In recent weeks, we have
seen boycotts of films, airlines and soft drinks among other things. To be honest, it’s nothing new. We have seen several boycotts over the years
and if you want to go as far back as possible, Gandhi boycotted food in 1932.
For something that has
existed for such a long time and lasted throughout different generations,
boycotts have not had the best track record.
Oh no, it’s not a completely dud of a move to get attention and to get corporations
and businesses to do the right thing but boycotts have been mixed to say the
least.
From 2017’s Beauty and the
Beast remake to United Airlines to Pepsi to Tesco to Israeli products, we have
a wide web of things to shun. Why do we
boycott though? The word “Boycott”
actually derives from a very interesting story when you search the meaning of
the word on Wikipedia, provided that it’s true.
It’s Wikipedia after all.
Boycott, although a form
of silence, is a way of getting your voice heard. Unless we love isolation, the fear of eternal
loneliness is present with any human being.
As such, the idea that a group of people will ignore you on purpose is
effective at getting you to feel uneasy.
Boycotting is a sign of power.
Customers are always right too as the saying goes. They can do whatever they want.
Unfortunately, the more
times you play that power card, the less effective it is. I can see three obvious reasons as to why
most boycotts nowadays don’t really work.
I’ll knock the first one out right off the bat. Boycotts feel like a trend. Oh, it’s popular to hate this? Let me hate this. Why? I
don’t know. This wasn’t really a boycott
but there is a video about people occupying Wall Street who had no idea why
they were there. When you have people
who are part of a cause but don’t understand the cause, then it’s not going to
be effective. It’s like getting an
atheist to be the next Dalai Lama.
Secondly, I said it at the
start. The word has lost power. In the proper and polite past, swearing was a
huge taboo. When somebody dropped the
gauntlet with an F-bomb, it was shocking.
It was powerful in its way. But
nowadays, it’s used everywhere and it has lost its power. People casually throw it out like they’re
throwing out the garbage. And well, the
word is as valuable as the garbage hanging by your porch the next morning. And since it is so easy to throw the word
“Boycott” out there, it won’t be long before you decide to boycott
everything. Good luck with that. It’s not nice to hear but businesses are less
afraid now.
Lastly, and this is
perhaps the most important one, we change.
And as we move to a faster-paced lifestyle, we change at a faster
pace. And this includes our opinions. There is a flawed but insightful quote
credited to the late Muhammad Ali, saying “The man who views the world at 50
the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” It’s flawed because I thought murdering
innocent people is bad at 15 years old but I still feel the same way. I don’t think I wasted 7 years of my life,
although my mom might disagree… She disagrees with me wasting my life by the way, not the former statement.
And thus, we have the
flip-flops. No, I’m not talking about
footwear that exposes your uncut toenails to the world. It’s the U-turn. No, not the U-turn you find while
driving. It’s a backflip. No, I’m not referring to the move that wins
you an Olympic medal.
If politicians get an A+
at anything, it’s going back on their word.
But sadly, they aren’t the only people accused of hypocrisy. Regular people can only boycott Chick-Fil-A
for so long before the smell of the delicious fried chicken gets to you.
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