To Boycott or Not to Boycott?
Got off Twitter when Elon Musk took it over. Didn’t want to be associated with him and found the new environment toxic. Canceled the Washington Post subscription when Jeff Bezos pulled the Kamala Harris presidential endorsement. Didn’t want to give him my money. Stopped going to Target when it caved over its DEI policies. Matter of principle, I guess. But also thought, maybe, what if many of us would do this? Obviously never would fly Avelo Airlines because of its role in deportation flights. Frankly, easy enough to do.
But I do occasionally look at Facebook, sometimes to my regret. And we have Apple phones and iPads, even though the head of Apple recently obsequiously presented Trump with a tacky gold plaque. And although we’ve tried very hard for years, for a number of reasons, not to buy anything from Amazon, sometimes it’s the only damn place where you can find what you need and get it when you need it.
It’s tough knowing where to draw the line. Tough knowing whether to be completely principled or only when it’s reasonably convenient. Wbere are the guidelines? Are there guidelines?
What to do, then, about ABC, its Disney parent, and the whole Jimmy Kimmel thing? And for that matter, about CBS and its craven capitulation so it could get merger approval?
A number of progressive organizations are calling for boycotting ABC after, under political pressure, it “indefinitely” suspended Kimmel’s show following the late-night host’s remark about how the Trump Administration is capitalizing on the murder of Charlie Kirk. If we watched ABC, which we don’t—we gave up broadcast and cable a number of years ago, switching to streaming—I think we’d join the boycott. Maybe it’s virtue signaling, but if I’m going to signal anything, I’d like it to be virtue.
Our decision to avoid ABC probably wouldn’t be a big deal, but it might be one more sign-off along with many more. In fact, lots of people have already been canceling their Disney+. Would all of it change things, and bring Kimmel back? Really, who knows? But it’s important to remember that sometimes boycotts do work and sometimes do have an impact.
Many others, apparently, have felt the same way we did about Target and the chain has experienced stalled sales, declining foot traffic and a plunge in stock price. Has it consequently changed back its policies? Not yet, but there has been a leadership change at the chain and a public relations crisis. There’s hope.
The Montgomery bus boycott did ultimately provoke progressive change. So did the anti-apartheid boycotts, as well as the United Farm Workers' grape boycotts.
Of course, the change isn’t always good and progressive. Sometimes, economic boycotts can be wielded by the other side and work in the opposite direction, like when right-wing activists mobilized against Bud Light.
And admittedly, decisions to boycott aren’t always consistent, because they are indeed complicated in a complex, inter-connected world.
For example, I won’t travel these days to Florida, because of all its regressive policies, but I do buy mandarin oranges from the sunshine state. I don’t like how anti-union Starbucks continues to be, but I have, occasionally, stopped in to one for a pastry—or a bathroom.
Today, if you don’t go to Target, do you go instead to Walmart to buy underwear, and is that any better? And does the $49 subscription you canceled for the Post have any chance of affecting how Jeff Bezos runs his hobbyist operation?
Should we make sure our retirement account investments are only being placed in companies that uphold our values—and that don’t traffic in fossil fuels or armaments? Even if we’re getting really good returns? And what about the BDS movement that calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions against businesses that are said to support Israel and its campaigns against Palestinians?
It seemed easier, the choices seemed simpler, decades ago, when we demonstrated against the Dow Chemical Co. because it was the maker of napalm, the flaming defoliant used by American troops in Vietnam.
On the other hand, maybe the choices really weren’t simpler back then. Maybe it was just that we were.