Boycotts

[furiosity]

0001 - I'm all for boycotting companies that support SOPA/PIPA/ACTA/etc. I am generally a fan of voting with my wallet, and I've boycotted Walmart (for its discriminatory employment practices) and a number of cosmetics manufacturers (for their refusal to stop animal testing), among others, for years

Comments

[elizardbits]

I do actually only torrent books these days, tbh. BUT YES AS ALWAYS YOU ARE TERRIBLY WISE.

also, let's face it, there are many many more reasons to boycott Apple/MS than just SOPA.

[furiosity]

I haven't bought any books in a while and now I don't plan to until the publishers back off SOPA. But there's always lib.ru for me.

many many more reasons to boycott Apple/MS than just SOPA
exactly omg. why are people.

[furiosity]

the publisher thing wasn't quite "shit a brick" material since I suspect a lot of the people on the Congress list did what people usually do: skim the summary, see "anti-piracy", and stamp their approval without bothering to read the rest, but I'm ridiculously annoyed that they haven't backed off it. That one's up to the writers more than the readers, I think; they can be quite scary when they gang up on you. Though I don't think they've ever ganged up on the people who write their paycheques (and I don't blame them if they don't wanna).

[titti]

So you're saying use common sense? Because I feel that it's always implied, but that's not always the case.

I think targeting movie theaters, record stores, iTunes makes a lot more sense, because you want to target the MPAA.

[furiosity]

I think most people would do the following: start reading the list, see Apple on it, glance at their iPod, make a Face of Horror, and proceed to call Apple Customer Service to complain. Which would be ridiculous.

I think the best way to target is not by choosing a company from a list, but by looking at what you as a consumer actually spend money on, determining if you have alternatives of equivalent cost (because if you don't, that's not much of a boycott), finding out if your preferred brand(s) are doing a Thing You Disagree With, and then writing them a letter informing them that you will no longer purchase from them as long as they continue to do said Thing.

[titti]

I believe that the original source admits that the Google list is not accurate and to check the source. Having said that, that's pretty much always the problem with all sorts of boycotts/protests. I LOVED driving by Zuccotti Park and seeing all the Macs/iPhones/iPads near people with signs against big corporations.

You're absolutely right, but that involves too much work that the average person won't do. There's a reason the status quo is just that. People are lazy and unless you touch them in ways that they can't ignore they won't rise up. Saying stop going to the movies for a month is much easier, not necessarily the best, and certainly not the only way.

[chuffing]

I actually do pirate a wankload of books. I'm hardcore like that.

The point of a boycott is to vote with your wallet. If someone's wallet isn't big enough to let them vote with it and you upbraid them for that, you're judging someone for being poorer than you. That makes you a fucking asshole, as above.

ME GUSTA.

Btw, I find it easy to boycott Chik-Fil-A since their food tastes like balls and they are uber religious. I immediately lose my appetite just driving past one of them.

[furiosity]

The only books I'd ever pirated to date were the HP books, and that was only because I wanted searchable copies -- I own multiple editions already, so it's not really piracy if I've already paid for them. BUT NO MORE. THIS IS MY ANGRY FACE, PUBLISHING HOUSES.

[chuffing]

I'm just cheap. Unfortunately, I get a lot of total shit copies of books that way. You should see my Kindle copy of Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy. It's one massive, 300 page paragraph. More than half of my Wodehouse books are riddled with hilarious typos and random one word paragraphs.

[mijan]

I've never pirated books, but I admit... I've pirated a few films. Mostly stuff that you could already get second-hand by the time I did, but I pirated the new Star Trek before it was released on DVD. Why? Because I wanted to watch it MOAR. I'd already paid to see it four times in theaters, and I bought the blu-ray the night it came out. Therefore, I don't feel guilty. At all. Nope. Not a bit.

Besides... *is Trek addict*

[furiosity]

who is that in your icon. the resemblance, she is uncanny.