If BloggerJoe Jumped Off A Bridge Would You?
I’ve wanted to write this post for a long time. I originally was going to post about the Target boycott that’s gaining an amazing grass roots following among the GLBT community. And I’ll probably write about that soon. But for this post, I want to talk about the whole boycott issue.
I wanted to write about it because suddenly everyone in the community is talking about it. Whenever anyone shows any kind of opposition to the gay community, it’s an almost knee-jerk reaction. We have to boycott that person, or what that person stands for, or that person’s business. Pretty soon we won’t have any place to shop on either a national or local level.
I just read about a company in Baton Rouge which sells granite for counter tops, etc. whose owner asked a male couple if they were gay while they were in his store. When they confirmed it, he told them to leave, that this company didn’t serve “their kind” and didn’t agree their lifestyle. The couple left, but things escalated from there. I don’t want to go into details about it. Maybe in another post. However, reading all the comments left on the article, I noted that for the people in that area, it’s all about boycott. Bring the business to its knees. They’re calling on gay people from around the world to email this company with their own displeasure. The company has already had to shut down its FaceBook page due to the number of hits.
Boycotting a business or entity (political or professional) is a completely viable tool. The most famous (or infamous, depending on your viewpoint) in recent history took place in Alabama when a disgruntled populace refused to ride on the buses and brought the company to the brink of economic disaster. They won the right to sit wherever they chose, and set an example for the world to follow in becoming united behind a cause. Boycotting can be an amazingly effective way to get a point across in a voluntary, non-violent manner. It can be something very organized, or no real organization except something people want to do. Boycotting has a vast and varied history, mostly successful, throughout the world.
But is it the right answer to every problem facing the gay community? It was reported about six months ago that the GLBT community wields an economic club that managed to surprise us all, number over $780 billion (yes billion) in just the U.S. alone. If every gay person chose to withhold their portion of that club from any single business or entity, the impact would certainly be felt. On a national level, though, does Target deserve to be boycotted for donating to a political campaign which was local? Does a local granite seller deserve to be boycotted and castigated on a national level?
I don’t have an answer for those questions, except to say that I know what I’m going to do and why. I believe that’s the answer for anyone. They have to look at the issue(s) and decide for themselves. Because that’s one of the things that makes a boycott successful: the trait of people to jump on the bandwagon because so many others do it. It’s a basic human trait to do what other people are doing just because so many others are doing it.
What I would suggest that everyone do when presented with the option to boycott, or write a letter, or back a candidate, or anything else that will commit them to a cause, act, religion, or lifestyle, is get all the information you can. Make sure that the source of the information is one that you trust. Get both sides of the issue, and think long and hard about it. Then make the decision that’s right for you and your family.
It’s the only way to know when you “jump off the bridge” that you’re doing the right thing.
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