I just learned of this in another thread. The idea is that people who support GBLT rights ‘drop out’ for a day, specifically October 8th. They don’t go to work, buy or sell anything, visit the bank or use an ATM, or use a cell phone.
I feel it will be a waste of time that will go unnoticed by politicans and businesses everywhere. The only thing I can see this accomplishing is convincing people who have called in sick and stayed home all day, that they have somehow contributed to the fight for equality. ‘No, I didn’t donate to any organization, or volunteer to work for one, or talk to anybody, or vote, or send a letter to my congressmen. I sat at home all day October eighth, so I don’t need to do any of those things.’
It also isn’t necessary to tell people that you are involved in a boycott or why
So, the boycott can be effective without any business knowing that they are being boycotted?
Perhaps I’m missing something. I still don’t see the point of the day of silence either.
All it’ll do is get me in trouble with my new boss, who doesn’t even know I’m transgendered (as far as I know). “Damn, those people aren’t even responsible enough to show up for work when we’re starting the December issue?” won’t make a very good impression.
I have no problem imagining some of the most conservative and staunchly anti-homosexual members of society choosing that day to go buy the new car they’d been planning on, do their grocery shopping for the week, buy their Christmas presents early, fill up the gas tank, etc.
Which is exactly what I would do if a group whose views I strongly disagreed with was trying a show of power via a one-day boycott. Say, if the shoe were on the other foot, and people against gay marriage were staging a boycott to show the country how numerous and important they were? New TV set, here I come, on that very day.
It is a dumb strategy. I will certainly not be calling in sick to work this October 8. and I doubt this will have any effect at all. Any true protest must have a legitimate target. Instead of sitting home doing nothing on October 8, how about doing something instead? Write your politicians, local newspapers. Patronize gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses. Besides, if someone is truly in the closet at work, I doubt they’d want to raise any suspicions they might be gay by taking the day off.
It can’t work; it’s just absurd to think it would. Gay people who don’t shop on October 8 will simply shop more on the days before and after, unless they plan to fast that day, and it’s not as if that would be a lot of food anyway.
As I wrote in another thread, businesses generally do not issue profit and loss statements in 24-hour cycles. This boycott will hardly even be noticed. I certainly would not notice it if I didn’t know it was coming except maybe to note that traffic was a little lighter than usual. You can’t boycott the world. Directed boycotts (e.g. Don’t Buy From Company X) can work. This won’t.
And frankly, if you’re taking sick days, so what? You have to take them sometime.
This does sound like a waste of time, and I really don’t see much good coming out of it. I suppose we’ll have to wait for October 8th to see if a significant number of people actually participate?
I wouldn’t compare it to Day of Silence. I’m not sure how Day of Silence is done outside of high schools (I’ve never actually seen it done outside of high schools), but it’s a good way to show GLBT students that they aren’t alone and that they have allies amongst their friends. Now once you move it from the high schools to universities or just everyday life, then I would agree that Day of Silence has little impact or purpose.
Boycotts are usually silly and a waste of time. I remember the Miller beer boycott. Don’t buy Miller because they gave money to Jesse Helms. Of course, Miller was owned by Phillip Morris who happens to be in the tobacco business. North Carolina happens to be a tobacco state. Just a waste of time. Was it Coke or Pepsi that happened to do business in South Africa during apartheid? I don’t remember, but I do remember all the complaining about which soft drink would be served at college.
Stay home on Oct. 8 and don’t buy anything because you support gay rights? Give me a break! How about voting on November 2 instead?
If we’re looking for ways to increase the awareness of queer effects on commerce, I’d think the write-on-your-money method would work better. Just write “This dollar was spent by a gay person” on all of your bills. Even better if you highlight it in pink. Makes it stand out more.
This is a poorly drawn-up boycott. It doesn’t go after anyone specific, it’s not that widely publicized (this is the first I’ve heard of it and it’s coming up in a couple days), it’s reminescent of the gas boycotts that snopes has discounted.
One of the biggest gay boycotts I can remember was on Colorado (or Coloradon’t as it was called).
I would call that boycott pretty worthless since it didn’t change the lawmakers decisions anyway.
The call for the boycott in the OP was effective for me in one point. It called for a boycott on cell phone usage for the day. I decided to see how my cell phone carrier, Sprint, conducted its business. It turns out that Sprint is in a bit of trouble for the policies regarding domestic partners.
My contract with Sprint is up in November and will not be renewed.
Like I said in one of the other threads, I’m not very clear on how this is supposed to make Bush et al drop the marriage amendment. This protest seems to be focused on showing how big and important a part of society gays and their supporters are, which is all well and good, but doesn’t address the real issue. The amendment isn’t based on the premise that homosexuals are a tiny, insignificant portion of society, it’s based on the premise that homosexuality is inherently wrong, or at least vastly inferior to heterosexuality. This protest does nothing whatsoever to address that attitude, and so it’s pretty much a waste of time.
On an unrelated note, I can’t believe Sprint offers pet insurance. I don’t even get pet insurance at work, and I work at a vet clinic. Hmph.
If I recall, there was a similar effort among members of the Hispanic community in California last year. I’m sketchy on the details, but I think it was a boycott of work and of shopping which was set to occur on Lady of Guadalupe day.
Some of my friends live in the SF Bay Area, and told me the following stories about people they know. (Not that I am not advocating anything by telling these stories, they are just stuff that happened).
1: One owner of a construction company caught wind of the boycott. He pulled all his workers aside and said "Look, anybody who doesn’t want to come into work tomorrow, for whatever reason, that’s fine. You WILL BE FIRED, if you choose to do so. Not a single person missed work.
2: Another business owner was unaware of the boycott until half his workforce failed to show. The owner would have been fine with the boycott, shutting the shop for the day, supporting workers, whatever. But not one single worker bothered to call and say “hey, I am not coming to work today because…”. Though the workers were not fired, any worker who failed to show up for work without the courtesey of a phone call on that day (or any other day) lost out on the yearly (quite substansial) December Holiday bonus.
The moral of the story? I don’t know, you tell me. But I guess I would have to ask, did the boycott help those workers?