I recently got a (chain) email telling me to send a tea bag to the White House on April 15th in protest of the recent government bail outs of large corporations with taxpayer dollars. And there is no shortage of people and organizations using the concept of the Tea Party as a means of peaceful protest. While my personal political views agree in principal that providing largesse from the treasury is not the correct course of action, I am wondering who really came up with this idea? Lipton?My friend who forwarded me the email even thought I might have construed the concept to increase tea sales. (I categorically denied these allegations, but appreciate the compliment.)
The Boston Tea Party was only one of 16 organized demonstrations against the tyranny of England and taxation without representation. I recall seeing an obscure and small placard on the side of a building in Providence, RI commemorating the burning of tea over 200 years ago. The event in Boston, for all its theatrics is the most widely known event from our history. For those unfamiliar with this amazing historical event, there is a great summary on Wikipedia.
And why did they dress like Indians? What, stealing their land wasn’t enough; we needed to make them seem criminal? And why do we as a nation continue to deny the fact our ancestors committed one of the largest acts of genocide in modern history?
Okay, I am digressing, back to the point.
While the Boston Tea Party represents a collective effort and good intentions of the brave men and women who founded our country and conjures images of a common belief of a government by the people for the people, it is one of the main reasons the U.S. is significantly deficient in its tea consumption. Not only was there a movement against the government of England, there was a rejection of the cultural identity to the motherland.
With our current scientific understanding of tea, it would make far more sense for people to drink tea in protest, yielding a calming effect and clarity of mind to rationale make decisions that would have not put our economy in this current quagmire.
Maybe we should petition our representatives to earmark an allocation and mandatory tea service for Congress prior to each session?
The resurgence of using the theme of a tea party is extremely damaging to our industry. I am not just referring to it allowing people like Newt Gingrich to get media coverage, but it associates the consumption of tea to the negative emotion towards the inefficiencies of government. It conveys that tea is not precious and can be easily disposed of.
This is almost as obnoxious and belittling as the constant media references to “Reading the Tea Leaves” when referring to the financial forecast of companies. Will our industry suffer from these irresponsible journalistic affiliations as well? How come no one wrote, “Reading the Tea Leaves: Our Economy is Failing?
Websites have been set up to organize these demonstrations and encourage people to waste tea and send to the White House. For the record, none of this will actually enter the White House as all the mail is screen at Post Offices and any food or consumables are discarded.
So I have decided to secured the domain, www.RealAmericanTeaParty.com (no its not live yet) and think we as an industry should start our own rebellion against journalists and any organization that assimilates tea to bad governance. It is time we fight back not against broken government, corporate bailouts, or criminal acts of people who are supposed to be looking out for us, but for the virtues of tea. If we don’t make a stand for tea, who will?
I encourage your comments and pledges of solidarity! Tea Drinkers unite, you have nothing to loose but your bags!
Popularity: 89% [?]
LOV E IT!
Let me know how what I can do to help…
Naja