To think about boycotting American products and services

[Taytoface]

I feel so helpless in the current madness. It seems like the only act of objection possible is not buying american. Boycotting Israeli products, and South African back in the day, was relatively straightforward, but I have no clue how to de americanise my life. Anyone come across any helpful resources?

Sorry, I wrote the above while tired.

I should have been clearer that I was talking about the collective psyche, the national mythology.

Obviously by no means all individual white South Africans shared this belief in the White Man's Burden, etc etc. However it was a prevalent part of the national discourse, and was at the heart of a lot of government policy. So it could be hard to escape.

(Probably no one cares about this correction, but I didn't want anyone to feel I'm applying the sweeping generalisation to individuals.)

Your colleague sounds awful and well out of line.

However to extend the behavior of an unpleasant person to an entire group is not logical. You presumably wouldn't know the number of people not being arseholes about boycotting because - well, they're not being arseholes about it. And how would you know if people feel "smug" about their boycotting actions, are you in their heads? Presumably the arseholes might be, but they'd also likely feel smug about any and every action of theirs, not just boycotting. But again - how would you know?

For my part it helps me deal with the grief that my kids heritage in the US is falling apart, that the US is repeating eras thought long gone - internment, Jim Crow, colonisation. I fell for the patriotic lie, educated my kids in the Constitution and anthem and history - and what for? Right now it feels like the biggest betrayal. So yeah. I don't buy US where I can. I want my kids to look back one day and know where we stood. Know why we couldn't accept it. Know that we stood with our family in resistance, even from a distance. That we held hope and space for the US to be better than its worst past self. That freedom for only some is freedom for none. That's why. It has absolutely nothing to do with you.

That person does sound incredibly insufferable and tone deaf, however you are a million times more so for assuming that my life is some peachy middle-class yoghurt knitting, tree hugging smugathon. You have no fcking idea of the challenges I face in life, just because some lecturous bore at work pissed you off.
Your reaction to me quietly cutting back on some US products in a small attempt to feel some kind of control says quite a lot.

I have made no assumptions about your life in particular. You asked "what's it to ya" - and the answer is nothing, unless you (and I was using "you" here to mean you or anybody else, not just you personally, apologies if it came across as personal) make it someone else's business or problem like the example I gave. If you personally go about your boycotting quietly, then as I said, it isn't anything to do with anybody else, and if nobody knows you're doing it, they can't comment can they.

The thread was asking about boycotting US products, it wasn't lecturing others to do the same. And similarly to the other threads like these, it descends into folk either telling us we're wasting our time, or us being accused of being a smug wankers.

So much projection.

Again, we couldn't give a shit if you boycott , do what the fck you like, but can you just leave us to it , cheers 👍.

It did sound incredibly personal and unpleasant - "because "ya" generally can't shut up about how virtuous "ya" are ... insufferable, tone deaf, holier than thou bores" is quite the generalisation.

I boycott US-made where I can. Proud of it. I have family who have had to make a bolt plan in case their government kidnaps them, assaults them, threatens them at gunpoint, terrorizes or gases their children. A mix of born and naturalized citizens living in a state likely to be targeted. What protects them currently is they are white and wealthy - and isn't that just a kick in the gut to say. Even so they haven't traveled internationally without the children for more than a year. They've arranged dual citizen passports. They have escape plans. Who the hell thinks any of this is ok, or that people doing what they can where they can in light of it is somehow smug and unreasonable?

I just thank God we were in Minnesota last year so my kids didn't transit through an airport where masked thugs with massive guns and small brains have impunity to terrorize anyone who is brown, yellow, red - men, women, children - no limits. It would have terrified the living daylights out of them, and rightly so. I can't imagine living with that day in and day out. What I do may make only a small difference, it may sound stupid, but it helps me manage. More importantly it's what family and friends in the US are ASKING us to do to help them. There is precious little else we can do.

@ForeverScout again I do apologise for it coming across as personal. It wasn't meant to be - it was intended as a general comment about those who do boycotts and the reason why other people get fed up is usually because they don't shut up about it, and you're right, a few interactions with those types have made me cranky this week. Not just the work person, I've a family member that's a bit obsessed with it all and keeps bombarding me with stuff while I'm trying to keep my head above water with a parent and grandparent in hospital and a stressful full time job, and a patch of insomnia. I appreciate not everyone behaves that way though. The way I responded to you reflects said general crankiness/sleeplessness. Sorry.

I'm sad to hear you have family that are feeling so scared and understand you want to do what you can. We may not agree it's an effective strategy, or that it's possible for everyone to do. I can't avoid business travel to the US using a US airline unless I change my job, for example. But I get why you personally would feel you need to do something.

Thank you, I appreciate the apology and understand well stress plus tiredness and overwhelm can result in things not coming out how you mean. Have a parent I do caregiving for, it's not easy so hugs to you on that.

I think it's worth remembering that there are something like 9 million US expats in the world. DH is one of them. Trump-era policies affect so many people and extends far from the US. People boycotting are quite often those with personal ties, and this is such a tough time for all of us. It's awful feeling so helpless, enraging and scary. Your colleague again was rightly pulled up - but they're not going to represent the majority when it comes to US boycotts. Treading gently - for all of us, myself included - is a good way to go.

I also would never expect you to give up your job. I travelled to the US last year to visit family. It's unavoidable for a lot of people for many different reasons, and that's ok. Encouraging boycotts where possible should be ok to talk about though.

No you are totally wrong, boycotting does contribute to Regime Change
I also think there should be sanctions against Trump and his cronies should he go near Greenland.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunnes_Stores_strike

Couldn't you have just used a search engine to do this rather than announcing on here

Why? These things work if many people do it. That isn’t virtue signalling that’s effective action.

What operating system is the device you're posting from using?

The same way other countries have in the past. Needs enough people to do it and media campaign to publicise.

'Virtue signalling ' is a rather patronising way to make somebody feel bad for having an ethical position.

I've been thinking similar (about wantingto boycott). A way of showing disgust and disappointment in one place. Giving my support to another.

And before anyone says its not the fault if the American people. It actually is. They knew what he was and voted anyway. They're still voting for him now. They're not out protesting. They are therefore complicit.

If Android then presumably Linux?
The EU is developing EUOS and there are more alternatives to American products like Windows etc likely emerge soon I suspect. It's not possible to completely divest from American tech companies because the technology is so interlinked across the globe. But it's going to be easier to replace some of the links in the chain.

Thank you @PerkingFaintly, I was being a bit tongue in cheek with my “it was all for nothing”. If pressure on South Africa to change hadn’t worked, we would still have apartheid. I think I was trying to point that out without getting into a a row with someone who had clearly been laughing at me for boycotting South African things at the time. Hey ho.
Thank you for highlighting the way things worked on the South African psyche. Different ways of boycotting will have different impacts in different ways. But as ordinary people, protesting and boycotting are pretty much the only things we can do.

There’s an unusually high level of disruption on this thread…

interesting..

I’ve encouraged various people over to ecosia from Google. It has environmental benefits as well as trying to move away from US products. although I’m sure there will be someone now coming along to say there’s no point in making environmental switches because your feeble efforts don’t achieve anything.

its funny how it’s “virtue signalling” when people try to encourage others to do something positive but it’s apparently fine to be vocal about sneering and shouting them down. I know which I’d rather be out of ethical or sneering.

I suspect it uses AWS which is the cloud computing service for business. Like Google's GCP.

Yanbu op. While it's not possible to boycott big tech firms like Microsoft, the fact is that most of what we use here in the uk from the US is optional and not essential. There are vanishingly few products and services that we need that we cannot get from within Europe.

I know quite a few people who haven't previously been particularly political who are now boycotting US brands wherever possible.

Thanks, @FigurativelyDying . I was very tired and wasn't sure whether you were being ironic or not.

Peril of our current times!

Just because you can’t boycott everything doesn’t mean you can’t boycott something.

Well, yes, but the poster was saying they wouldn't miss anything American. I'm boycotting some brands but have had to accept that, for now, there are some things where it is just not feasible.

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood your point.

I do think it matters but also I think it is fine not to be perfect. I received a message via a good friend who has US relatives and they are asking everyone they know abroad to help by boycotting the USA as much as possible. So I don't think this is virtue signalling, it can pile pressure on US companies/businesses who will in turn apply pressure to Republicans/Nut case president.

I also recently read an article about how the EU are working on alternatives to American digital services including a payment system. Another reason the UK needs to forge closer links to EU (even if re-joining is not possible), we cannot trust the US to not just cut us off from our own money.

For those who have pensions or ISAs, please also consider moving away from USA investments. It's a pain and time consuming but I feel is something else we can all do.