I want to boycott boycotting
I am all about instant gratification. If we are talking in terms of the wheel of respectability and restrained passions, I am probaby at the bottom of the ladder (that won’t have made sense unless you have taken Mr. Sutton’s history class). When I have chocolate, I eat it; none of this saving it for later.
But, this means that I can’t see far enough ahead to determine consequences. When I want chocolate again, I don’t have anymore. Nevertheless, it’s hard for me to regret the immediate satisfaction that came upon initial chocolate consumption. So, if something is really good, great, cool, awesome, insert other positive adjective, then why hold back? Why look ahead when you can enjoy yourself completely right now?
That means, when I want Starbucks coffee, I want to enjoy the yummy goodness, not worry about the fact that what I’m drinking isn’t free trade. That means, when I am in the mood for a burrito, I am going to go to Chipotle and love that burrito, even if the tomatoes were picked by mistreated workers.
I have other reasons for not boycotting businesses besides my own lack of personal restraint. First of all, not giving Chipotle six of my dollars won’t stop them from mistreating their workers. It’s not as if every burrito I don’t buy saves another laborer.
Second of all, even if that was true, for every minute that I don’t buy things from Chipotle, their customer base is growing exponentially. Have I really made any progress by depriving them of my money?
Finally, when you avoid Chipotle and decide to go to Qdoba instead, I don’t think you have made much headway. Qdoba may be the lesser of two evils, but would they be able to compete with Chipotle and still be open if there wasn’t some wrongdoing in between the food production and your mouth?
This is a cynical way to look at this whole idea. It is a very narrow view of the world. I understand that. It is very selfish and I understand that as well. People may think I am heartless, but I do care about the mistreated workers. And, I wholeheartedly support those who choose to avoid morally questionable businesses.
But at the same time, I want to be supported in my choice to not boycott. If, in my opinion, personal enjoyment outweighs a somewhat noble yet completely unhelpful gesture, I don’t want to hear self-righteous flak about it. If I want Starbucks coffee, I don’t want to hear how bad it is to buy from them. I especially don’t want to hear how bad it is as you sip my coffee.
— Sarah Pfander
Comments
The reason I participate, for example, in the Coke boycott is because there IS an official boycott going on and I want to support that movement. So while Pepsi also supports groups with human rights violations in Burma and has other questionable practices, I encourage people to boycott coke over pepsi because it will help the established student movement against coke gain success. Once that movement acheives success, we can focus on Pepsi.
And boycotts have worked countless times in the past, if they are widespread enough. It is like the voting thing: people think their single action won’t make a difference so they don’t participate (in voting or in the boycott) but the problem is that when masses of people think that way few people vote or the boycott dies and the corporation never changes its ways.
Posted by: Shara | February 22, 2007 9:18 PM
i feel exactly the same way, sarah. good article.
Posted by: Lauren | February 22, 2007 10:10 PM