I just received my first mobilisation SMS message. I’m probably on the tail end of the trend here, but still, for me it’s a first. It came via my brother-in-law and reads “Boycott all US products the day they attack Iraq without UN approval. Join us and send this message to 10 friends globally.”
My first thought was how on earth am I going to boycott US products when I don’t like Coke or hamburgers anyway. Ah, I can skip Bran Flakes for brekkie, I decided. That’s made in the USA. And I can not wear that nice dress I bought two years ago in San Antonio. Not going to make much difference to global politics, though really, is it, I mean who’ll actually notice? And then it struck me: the web. I read lots of American blogs and use lots of American web services. I could boycott Google and Back to Iraq 2.0 and Liz and Mark and Scott and Noah and Brandon and Diane and Matt and Rebecca and Anne and the No War blog. And MoveableType, of course. That’d make a mark. They’ll all notice my absence and start to oppose the war!
I wonder, when people talk about boycott, do they generally include information and communication? Perhaps boycott belongs to history rather than to the present?
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torill
You have to hit them where it hurts… don’t invest in any US based businesses, buy Nokia or Statoil stocks. And I am so sorry Jill, but you can’t get a new mac while this goes on. Ohhh, and software! Microsoft! We have YET an other reason to avoid Microsoft!
Now if I can just find a good European alternative to Word, I’ll start my boycott right now. Luckily I already use Opera for the computers where I have control of the sorftware…
Cassandra
I’ve had a Blog Boycott placed on me recently. It’s up to others to judge whom it’s hurt more; but it’s certainly given considerable amusement to many who no the fellow who placed the boycott.
The moral is, they always need to be assessed carefully before implementation.
Jill
The people who want to give the statue of liberty back to the French are probably no madder than the Norwegians wanting to boycott America.