Recently, I started seeing little bit of chatter urging people to not donate any more money to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
I wasn’t sure what that was about. The Multiple Sclerosis Society has been around for a long time and has done a lot of work supporting people with Multiple Sclerosis.
I always thought of them as a pretty honorable group, as such things go.
Wherever there is money and tax free organizations, there is always misappropriation of funds and the nasty infighting of power hungry individuals scrambling to the top of the hierarchy.
It’s a fact of life. My rule has been that if more than 60% of the dollars actually get to helping the people an organization claims to serve, then they’re probably okay to donate cash to, as long as I get the tax deduction out of it.
Ever since my encounters with the HRC, United Way, and Several of the “Pride” organizations in the 1990s. I’ve been a lot tighter with my money and my volunteer time.
It’s not that I don’t want to help other people out, it’s that I don’t want to volunteer time, money, effort, and resources to make a bunch of assholes at the top of an organization wealthy and powerful.
Most of the organizations I encountered behaved a lot more like High School Prom committees than actually wanting to help. Every organization was rife with back stabbing, misspending, cliques, the “popular” shitting on the less popular, and all the shitty behaviors you can imagine people are capable of. Any of this sounding familiar? If you need a refresher course, go volunteer for one of the alphabet groups for just one week. I dare you!
Believe me, after that you’ll be ready to move off grid, never interacting with another human being for the rest of your life.
Besides, we’re already forced to participate in this sort of group behavior with our shitty government Federal and State!
I learned my lesson!
Imagine my surprise learning what the source of the chatter was. I absolutely agree that the Multiple Sclerosis Society needs to have its donations cut off.
It turns out that Libs Of TikTok is the source of the chatter and once again I have to applaud them.
The story is this,
A 90-year-old California woman has been fired from her volunteer role at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society after 60 years of service because she didn’t understand the necessity of declaring her preferred pronouns.
And why should she? I guarantee she understands Pronoun usage better than most people. Even if she isn’t an English teacher.
What she didn’t understand was being forced to declare her pronouns. Yes I said FORCED!
To someone like her, or in fact myself, having to declare pronouns is a useless and pointless exercise. Pronouns have pretty much always been self evident.
I personally despise being forced to declare my pronouns, because doing so, drags me into someone else’s delusions and makes it appear that I support those delusions. Which I do not! Nor do I wish to keep up with the ever changing miasma of odd combinations of two or three letters which are unpronounceable, yet appear to serve as a pronoun for some visibly deranged individual.
Upon seeing these individuals, it is not what pronoun I should use that is forefront in my mind. It is usually the verb, “RUN”.
There is a YouTube interview here with Fran Itkoff who is the volunteer the Multiple Sclerosis Society dismissed.
I’m linking the Breitbart article here
Further I’m lifting chunks of the Breitbart article that are interesting. I urge you to read the entire article.
“An email from National MS Society Community Engagement Manager Kali Kulor accused the veteran volunteer of violating the nonprofit’s “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” guidelines.“
Fran Itkoff is 90. She’s been involved with the MS Society for 2/3 of her life. I’d say she fucking deserves a little consideration and courtesy.
Oh and this is just my opinion… FUCK Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. How about we just treat each other with respect, kindness, and courtesy?
“Itkoff’s daughter, Elle, said the move to fire her mom was “ironic” because “excluding a 90-year-old disabled woman who has volunteered for 60 years” doesn’t seem to fall in line with the group’s mission for inclusivity.”
This is one of the best examples of, ‘Lets be inclusive by being exclusive.’ You know, kind of like college safe spaces that say, “All are welcome here, EXCEPT WHITE PEOPLE!” If the people coming up with this sewage had the briefest moment of introspection, or the capacity to think with any kind of logic they’d probably have their heads implode. Unfortunately, instead they assault the rest of us with their insanity.
Frankly, I’m DAMN sick and tired of the psychological assault!
The Libs of TikTok interview has gone viral.
“Following the viral interview, the National MS Society doubled down on their decision to fire Itkoff. In an email to other volunteers, the executive vice president of the group’s general counsel implied that the 90-year-old was let go because others shouldn’t have to feel “unsafe” at work.“
Unsafe at work? What the fuck? How about the fact that through my entire career, there have been people who got my pronouns right but couldn’t pronounce my last name?
AHHHHHHHHH I’m afraid! I’m damaged, I’m Triggered, I’m not valued, I’m unsafe at work! Where is my million dollar restitution????
Unsafe at work… My Hairy ASS!
Grow a spine, and thicker skin you fucking pronoun pussies!
Can you tell I’m over this kind of shit?
Good I knew you could!
“The sudden resignation of the society’s president and CEO, Cyndi Zagieboylo, further added fuel to the flames.”
I suspect that Cyndi Zagieboylo saw the handwriting on the wall and decided she didn’t want to be at the helm of a society that was probably going to self destruct. So she exited stage left, getting out while the gettin was good.
In a way I respect her if that is what she did and why. She probably realized the rot was too far gone for her to be able to do anything about it.
In typically laughable fashion, The MS Society has attempted to, what? Explain themselves? Uh, hold the course? Ignore the real issue? (They’re wrong, and they’ve fucked up.) By releasing this statement.
“Recently, a volunteer, Fran Itkoff, was asked to step away from her role because of statements that were viewed as not aligning with our policy of inclusion. Fran has been a valued member of our volunteer team for more than 60 years. We believe that our staff acted with the best of intentions and did their best to navigate a challenging issue. As an organization, we are in a continued conversation about assuring that our diversity, equity and inclusion policies evolve in service of our mission, and will reach out to Fran in service of this goal.“
Apparently, the MS Society has also taken down their Board of Directors page. Why is unclear.
Some are suggesting that perhaps the blowback has been intense enough that the board is attempting to “Hide”
I hate to say it, but perhaps the National Multiple Sclerosis Society needs a good dose of the “BudLight Treatment”.
When their donations drop to the point that they’re laying off payed staff and not being able to keep the lights on, maybe they’ll get the message that this Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion shit needs to fucking stop.
At least now I get why X/Twitter chatter was saying to defund the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Surprisingly, I agree.