Boycott boycotts

An incomplete list of some of my personal boycott boycotts.

I boycott boycotts by labour unions
…that think they have a right to dictate other people which labour union they must be member of, and which not to be member of. Which pretty much rule out them all except the Christian Labour Union, which, for that reason, I was a member of for a number of years. Not that I’m terrible religious.
Mainly that means boycotts of restaurants and cafes that are picketed and boycotted because the staff is not organized in the correct labour union. I go right in and buy some stuff.

That’s not a big problem in the US I guess, where union membership in some states is punishable by death or worse or something I imagine.

I boycott boycotts from Greenpeace

  1. Because I’m from emm… “a bunch of barren rocks floating on the ocean” called Faeroe Islands, where pilot whale hunting is an old tradition that is greatly vilified by Greenpeace. The pilot whale is in no danger of extinction. There have been several calls by Greenpeace to boycott Faeroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. Screw them, whenever I find something worth buying from one of these places, I promptly do (which means we eat a lot of sheep in my home).
  2. And because they refused to distinguish between Canadian baby-seal killings and indigenous Greenlandic seal-hunters (which btw do not hunt baby-seals). This greatly harmed many Greenlandic communities for many years.
  3. Their campaign against the dumping of the Brent Starr drilling platform. Now it’s rusting and polluting away in a fjord in Norway, and several times more environmentally damaging than the original Shell proposal. Out of sight out of mind, eh Greenpeace.

I boycott boycotts of Israel
…especially when such boycotts are directed by organisations that are clearly less than wholesome.

I’m not Jewish but regularly buy stuff from a Jewish kosher shop here in Copenhagen. There I can get such exotic things as white wine from the Golan Heights and almonds from Gaza. I’m great friends with the owner of the shop – I think he thinks I’m kinda weird emmm… can’t imagine where he picked up that strange notion?:confused:

I boycott boycotts of idiotic Muslim fanatics
So when they were tearing up and down the streets screaming damnations from their sick god and his perverted mullahs and clamouring for Rushdies head on a stick – I went right in and bought Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verse. Which otherwise is not a book I would have touched with a ten foot pole. I also have books of Arundhati Roy which they also have been raging at. Go bugger your 72 virgins stupid mullahs!

Other books in my personal boycott boycott library
Mein Kampf : It’s illegal in some otherwise free western countries (Germany, France, …) screw government dictation. The right way to combat idiotic ideologies is by education not repression. I though it was also illegal in Denmark where I live, but it turned out it wasn’t – but if it ever will, I’ll be sure to buy one more.
The Communist Manifest: Don’t think anyone is actively boycotting this one, but I’m proactive.
Lolita, Justine etc.
And if I find other books that are illegal in otherwise free western countries, or boycotted by certain interest groups – it’ll be in on my bookshelf before you can say “snip snap snude”.

I boycott boycotts of anti-PC words
…I’ll be damned if I want some special interest groups to decide how and what I can think.

I boycott boycotts of Microsoft
That is if I ever actually bought any software, and didn’t prefer Apple computers.

I boycott boycotts of France
Leave the frogs alone you stupid Yankees!

I boycott boycotts of you
Recently the US image has taken something of a beating. And there have been a number of calls to boycott American businesses. You Americans will thrilled to learn I’m sure, that if a boycott of American business ever takes off, me and my meagre income will once more jump right into the breach and start buying American bric-a-brac en-mass.

I like about half of the boycotts you’ve mentioned.

The nice thing about boycotts, from an organizer’s point of view, is that supporters don’t have to stick your neck out, like they would to soapbox or picket or march, so you involve all the wallflowers into the action.

I boycott boycotts of boycotts.
HA!

Ragdaggit, robertligouri! Now I’m dizzy. I have to go lie down:rolleyes:

I would boycott boycotts, but I gave up self-deprivation for Lent.

Darn! Well if this wasn’t a thread about boycotting boycotts, I would advocate boycotting you. I’ll settle for boycotting boycotting boycotts of you – I think. Or perhaps boycotting boycotts of boycotts of boycotts, and if that doesn’t get the evildoers I’ll throw in another boycott right away!
HA!

Being an aware consumer can make your head spin.

Who is Lent? Any chance she’ll let me give up self-deprivation for her as well?

I’m resurrecting my thread, because if Shirley can I damn well can too. How’s everybody’s boycott boycotts coming along? Here’s my update:

Israel boycott boycott:
Being spurred by, among other things, some threads here on SDMB I’ve taken my Israel boycott boycott to a new level. I’m currently putting the last touches on an online shop (my first!), wherein I plan to sell stuff made in Israel. I’m working from products listed here. I’m starting out with AHAVA and Jericho Cosmetics. Probably go on to wine a few months later. (Come and see me at izrael.dk or jericho.dk in some two months time)

France boycott boycott:
Also I’ve bought a share in a house in southern France. Don’t know if anyone is still boycotting France. I hope so because I’m going to stay there my next few vacations.

US boycott boycott:
Well the boycott US talk never got any wings I think, probably because you guys make about half of everything. In any case just to be on the safe side I just bought a pair of Nike last week.

Labour union boycott boycott:
Also I just made it a condition at my new work place (started this Monday) that I can stay the hell out of any evil labour unions.

PC boycott boycott:
I bought the book “Little black Sambo” for my children. The smallest one, being natural evil, of course loved it. Although she was a bit disappointed Sambo wasn’t eaten by the tigers.

Greenpeace boycott boycott:
I bought a Greenlandic seal skin fur coat for my wife for birthday present (on the 12 of January. Heh).

  • Rune

A couple of random thoughts:

You should add Naot shoes and sandals to your Israeli online store. They’re super-comfy.

Nike: is anything they sell even made in the U.S.? I think at this point, it hardly even counts as an American company.

Does anyone else out there remember César Chávez and the grape boycott of the 1970s? I loved grapes, but my mom would never buy them because the evil grape growers were oppressing migrant workers. Though this may very well have been true, I’m sure it was just as true for migrant workers picking other crops, so why discriminate against the grapes?

(Years later, in college, I was going to French class one Friday morning, and outside my class building there was some kind of half-assed demonstration going on. It turned out to be César Chávez himself, crusty fellow that he was, commemorating the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. I was stunned to find out that my university building had originally been the scene of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Probably meant NYU bought it for cheap after the fire.)

WinstonSmith

I urgently urge you to boycott Zebra. Please do not send him money through PayPal or buy him things off his Amzon.com wish list.

Zebra is very naughty. Really very naughty and he must be boycotted.

(crosses fingers)

We’re not gonna protest! We’re not gonna protest!

From the OP

I may not say this enough - in fact I don’t think I’ve said this before - but I love you, WinstonSmith, my proud Faroese cousin. May the Gods smile upon you, and may ripe, naked virgins spread rose pedals wherever you tread. May the evil Danes give you sovereign rule of the Faroe Islands so that you may guide your fellow countrymen and, indeed, the whole world with your wisdom.

Takk.

Hey that’s a great idea Eva! Never heard of Naot before, but they look great. I see they even have a Scandinavian line.

Damn! There is a boycott Zebra movement? I didn’t know that! What the heck did you do? Paint horizontal stripes? Well, we can’t have that. Send me your account number Zebra and I’ll throw some peanuts at it right away, and just to show you how much I care I’ll give it to some of those kind Nigerians that keep sending me secret but highly lucrative business proposals – that should make you rich real quick – I think.

Gee… I love you too UselessGit. Good thing we have common ground in hating the evil Danes. One of these days the Faeroes shall rise up in glorious rage and throw off the unbearable yoke of suppression. Meanwhile we’ll just bleed them dry.

  • Rune

Well, I don’t want to boycott Zebras in Britain, 'cos they help me to cross the road without getting mashed into gooey red pulp. :slight_smile:

Pelicans, also.

Back atcha, man.

I can’t shake the feeling that boycotts are the moral equivalent of not hiring a person because of her politics. So I’m ignoring boycotts as a matter of policy.

What?? This is the weirdest sentiment ever. Boycotts are the purest expression of capitalism and American political statements there is. The basis of capitalism is that good companies survive and bad companies don’t. Don’t like something a company does for what ever reason? Don’t buy their product. Vote with your pocket book. Example of capitalism at it’s finest…

This sounds like when my 13-year old cousin told me I was “un-American” since I didn’t eat veal because I didn’t support the industry practices. As if it was my duty as an American to buy whatever was offered. (I realize the as agencies would like us to think this but it isn’t true) Dude! By exercising my right as a consumer, I’m am being a “classic” American, a capitalist…

I’m boycotting eponyms.

And if a job applicant doesn’t eat veal, don’t hire him.

I don’t see why those aren’t equivalent. If it is wrong in the one case, then it is wrong in the latter.

I’ve boycotted Geoffrey Boycott, the stupid git.

Actually, I think you can do just that, not hire people you don’t agree with. But I’m not sure, aren’t the only things protected by federal law race, gender, religion, and age? I don’t think it’s illegal for a private employer to not hire someone with different political beliefs. Reprehensible but not illegal.

The problem with your arguement is that corporations aren’t people. I treat my fellow man differently than I do an economic entity. I respect the right of my employees to believe what they want as long as their work is acceptable. (I’d have a difficult time with a white supremist but I think I’d stick to my principles)

For the nation to be free, individuals must have freedom of belief. In order for this to occur, you must not have a situation where your beliefs render you incapable of making a living. Corporations have no such argument.

I’m boycotting shetland eponyms.