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  • I have seen several threads now on this subject here in Lemmy recently and the number of people who are against it is disappointing. Years ago my wife and I decided to let our Prime membership lapse and to no longer buy from Amazon. I mentioned this on Reddit and the responses were similar to what I'm seeing on here now in regards to this boycott.

    "That's not going to do anything"

    However, in the past seven years, instead of buying from Amazon, we have sought out small businesses and put money into local businesses when we can. That's money Amazon does not have from us. Think about what the average American spends on goods from Amazon each year. If more people did this instead of naysaying then the economic impact would be much better.

    So to those of you wanting to participate tomorrow, I applaud you. Be the change you want to see in the world. Money is all these greedy parasites know and if we can collectively stand up, one small step at a time, then the impact will be huge.

    To the naysayers, either you're a bot or have nothing to contribute to the cause because I don't see any organizing from you. Find a positive way to contribute or shut the fuck up.

    • Changing your spending patterns for 7 years is completely different from one day of attempted boycotting. The reality is, people already aren't spending money. Just a few days ago it was reported that the top 10% of earners are currently responsible for half of all spending. "Spending" isn't leverage we have.

      I would be more supportive of a movement to cut all subscriptions, and stop spending on anything beyond necessities until things are stable again. But anyone who's worked retail during these months knows that bad days are just business as usual.

      • Just a few days ago it was reported that the top 10% of earners are currently responsible for half of all spending. "Spending" isn't leverage we have.

        In a world where "line must go up infinitely", the idea of people coming together to make that line go another direction is power. But sitting behind a keyboard and telling people to continue being small and helpless is not what we continue to need from the community.

        There are a lot of people who have never participated in something like this, but these moments are our chance to get people involved. I love that you have an idea for subscriptions and only buying necessities. I need you to say "Yes, this is a good start, and now let's take the next step together. I have some ideas."

        Every dollar we give to these people is another dollar that is used against us. I'm not ok with that. Inequality is at an all time high and only getting worse.

        Lastly, you'll have to forgive me for taking QZ, a website owned by a Private Equity Firm, with a grain of salt. "Rich people are now powering the economy" reads like rich people propaganda.

  • My own take is that if you have a boycott, to have political impact, it needs to have concrete goals and agreed-upon-in-advance, well-defined termination conditions.

    Without that, you're flailing around angrily. Doesn't actually do anything, since it's not as if any one party can do anything you want that has an effect in response.

    I'd also add that the broader a boycott, the harder it is to do, and the more-diffuse the effect. If you don't buy anything, you're affecting all sorts of people. Many of those have no impact on your particular concerns.

    If I were going to participate in a boycott:

    • It would not have termination condition defined by time, but in achieving political goals. Defining a termination in time specifically says "I'm not going to have an effect after this point", which encourages ignoring the boycott, and and not having concrete political goals says "nothing you do for me is going to affect what I do anyway", which also encourages ignoring the boycott.
    • Those goals would be achievable, concrete, and announced in advance.
    • It would identify specific parties who have the authority to produce the change I want and target those.
    • It would be limited in scope to try to affect specifically the parties who I want to act differently. Anything else, and you're expending will-to-act on impacting others and also antagonizing people whose actions you don't care about.

    EDIT: What would I consider to be a more-effective boycott? The article says that one thing that people are upset about is Target rolling back DEI policy. Okay. Say "we will boycott Target until it reinstates the DEI policy that existed prior to Date X" (or, hell, adopts some other policy, whatever). That is something that Target management can very clearly institute. It has concrete political goals. It does not announce in advance that it is going to terminate at a given time. It is not impacting other parties who have nothing to do with whatever someone is upset about. The impact of the boycott is focused on the party in question.

    Then repeat that with other parties if you have other things you want to accomplish.

    That's also sustainable. It is very likely that you can keep doing that for a sustained period of time, because Target probably doesn't have a monopoly as a provider of household goods. There, a boycotter actually has leverage. Trying to boycott...everything...is trying to start a fight with everyone. You can get something from a different store than Target for a lot longer than you can not get anything at all.

    I think that just saying "I'm going to not buy anything from anyone for a day because I'm unhappy about various undefined things" is probably not going to accomplish a lot other than maybe letting people work off a little steam. I don't expect that it will result in change.

  • Please don't waste your time with this. You should rather do anything else. Boycott is the weakest form of protest. It's always organized by uncreative people who don't have any idea what else to do.

    I say that as a vegan.

    Please go to a protest or a leftist org or literally read a leftist book, anything is better than not shopping for a day.

    • Or maybe do one of those oh-so-much-better things you mentioned while participating in this event that so, so many other people are participating in too?

      There aren't going to be any medals, my dude. Nobody is going give you a plaque that congratulates you for trying harder at leftism then anyone else.

      If you want to organize something bigger, nobody's stopping you, but nobody is impressed with the dick-waving.

34 comments