[nagdu] American Idol contestant gets guide dog

[Pickrell, Rebecca M (IS)]

We also have the feel-good value which sells well in these economic
times. 
The same thing has been done in other bad economic times. 
I did not see anything that indicates that Scott would take a dog, only
that Paula "surprised" him with one. 
Scott is always free to say no, something my husband pointed out. 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jenine Stanley
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 8:23 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] American Idol contestant gets guide dog

I'm with Tina on this one. 

I have to feel for the folks at GDA. Though we could argue that they got
in bed with these folks to begin with, as have all of the guide dog
schools to one degree or another on this project, I'm sure they never
expected it to go this far. I'm sure they tried over and over to educate
Ms. Abdul and her crew but like the fairly oblivious person she seems,
she ignored it for the hype and PR factor for her. 

I'm sure the guy wasn't exactly thrilled either. What do you say in a
situation like that? 

You are the school, with media there and all, and you get told this
probably right before the event, or at least in enough time only to grab
a couple demo dogs. Do you take the opportunity, or tell them to go
pound salt? It's like taking funding from Big Tobacco or something. 

I joke that as many people who smoke at my particular employer as we
have, we should have no problem sucking up to Big Tobacco. <grin> 

As Tammy noted though, it does put a moral dilemma out there for us,
lightly or heavily. 

I'm personally sickened by how Ms. Abdul has taken our movement as her
PR savior and completely disregarded anything guide dogs and guide dog
schools stand for or operate under. 

The sad thing is though that in these tough times, money is money. Some
day this will get written up for the business journals as a good example
of "Be careful what you wish for."


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