# That bear is NUTS. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 4, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-bear-is-nuts/288364 "2005-02-04T14:15:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 27
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-bear-is-nuts/288364/27 "2005-02-04T20:59:26Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Cheeses Rice. Without intending any disrespect to the mental-health advocacy community, I gotta say, kid, you are **nuts**. This is libertarian individualism run absolutely frothing mad. You call me a libertarian again, and I’m going to get _really_ angry. > [@](#): > > Just how far are you willing to take this interpretation of “DIY tyranny”, anyway? Is it “tyranny” for **anybody** to attempt to influence commercial decisions in **any** way except through individual purchase choices? What if the spouse of the company’s CEO says “You know, honey, I think that bear’s kind of disgusting, I don’t think you folks ought to be marketing it”? Is that person “showing absolute contempt for the principles of individual freedom”? No, it’s not. I’m talking about organized boycotts, here. > [@](#): > > Oh, it’s much worse than that, **Miller**! You know, companies often make marketing decisions on the basis of studying **focus groups**! A small group of people, **completely unbeknownst to you and entirely without your consent** , is able to express **any opinion they want** about a proposed product, and **significantly influence the company’s decision about marketing it!** Talk about imposing the ideas of a vocal minority on the rest of us without our consent!! Oh, the horror, the bleak black-leather fascism of it all! [cue gloomy music…] Focus groups are one of the main reasons that mainstream media is almost entirely devoid of anything interesting, creative, or original. I’ve got about as much contempt for them as I do for you, but in this case, at least the companies using them have sought them out on their own initiative, not been bushwhacked by a bunch of loud-mouths in desperate need of a hobby. > [@](#): > > Come off it. A company’s marketing choices are not sacrosanct shrines to “freedom”. They are commercial decisions about profitability. It is no more “bullying” for a protest or a boycott to use negative publicity to convince a company to stop selling a product voluntarily than it is for a company to use negative publicity to force a competitor’s product off the market. I’m not talking about the company’s freedom to market, I’m talking about my freedom to consume. Organized boycotts are grassroots censorship. They are attempts to dictate what other people are allowed to read/watch/hear/think about. While mercifully less effective than government censorship, they are no less disgusting, and the people responsible for them no less repulsive. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-bear-is-nuts/288364)._