December 6, 2002
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Welcome to My Opinion:
It’s my opinion and you’re welcome to it…I don’t do boycotts. I don’t think they work. What they DO is negatively impact the lower rungs of organizations, generally the poverty level workers.
I don’t think demonstrations are the best use of energy, in most cases. At their worst they can foster a mob mentality that spawns violence. I do concede that there are exceptions, such as getting information into the media. Locally, two women in their sixties were arrested outside an armed forces recruiting office. They were protesting the use of radioactive metals in military equipment. They wanted the public to have the information, and more important, they wanted potential recruits to have that information. I wouldn’t know about it if I hadn’t wondered what the hell was so important that two women in their sixties, dressed to the nines, would go to jail to further their cause.
Do I care about many of the subjects of mass protest? Sure I do, but I already know about them, and so do the majority of people the media reaches.
What I think works, is making an impact on an individual level (as well as funding research and organizations that DO trench work).
Here is one organization that I think merits notice:
Project_Linus
Comments (16)
Woo! I’m 1st to comment.
Thats all true, but there is still some things the general public doesn’t need to know. Or even shouldn’t. Maybe radioactive stuff should be brought to their attention though, but still, some people are protest crazy.
It’s the little things, isn’t it? And I’m suprised you think Project Linus is so cool, I just thought it was an excuse for women with obsessive quilting hobbies to feel like they are doing something for somebody (and once my friends stop having babies, I’ll contribute).
This is interesting. At first I thought that I didn’t do them either, but then I remembered, I am boycotting my Bank of America card. I quit using it, because I don’t like their ads. Have you seen them? they stereotype young people traveling, as thieves… A twenty-something year old woman, as a threat to the 35 year old woman’s purse in the airport for example.
Pissed me off.
Does it do any good?
Does me some good. I divorce myself from them.
“Thats all true, but there is still some things the general public doesn’t need to know. Or even shouldn’t.”
There are plenty of things people not in charge of a situation don’t need to know, but hey supposedly we’re living in a democracy. Technically each and every person has a say in the way things are run, in my opinion that means you have to keep the populace as informed as possible, otherwise they become sheep with voting ballots…
I should amend that…I don’t think ORGANIZED boycots function as an impetus to corporate change. Personal boycotts by individuals for reasons of conscience make sense to me. I thought the same thing about those credit card ads.
I don’t think people should stop picketing because *I* personally don’t believe in it. I also eschew certain products because I hate their ad campaigns, Jack in the Box, for example. BUT, I also realize that the minimum wage kid at JITB has nothing to do with those decisions, and the manager probably has a family to feed.
Wu…I really like to make security blankets. Even my 12 year old falls in love with them. I guess the way I see it is that there’s something about a “blankie” that does much toward turning aside anger, as some peanuts character said.
I really love the personal protest as opposed to the masses organized protests. The reason being is that if you do a personal protest, like not use bank of america cards, it is thought out and takes longevity in your attention. A organized protest is very external and does not have to hold your attention except for the time you are there, I think it has its function and place in the way we get attention brought to things. Its seems to me that personal protests and conscioensous (or however you spell that damn word) is so much more thought out and effective. I have never heard of the project Linus but it seems like a very worth while project. I also dig when people make longterm volenteer efforts to what ever they think is a worthy cause instead of volenteering time just on the holidays or dropping off the check once a year.
I totally agree. I don’t think boycotting is very effective myself. I would consider myself a fairly conservative Christian and many times people in my circles get suckering into “boycotting” certain “evil” companies. They will get some chain email from someone saying “50% of proceeds from Black and Decker go towards the Church of Satan–don’t buy their products!” And stupidly, without even looking into these allegations they will forward the letter along to all their friends and start some campaign. First of all, that’s a gullible thing to do. Secondly, it’s a waste of time. We could never track all the things our money goes towards. We’d have to stop buying everything all together.
I agree with you about those “peaceable protests” as well. They have the potential for getting out of hand. When people act in a group it’s very easy to surrender to mob mentality. I would not want to picket for that reason because there is a stigma attached to it…people just sort of assume you are a dumb, gun-totin’ automaton.
I agree with you about making more of a difference on an individual level.
Anyhow, I love Linus! I have him for one of my buddy icons on instant messenger. I wasn’t aware of Project Linus. What a great organization! I don’t have a housewife-ish bone in my body, but that sure is something worth learning to crotchet for
moo ..
okay lets take this in current global affairs context.
for example – embargos are a form of boycott..its an enforced boycott.
results:
saddam has steak wheras the iraqi people dont even have cheese and macaroni. hurts too many people at the bottom
a war – same effect.
solution – support them – fatten the men at the top and the people at the bottom will silently change things in a way that will force the top to adapt.
A random act of kindness can make it’s way around the world three times in a day. Rock on…I like the things you say.
Boycott boycotting.
humn … Boy / cott.
Okay. I can see the pattern here. Blankets, Boys, and cots. This was a zen slut thing, wasn’t it?
A very subliminal one at that! NICE WORK!
I’m voting you for president next election.
On the other hand … I just visited the site. It’s a damn fine project. If I had the money, I’d donate.
dude. i have approximately 7908 sheeps’ worth of yarn in my attic, and one pack of assorted-size crochet needles, and the local contact lady is about a mile from my house. i’m so in.
I boycott the Herbal Essence shampoos because of their commercials. Well, that and I don’t really need shampoo right now…
BTW – thanks for the Linus link. It looks like a great organization.