Punctum Saliens

A post (via challies.com) about Rick Pearcey’s McDonald’s boycott. He does not agree with some decisions that McDondald’s has made and is therefore not going to frequent their restaurants anymore. Good for him. This type of thing is not done enough. I boycotted Amazon.com many years ago (the embargo is still mostly in effect, today) but the reasons were not so noble as Rick’s. I wrote them a letter and everything. It felt good but at the same time rather anti-climactic. And I haven’t done it since. Why?

• It takes time and energy: I have to stay up to date with things so that I know what kinds of bad things companies are doing. Then, I also feel I have the ethical responsibility to make sure I lift the boycott if they amend their ways. Keeping up with the situation takes even more time and energy.
• It feels useless. What possible difference could Rick’s buying a Big Mac make to a multi billion (trillion?) dollar company? That’s the anti-climactic piece I mentioned above. I told Amazon.com I wasn’t buying any more books from them and I feel they felt bad for a second then took out their bank statements, lit a cigar, kicked off their shoes and just laughed and laughed and laughed.
• The alternative is inconvenient and, most likely, more expensive. Yes, Amazon.com has great customer service, great selection and great prices. So, If I’m not buying books from them I’ll need to either pay more money or more sanity to deal with another company. Paying a dollar or so more for a different fast food item once a week may not seem that inconvenient, but what if you’re paying $3 more a book and you buy many books a month? What if you have to pay $2000 more for a car? The inconvenience and additional expense of following your convictions can be daunting in some cases.
• The alternative is sometimes worse. What if this company whose policies I cannot accept does happen to make one thing I really do need and the only other place to buy it is from a warehouse in NJ who ships it from Chile after being assembled in China? Is that better than supporting a company who goes against your beliefs? So, not only do you have to investigate the company you’re boycotting but you now have to track your alternate source.
• It makes me look arbitrary. “Oh,” people will say, “you’ll boycott Blah Blah Widgets because they think yada yada yada so why not boycott Foo Bar Tech and Baz Woo Cosmetics and Flip Flop Toys? They do this and that and the other.” It’s impossible to boycott everyone with whom you disagree. So where do you draw the line? Is the important thing that a line is drawn — somewhere, anywhere — or is the important thing that everything on my side of the line has been checked out 100%?

The other thing I found myself doing (both in the Amazon.com case and after I quit smoking) was that I’d get up on my soapbox and demand that everyone else follow my convictions and for the same reason. Talk about annoying! These are my convictions — not yours. Obviously, McDonald’s and Amazon.com have different convictions and don’t they have the right to express what they believe? It’s a touchy situation — equal rights for expressing our convictions and beliefs. I don’t think anyone really has a good answer for how to handle it.

It’s not easy to back up your convictions. So, why do it at all? Is Rick going to change McDonald’s? Did I change Amazon.com? I know, I know. “It all has to start somewhere.” “It’s the principle of the thing.” “What if everyone said that?” It’s this cliche and that hackneyed expression. But really all I’m going to get out of it (in the vast majority of cases) is the self-respect that comes from following my convictions. The question is, is that enough to offset all the negatives and inconveniences and additional costs of the alternative?

So, yes, I applaud Rick for taking a stand. I think more people need to speak up about companies who have made poor decisions and support the wrong things but we also need to act. And that is the real issue here. How far are you willing to go to demonstrate your beliefs? How much would you give up? If you had to put a time and money figure on it, what would it be? How much effort are you willing to put into investigating the companies with which you do business? How much extra cost are you willing to incur to shop an alternative, less convenient option? What if you had to give up listening to your favorite music artist? Or give up using your current cell phone company/provider? Or switch MP3 players? Or buy a different make car? Or do business with another bank? Would you be willing to institute the boycott and stick with it? Or do we just avoid looking too carefully at these major things in our lives so that we can continue using them with a “clear” conscience?