers in our suppliers' facilities.
Promote good environmental management in our food supply chain.
trade the coupons in for something you really want.
Hey, greetings from DC! Still love the blog! You seem to have a knack for pissing people off... the issue is really quite simple. Please allow us to educate the ignorant masses.
If your goal was to impact Mac's bottom line, you have already succeeded... in the wrong direction. We had blissfully forgotten Mac since SupersizeMe. Only one of us realized "Lovin' it" was their slogan. They should really thank you for this free publicity.
Wish you were biking through DC so we could all hang out. As to what you should do with your coupons, we believe the answer is clear from what we've written above.
Give them to someone you meet on the way. They may not have the questions you do about it and enjoy a reasonably healthy meal. You can easily repay someone a kindness shown you. And the only one who loses is MD.
one more thing-maybe you should pay for the food instead of worrying about impacting mcdonald's bottome line (or so you say). b/c there's a percentage, however miniscule, of that lost profit that would have gone to, say, the ronald mcdonald house. but is that not a worthy charity b/c it helps american kids? (and, aren't "miniscule" changes the ones you believe can change the world??) --j
Look out for numero uno Hirsch...eat the yogurt for FREE!!
By the way, I don't understand your rig. From the pictures it doesn't look like a trailer...where's the wheel?
McD is the people who eat there. It can and does exist only because of them. They like it.
Given that you dislike McD, what possible sense can it make to attack the corporation? If you destroy the corporation, leaving the customers intact, they will simply raise up a new corporation. (McWalton's? Just turn the signs upside down...)
If you want to eliminate McD and its offspring, you have two options. a) become a dictator and issue an edict b) change the customers.
If you wish to pursue option "b", there are two steps. 1) convince the customers that there is reason to stop liking McD 2) show them an alternative. Of these, 2 is the more important.
The reason people like McD is because it prepares food so efficiently that it can sell a tasty meal cheap, and sometimes give it away for free.
The alternative would be more variety, better quality food, and a more interesting way of life. This would cost more. In other words, people would have to work harder for less food.
So here's my vote:
If you like free food, then use the coupon.
If you want to bring down McD, first decide for yourself that you are willing to work (i.e. spend money) in exchange for good food. Then set about convincing others.
P.S. You have forgoten one person in your cause and effect analysis: the local cook who will make a profit and stay in buisness if you decide that their effort is worth your money.
Without that cook, step 2 becomes almost impossible. That is why McD's prints X million free meal coupons. The free meals are money well spent, to be recovered tenfold when the competition is gone.
Hirsch...are you kidding me? You dropped more money at Wally-World in college than most other people I know. With you constant eating, it was the only place that you could afford to by food and not go broke. The stuff from McD's is free. Stop and get some decent food. You are not going to save the world with your one man boycott.
Hirsch you were a far cooler dude when you were just a person and not a progressive cause.
I'll tell you what, I usually don't go to McDonalds, but if you don't go, I will go for you. You see what I'm getting at? I will patron the place (w/o a coupon) if you don't use their coupon. So if you don't want the big bad McDee's in central Indiana to get any extra money due to you, I'd use the free coupons.
Toth
Dude, it's free food. I may not completely understand the moral dilema that you have with McD's but in my humble opinion it's free food and that should not be taken lightly. Granted I am still in shock after returning from Vanuatu and realizing how much money is thrown away on food, and in turn how many people take that food for granted and throw it away without finishing it. Sometimes I want to go up to those people and ask if I could finish it for them, no sense in wasting perfectly good food, but alas that is not acceptable in this society. You want my vote, I say if you're passing a McD's and your hungry, feel no shame in slapping those coupons down and getting yourself something to eat.
Good luck on your trip, by the way, I look forward to reading more about your adventures and your ranting!
As your standing at the street, you observe one man robbing and beating another. You are aware of it. You watch it happen. You are no longer ignorant. You are responsible. Do you do something or nothing?
The question is not "Should you use the McDonalds coupons, or not?" The question is not McDonalds. The question is "You". You, of all people, are aware of those less fortunate. You are no longer ignorant. So, lets simplify the problem. And now the question is “What and how are you going to help those less fortunate?”
Focus not
on what others do..
Focus only on you...
why not eat at macdonald's? you are already a hypocrite as many of your actions don't match what you say? what happened to the good 'ol AT days of letting everything be - people want different things out of life and by trying to impose your beliefs on others you are doing the same thing you seem to despise of westerners and america. what's this shamless plug for the bike company? disappointing... how is that any different? you try to impose these beliefs on others that don't make sense when thought through but refuse to defend them to rational discourse. i had not eaten at mcdonald's for i don't know how long but have been three times recently now that it is on my mind. i am sure they are thankful for the free advertising.
ugh...mickeyD's.
how do you like that trailer? i'm looking to purchase that exact one. but not for an extensive tour like yours, though i would like to get into overnight trips. but mostly so that i can take my dog around town w/o having to drive. good luck to you!
I am not sure of all of teh coorporations you have chosen McDonalds to boycott. So much of what you do everyday is contributing to someone's bottom line. Dick's, Kroger's, Best Buy, whoever. To choose one coorporation to boycott, and not another seems random and misses the point.
I suggest you take the coupons to the Ronald McDonald house and explain to one of the parents there why you are giving them the coupons.
I love you! :)
well, originally, i was going to vote for using the coupons, because you get food and mcd's looses profit (not fans of their food). if i were you though, it would be hard for me to not react opposite to whomever's comment annoyed me the most... so i guess i'm left with suggesting that you just do what you would least regret doing...........
I suggest you not use the coupons and find other ways to get food.And if you don't patronize Mcd's then stick to your gunz and find a better use for the coupons...like starting a fire.
miss you, hirsch
Something to think about for those of you that hate globalization and the US way of business and economics. This should surely make you recondsider whether these large corporations are really on the AXIS of EVIL. OH, I almost forgot...Walmart is on the list. But I wouldn't expect all of the "free world people" out there to even take the time to read the following:
The list of the top five corporate donors are Merck & Company, a pharmaceutical corporation in Whitehouse Station, N.J., that gave away a total of $843-million in products and cash in 2003, Pfizer ($686.2-million) and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company ($615.7-million), both in New York; Johnson & Johnson, in New Bruns-wick, N.J. ($384.5-million), and the Microsoft Corporation, in Redmond, Wash. ($264-million).
In total cash donations, Wal-Mart Stores, in Bentonville, Ark., topped the survey with $153.4-million, an increase of $17.4-million
Besides Wal-Mart, the other companies that gave more than $100-million in 2003 are the Altria Group, in New York ($112.1-million); the Exxon Mobil Corporation, in Irving, Tex. ($103-million); and the Ford Motor Company, in Dearborn, Mich. ($100.9-million).
FleetBoston's foundation gave $19.6-million to, among other things, economic development, literacy efforts, and youth programs.
The Wachovia Corporation, in Charlotte, N.C., is providing $20-million over five years to organizations that help public schools recruit and train teachers.
HOW MUCH COMPANIES EXPECT TO GIVE IN 2004
Washington Mutual (Seattle) $94,250,000
Bank of America Corporation (Charlotte, N.C.)1 $85,306,000*
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (New York) $84,928,149
Verizon Communications (New York) $66,250,000
SBC Communications (San Antonio) $64,402,000
Wachovia Corporation (Charlotte, N.C.) $54,000,000
Bank One Corporation (Chicago) $42,700,000
Morgan Stanley (New York)2 $35,175,000
Caterpillar (Peoria, Ill.) $33,000,000
American Express Company (New York) $31,500,000
MetLife (New York) $30,200,000
Prudential Financial (Newark, N.J.) $25,000,000*
Honeywell International (Morristown, N.J.) $22,000,000
International Paper Company (Stamford, Conn.) $16,000,000
Xerox Corporation (Stamford, Conn.) $15,000,000*
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (Milwaukee)3 $12,784,004
Goldman Sachs Group (New York)2 $12,000,000*
Motorola (Schaumburg, Ill.) $10,400,000*
Eastman Kodak Company (Rochester, N.Y.) $10,000,000
J.C. Penney Company (Plano, Tex.)4 $9,059,957
New York Life Insurance Company (New York) $8,329,400
Marathon Oil Company (Houston) $4,300,000
Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) $3,400,000
Travelers Property Casualty Corporation (Hartford, Conn.) $3,400,000**
AutoNation (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) $1,200,000**
* Represents cash giving from corporate foundation only.
** Represents cash giving from corporate-giving program only.
1 Figures do not take into account commitments made by the FleetBoston Financial Corporation, which the company acquired on April 1, 2004.
2 Figures are for the fiscal years ending November 30.
3 Figures are for the fiscal years ending June 30.
4 Figures are for the fiscal years ending January 31, 2004 and 2005.
the way that you have described your dislike for mcdonalds, illustrates that you do not want to be a part of any of it.. so free food..when it comes down to it, you can find deals and bargains and free things all over. give away the coupons to someone who likes mcdonalds, therefore you are not doing something that you obviously dont want to do, and you are helping someone with something that they like to do, or eat, or whatever..
I confess I enjoy reading your blogs and the responses that come about. It is good that people have so much passion and are working to promote what they see as the best way to live a life. My humble opinion (straight from my dad's philosophy) is "eat when you're hungry, sleep when you're tired, go to the bathroom when there's a toilet." Of course the last one sometimes needs modifying in a lifestyle like yours! If your choices are slim, use the coupons. If you've got options, it sounds like you would take them anyway.
Thanks for giving us an option to connect to you on your journey.
-Hajnalka
I say go with your "gut" the same as you always have, you've done great so far don't change something that has worked for you so well so far, we love you either way
Rob, you'll be pleased to hear that thanks to you I took little Wade to get a hot fudge sundae at the local McDonald's. Do I have to keep this up, or are you going to come to your senses and use your FREE coupons? You know I don't have any lunch plans for Thursday...I'm thinking that a nice big super sized Big Mac value meal with the extra large chocolate milkshake would be pretty good right about now. Its up to you...go to a local restaurant or give money to the big, evil red clown corporation?
You know, this may become a weekly ritual if you don't take the FREE food...I go out to eat at McDonald's and think of my old friend Hirsch. I'll have a extra large fry in honor or you bro.
Jim "I'm lovin' it" Toth
hey jim "im lovin it" the thing you'll be lovin is the fact that in those supersize fries alone are the recomended calories in 1 count em 1 days so with all the calories you eat you will probably be a very heafty jim fun lover of mc'ds. and the sad thing is you off of hirschs boycot of mcd's
make your own choice and stick with your hattered of mcd's
With the 20+ miles I run a week, I think that indulging in McDonalds once or twice a week in honor of my good friend Hirsch won't send me to an early grave.
Rob, instead of simply expressing a hatred for McDonad's, please share with the class why exactly you feel the way you do?
Toth
hiya
i spent four months doing the general backpack thing in mexico (mexico city straight down), guatemala and honduras, from oct last year until feb. i thought you might like to have a look at my writing about it, particularly mexico and guate. you'll have to go through the archives to oct/nov/dec but the link is www.whereisemily.blogspot.com
i'd recommend the san pedro spanish school (that's it's name) in san pedro, lago atitlan, in guatemala, it's cheap and their home stays are great.
good luck with your adventure!
if you even think about eating at mac dougals, wait a minute - you are - that's it, i'm gonna track your forrest gump ass down, smack you in the nuts with a r-ball racquet (again) and tattoo "cOmMy bAsTArd" on your forehead.
ps., my lady will never make you brownies again - either.
a blueberry is a blueberry. lettuce is lettuce. yes, most of mcdonald's food is crap. however, this stuff is what you or i would buy at the grocery store. use the coupons, reap the free food, destroy mcdonald's profit margin.
to all those who are calling you a sell out, don't worry about it hirsch. what's happening here is obvious. what they have read of your writings has rattled them. they know (and maybe even fear) how much it makes sense (at least most of it, i, however, prefer to flush). because of this recognition, they are trying to dismantle you. they are trying to find a chink in your armor.
why? because once they have found some little thing, they can justify themselves and their lives with a dismissive, "aw, you see, he's just a hypocrite, like the rest of them...ha!" and then they can go on living their consumer driven lifestyles. without thinking about anything. it's easier that way. let the commericals tells us what we need to buy. get behind the wheel, and go buy it. maybe 2 just in case.
"sissy" raises a good point. how do you pick and choose the corporations to boycott. that's tough. but you've picked two of the biggest. keep on keepin on bro! sure, you're not going to bring them down single handedly, but maybe someone has read the blog and will stop going to wal mart or whatever. and as you said in your first blog about racism, "a lot of littles makes a lot."
keep up the good work man. the only reason you have some negative feedback is because people are scared at what exactly they might be and why exactly they might be doing it.
--the definition--
hirsch already got this post in an email, but you guys are so worked up about this issue I felt that I just HAD to contribute...
if you're really concerned about world hunger, and you're also
> ambivalent about mcdonalds:
> give your mcdonald's coupons to one of the many hungry people you will
> meet on your bike ride. Luckily McDonald's are just about everywhere,
> though you should check and see if your coupon will work in Peru. (Just
> don't send it to Vanuatu, where no one is hungry and there are no
> McDonald's, except on top of the mountains... coincidence?)
>
> if you're really concerned about Hirsch's hunger, and you're also
> ambivalent about McDonalds:
> buy your own food. the amount of calories inside the McDonald's food you
> should be able to buy in non-McDonald's areas called "stores" for under
> $1. If you go into a store owned locally, this money will likely do some
> good, and biking along the sides of roads for thousands of miles with
> the sharp eyes you've got I imagine you'll find well over $1.
>
> if you're really concerned about hirsch's hunger, and your're also
> ambivalent about McDonald's, AND you're a cheapskate,
> then you've run up against your limitations: what's more important
> Hirsch? You go on and on about "If it's to be, it's up to me" and how
> YOU have to look after Yourself, all kinds of self-reliance type rants,
> and then when you come up against the limits of your own logic you want
> some strangers on the internet who you would otherwise label as
> "suckers" to tell you what to do.
>
> My own opinion is that the worst thing you could do would be to eat that
> shit. Why? because it's fucking nasty shit. McDonalds: blegh.
>
> I feel like your relationship with money is unnecessarily complicated
> and emotional, Hirsch. Money is just an abstraction of material Value. I
> value my time, therefore if I do something for you I ask Value in
> return. If I build you a house, you could write me a novel, That would
> be fair. But maybe one of us is busy doing something else so we decide
> to use society's convention for exchanging material value: money. I
> think what you're really disgusted by is the big mistake that society
> makes of confusing MATERIAL value with HUMAN value. If we're just
> talking about material value then money is money buys an apple, a bike,
> a t-shirt which goes on to pay the people who made or grew such product
> who go on to buy other products, etc. We are material beings and have
> material needs and money certainly simplifies matters, I could only fit
> so may pieces of 8 in my wallet, you know. I'd rather keep a dollar bill
> on me than a pig and a red mat (a la man-pentecost): as a hiker/biker
> you should appreciate light weight solutions. The PROBLEM is when
> people confuse material needs for emotional, mental, and spiritual
> needs, confuse the outside for the inside. Or moreover the tendency is
> to flatten out the inside, to turn emotional, mental, spiritual into
> just more materials. Then there's a basic confusion between what money
> does and does not buy. It seems to me that you, hirsch, place an
> inordinately HIGH value on money; I don't know what that means. But it
> does seem like a paradox that someone who saves money as intently as you
> do hates it so much ("I want to Vomit whenever I spend money" or
> something is on your blog). Most people collect things they are
> interested in.
Just happened to stumble upon your site...a very opinionated blog, just like many others
Its all freakonomics!
A rogue economist is out there exploring the hidden side of everything. http://www.freakonomics.com/
If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work.
"don't hate the player, hate the game"
In this case, Hirsch vs. buying a McDonald's burger is a very small skirmish in the bigger struggle to re-engineer society.
Definately don't eat at McDonald's everyday, however DO take time to enjoy a nice double stack of Grade F beef patties squished between 3 buns, sprinkled with lettuce, layered with cheese, and dripping with scrumpditiliumptious sauce.
Oh, and before I forget. Dude, post a rough itinerary or schedule of post offices and I'll at least mail you some In 'N ' Out burgers from California. Those burgers put Mic's to shame. If you're gonna make the plunge into eating meat, at least plunge into some good quality stuff. I've also got 5 caribou roasts on hold to send to you if the situation arises.
A born-again meat eater,
Lucky Day
Hey hIrSch,
I am enjoying your site...I miss your publishings in the news letter, so this is a good substitute. You are an amazing guy with a unique mind, I wish I took advantage of that more while in Vanuatu.
-Brian Ahrens (15b)
hirsch, it is so good to have people like you in the world. A refreshing change to people who think that objective thought somehow makes one a communist. Your pursuit of truth and questioning the paradigms and society that we live in and under are the closest thing to democracy in motion (literally) that I have ever seen. People who have never stepped outside of those paradigms (say on an island in the middle of the south pacific) don't understand this. They think their paradigm is reality. I wish they could see for a one second what you see. I think this site is great way for people to try and experience a part of what you are going through. If they just take a moment to step outside of themselves...But...in the end they won't, entirely anyway. We will never see the full picture no matter how much we read or look at pictures. It is something that has to be felt. So I hope you don't take ignorent comments or attacks on your simple act of questioning too personally. I live and work every day in America. It is great place but the working day to day without change luls your intellect. You rely repetitive habits to make you an effective person, in this reality. While it makes you an effective workers it also limits our ability to see outside of ourselves. I am proud to have you out there as a fellow American. Putting us all in light that the world does not expect us to be in...the man out there listening, empathising and exploring new horizons and not pretending to know the answers. Thank you hirsch. I'm sure the coupons are long gone. It's irrelavant now. What ever your decision you stimulated thought. That is important. Peddle a few strides for me today please. Keep questioning.
The world needs people like you to draw attention to pertinent issues affecting humankind. keep up the spirit!! l like your adventurism.
I think you should learn to love Wally's World, however, never darken the front door. Only concentrate on what goes out the rear end.
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