so this is what it's come to?

Somehow on facebook yesterday I came across a request to become a fan of a sausage roll.

I didn't become a fan. But the amazing thing is, 500,000 people have become fans, and I'm betting this group will hit their target of 1.5 million in the next day or two.

Really, what compels a person to become a fan of a sausage roll? Facebook mystifies me. Does anyone actually make new friends (real friends, I mean) by uniting in the common goal of love for sausage/dislike of Cheryl Cole? (Cheryl Cole, for the record, is a British singer/dancer who, according to Wikipedia, "rose to fame in 2002 after becoming a member of pop group Girls Aloud through ITV's reality television programme Popstars: The Rivals.") If not, what motivates them to join causes like this?

Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, the non-profit here in Laramie that I volunteered with a few summers ago, has 144 fans. And they actually DO something. The American Red Cross has 171,000 fans. The U.S. Human Socity has 192,000 fans.

On the bright side, there ARE 540,000 fans for a haitian relief effort, but on closer inspection the most popular page is "9,999,999 fans and I will empty my bank account to help Haiti." And if you follow up on the link from their page, you get to a blog written by someone who says the goal is " The Ultimate goal is to get 9,999,999 fans of our Facebook page, and as much money donated to the RedCross as possible. We will also be donating money along the way."

Somehow I doubt that all of the fans of this site are making their way over to Red Cross to donate. The blog's most recent entry is also a post encouraging the site's fans to sign a worthwhile facebook petition: "Once 2 million fans are reached [the site's creators] will send the information to the United Nations requesting that they announce a Worldwide Lottery to benefit the people of Haiti and it’s reconstruction. Estimates are that a 1 time Lottery in which all participating countries of the UN sell tickets for a drawling, could actually raise over $100 billionfor Haiti."

Really? Really? I suppose it's always been easier to be a "fan" of something than to actually participate fully as an agent, making things happen. But c'mon.

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