Boycotts Are Supposed to Hurt
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2016/04/14/boycotts-are-supposed-to-hurt (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2016/04/14/boycotts-are-supposed-to-hurt)
whatever.scalzi.com (blog)
John Scalzi
April 14, 2016
In North Carolina, the legislature passed an absolutely appalling discriminatory law, and the effect was that companies started rethinking upcoming business in the state and some notable creative folk, including Bruce Springsteen and Sherman Alexie, pulled out of upcoming events. This has prompted articles like this one and this one, where people are making the argument that when creative folk pull out of doing events in North Carolina, innocent people like children and business owners are punished.
My thought on this is: Yes? And? Boycotts are by their nature designed to cause economic and social distress, are they not? In order to create economic and social pressure to change whatever it is that is being protested, in this case an absolutely unjust law that among other things singles out a particular group of people for discrimination? ...
This is what a boycott is and does.
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