Yesterday morning, Dexcom UK & Ireland did something outrageous. They posted this to Facebook…
Actually, I can’t post a photo of it, because just as I was about to take a screenshot to share, the post was deleted.
So, instead, let me explain: Dexcom UK & Ireland decided to generously make a £2,000 (about AUD$3,685) donation to Spare a Rose, which (if you have been paying even a smidgen of attention to this blog, you’ll know) supports the IDF Life for a Child program. Life for a Child provides insulin and other vital diabetes supplies to children with type 1 diabetes in developing countries .
And because it’s Easter, Dexcom UK & Ireland decided to make things a little fun by suggesting people pose with an Easter egg and share their photo. Each photo would equal £10 towards the overall £2,000 donation
Now, obviously this is outrageous. We know this because after Dexcome UK & Ireland posted their donation idea, there was so much outrage-y outrage, that everyone was outrageously outraged. Because: outrage.
So much fucking outrage.
Within minutes, there were very aggressive comments from people who joined the dots to show that posing for a photo while holding an Easter egg was pretty much the same as giving yourself, or your child, a mighty big cupful of poison.
I know: outrageous!
But it’s okay. Because along with the comments of outrage from the outraged, there were helpful keto recipes, alongside images of perfectly flat CGM traces, claims of perfectly in-range A1cs and promises that anyone who so much as looked at a chocolate Easter egg had just given themselves a big dose of diabetes complications.
Children are dying due to lack of insulin. That is the bottom line. You want to know what these kids’ CGM traces would look like if by some miracle they had CGM? Like someone dying from being in DKA. That is what they would look like.
But instead of contributing to the campaign to keep some of these children alive, a group of LCHF zealots hijacked the post to militantly push their agenda.
This is the very definition of privilege. This is the very definition of missing the point. This is the very definition of being a complete and utter dickhead on social media.
You know, there is a place for outrage on the internet. It’s outrageous when people think they have the right to criticise or attack another person for what they want, or don’t want, to eat.
But if people want to channel their outrage into something productive, how about focusing on the fact that children in some parts of the world are dying because they cannot access insulin. Because, actually, this really and truly is outrageous.
Postscript
Dexcom UK & Ireland has a new campaign:
Please click on the image above to be taken to the post to share how you will be celebrating Easter (which may or may not involve chocolate eggs!). Your photo will contribute to the donation Dexcom UK & Ireland makes to Spare a Rose.
You may also like to make a donation yourself by clicking here.
More on online outrage:
7 comments
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March 29, 2018 at 12:23 pm
Rick Phillips
I am glad they did not see me eating a piece of bread at the local sandwich shop today. But hey, they were out of chili.
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March 29, 2018 at 7:29 pm
Actually Mummy
I’m so going over there to post a picture of my diabetic child with her easter egg just to piss them all off. Crazy nutters.
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March 29, 2018 at 8:00 pm
Aileen
Well written and well said – the same thing happened over JDRF’s celebrations for Bantings birthday.
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March 29, 2018 at 8:43 pm
Marisa
Very, very well said, and thank God people are finally starting to stand up to these nutjobs who suck the fun out of everything, impose their views on people who don’t want to hear their fear driven agenda, and terrify the newly diagnosed and the desperate. They are the worst possible advert for the lifestyle they advocate. Thank you for writing this and giving voice to the thoughts of a huge number of us.
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March 29, 2018 at 11:54 pm
oceantragic
Well said, I used the word militant to describe them last night too, it perfectly describes their actions…the bastards!
How on earth can they feel it’s worth disrupting a thing which will see people around the world kept alive?
Although I missed the commotion I presumed the people concerned have Grit?
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April 1, 2018 at 1:43 am
Lorna
Morons. The world is so busy being outraged and offended, that people in need are dying by the wayside!
A little chocolate hurt nobody. Deprivation and fearmongering like that will only increase Diabulimia and associated eating disorders and depression etc in diabetics.
It’s the inability to obtain a lifesaving medication through purely financial reasons that people should really be throwing their toys out their prams about!
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April 6, 2018 at 4:23 am
theinsulintype
I see this both ways. I think Dexcom did a fantastic thing to help spread awareness and raise money, but they could have done it purely Easter themed and not with chocolate. And that doesn’t mean people who choose not to eat chocolate needed to make a huge fuss – I also agree with your view on that. A bit of common sense from both parties would have gone a lot further 🙂
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