Monday, April 26, 2004
You can’t buy patriotism

By Mark Kreidler
ESPN.com

You could’ve missed it entirely. You had to go to Page 6 of the
growing list of items listed on eBay to find it, past the scads of Pat
Tillman cards for sale, and the autographed mini-footballs, and the jerseys,
and the "American Hero" T-shirts. You had to go past the Tillman
Arizona Cardinals uniform top that was already up to $305, and the Tillman
signed ball that was at $128.40 and ascending.

	In the spirit of American capitalism, leave it to money-grubbing memorabilia peddlers to cash in on Pat Tillman’s ultimate act of patriotism.

You had to get past the commerce of the dead, that is, to reach a word to
the living.

It was back there on Page 6, at the bottom of the list of the 271 items that
a routine "Pat Tillman" search returned at the auction site at
midday Monday. The item description said, "Pat Tillman: Wake Up &
Think About It."

And upon opening the file, you were greeted with something extraordinary: An
open call for people to stop bidding on Tillman items. A plea for people to
turn away — nay, to run away at top speed — from the ghoulish business of
those wishing to turn a profit off Tillman’s death in Afghanistan last
Thursday.

"Many sellers are currently featuring Pat Tillman memorabilia to cash
in on the death of an American hero," the "seller" wrote.
"Think about it."

The author then asked readers to pony up their bids instead for a fund that
would be donated to the charity of the "winning" bidder’s choice
— essentially, eBay regulars are asked to fork over their money for
something they couldn’t actually put their hands on and own.

Perhaps that’s why the item is at the bottom of a pile 271 deep.

Understand first that Pat Tillman items were on sale at eBay long before he
was killed in action on patrol with an Army Rangers unit. Understand that
just about every athlete of any note has memorabilia related to him or her
available for auction, be it on eBay or anywhere else.

Understand that eBay is a commercial vehicle of the human soul, a conduit
between whatever it is that people decide they want to ship and whomever it
is who decides to ask that it be shipped to them.

Beyond that, this is America. The profit motive doesn’t cease to exist in
either good times or bad. All those American flags that suddenly appeared in
doorways and windows and on poles and car antennas after the events of Sept.
11, 2001 — what, they materialized out of the collective spirit of the
country? They were manufactured and sold, and the companies involved made a
tidy profit. They don’t shutter the factories every time the U.S. plunges
into crisis mode.

Still, there was something unnerving about the flood of Tillman items that
blew into eBay in the hours and days following his death. Some sellers
sounded as though they were profoundly moved by the tragedy, including one
who described himself as retired military man and said he would donate half
the profit from the Tillman item he was hawking to any Tillman-related fund
he could find. Others were as cool and businesslike as possible, simply
describing the value of the Tillman autograph or the quality of his NFL
rookie card.

It was only the message at the bottom of Page 6 that pierced all the way
through.

"This auction is to honor Pat Tillman," the item’s
"description" read. "Please do not bid on items featuring his
name …

"The winner of this auction must specify to which charity he or she
would like the final bid amount to go to. We’ll consume the listing fees. At
the end of this auction, you will be responsible for sending us a check or
money order payable to the charity of your choice. We will then forward the
funds on to the charitable organization.

"When we get a receipt from the charity, we will send it to you. Or you
could simply make a donation in Pat’s name to the charity of your choice and
skip this auction altogether."

It was a clean wish, one that didn’t try to twist itself into some vague
extrapolation of what Tillman "would have wanted" or any of that
rot. It was the message that needed to be heard, one that told bidders that
whatever they thought they might be accomplishing by purchasing Tillman
memorabilia in the days after his death, they were simultaneously lining the
pockets of someone brazen enough to want to capitalize on it.

"Thank you for coming to your senses and doing the right thing,"
item No. 271 concluded.

If only people would.

The leading bid as of Monday afternoon: Eleven cents.

Mark Kreidler is a columnist with the Sacramento Bee and a regular
contributor to ESPN.com

As of Monday night the listing had received 12,000+ hits, 72 bids, and
was at $3850.00

Then eBay cancelled the auction:

Dear (I prefer to remain anonymous because this isn’t about me),

We have determined that your item is inappropriate for listing on eBay.
(Note: They never really say WHY.)


Recently, the world found out that Pat Tillman gave his life in the service
of his country.  Regardless of your personal belief in this matter, we
must ask that you refrain from listing auctions of this nature.  eBay
is a business.  For many members, it is their sole source of income. 
Out of respect to our community, we must understand that they view listings
of this nature as a distraction from that professional trading environment. 

Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)
eBay Inc

Yet it’s perfectly alright to sell illegal drugs, human body parts, stuffed
endangered species, toxic waste, and human children? Never mind all of
the fraud which takes place there every day. Let’s go after this instead.

"Some people may feel it’s offensive to sell his (Tillman)
memorabilia at this point, and if we saw anything offensive or distasteful,
we’d take it down," said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy. "But we
haven’t seen anything like that."     SOURCE.

I sell on eBay full time. It is my primary source of income. I’m not
going to stop over this. The Pat Tillman listing was food for my soul, but I
need to eat too. Whatever choice you make you can change later if you want
to. If you want to write eBay and let them know how you feel, or call into a
local radio station and talk about it, in order to wake up folks in your
community, that would be a commendable act. I totally understand how this is a subject which gets emotions raging. I’d like to suggest you cool off before writing about this. Just as I don’t like it when a
religious fanatic shows up at my front door shoving their message down my throat, I also realize that shoving my message will not make somebody else swallow it. Instead, perhaps suggest that
eBay put up a donation box on their website so they can contribute $ to the families of soldiers wounded and killed overseas, fighting terrorism, protecting GreedBay’s capitalistic interests (even though they may be communists).

I appreciate everybody’s thoughts on this matter. When I wrote the
auction, I was hoping to wake up some folks. That is all. And many persons
have woken up. I did not expect the auction to get any more hits or bids
than a bubble gum trading card or an inflatable sheep. I simply felt it was
a thing which should be done. I received close to 900 emails which were
positive, and 3 which were sheer hate mail.

Worthy Charitable Organizations

http://www.anysoldier.us/

http://www.operationuplink.org/

To send care packages to the troops overseas; info from an eBay member
who, with his community, has sent 148 packages over the last 2 years:

What is needed is the name of a soldier serving in the middle east. Our
contact in the 101st was the son of our business partner. Typical items sent
are juice packs, snack foods, sun glasses, sun screen, paperback
books…these type of small comfort items. Good luck…it’s a worthy cause.