Reasons to Market #2: Boycott

Well, well, well…didn’t take long to take a political tact, did it? Or did it?? Anyway…

I won’t go too deep into the pool, because frankly, I ain’t swimming so good these days, but I’ll splash my feet in the water.

And before I do, none of the following comments are intended to compare or guilt anyone for their consumer choices; we are all making our way through the world with our means and our money.

In the last couple months, I’ve seen a few posts and calls for boycotts. I’ve seen calls to boycott Amazon and to boycott Walmart, and Tesla, of course. Boycott Tesla and tag something terrible on the next Cyber Truck you see…I am here for it! In fact, when I see these post I’m left wondering, why now? These companies aren’t actually acting fundamentally differently than they ever have? Where we are now has been a long time coming.

There are so many of these companies that I chose long ago either not to buy from, or only purchase minimally from when other options aren’t available, not because of their politics per say (though that plays a role) but because I see their power and market share as dangerous, even before they started openly dismantling parts of government that don’t serve them. They’ve alway been dismantled those things, by the way, as well as our own standard of living.

So what to do? Don’t give them my money, for starters. In fact I often can’t see money as just mine. You bought a bunch of carrots from me, and though I am constantly getting a reeducation in economics and impulse purchase control, I do feel a responsibility to turn that money to a good direction as well. It was your $4 before it was mine, and someone else’s before that, and I think we can all agree that it has better things to do than to fuel Jeff’s yacht, you know?

The funny part is that we’re conditioned to see this as weird or radical, to make very conscious decisions about how we spend our money. Or often it’s seen as elitist. I understand the elitist critique, and it’s valid and systemic. It’s one that requires a longer format to address. But it is very far from being radical. We’ve been selling each other down the river for a long time now, and not paying attention to where our money goes is partially to blame for our current situation.

When I go to the farmers market, I can tell you right now that politics are going to play much less of a roll in who I purchase from. Why? Because I know that whomever I buy from, if they actually produced what they are selling, they are infinitely closer to the ground than any member of the American Broligarchy. We may have different thoughts on the role of government or whatever, but when they get home, they are tired too, their feet hurt too, and they probably still have to go take care of a to do list so that the next day can even just happen, even though it’s the last thing they want to do, too.

And they probably don’t have a yacht. Yay!

Crises like the one we are in offer opportunities. It can be a chance to reorient, or double down. Boycott, yes!!! Starve the bros, yeehaw! But add an element of redirection and commitment to the things happening on the ground level.

Markets are a good place to start for that, and way more fun than ordering Uber eats.