What I've realized recently is that boycotts happen when enough people genuinely care and the situation negatively affects them in a concrete way. They wish things were better but they're ok with the status quo because compared to most people in the world the status quo is very good. - ThreadSky

sanaer.bsky.social • 16 hours ago

What I've realized recently is that boycotts happen when enough people genuinely care and the situation negatively affects them in a concrete way. They wish things were better but they're ok with the status quo because compared to most people in the world the status quo is very good.

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sanaer.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Having like max 2% of the population put in most of the effort, which is often known as "organizing", can motivate a large number of people to put a small amount of effort towards making things slightly better for themselves. This is worthwhile because it's our only real option.

sanaer.bsky.social•16 hours ago

But I don't think the problem of boycotts is that fundamentally different from the problem of unions. There are very few unions in the US, most of them were founded at a different time, and most unionization efforts fail. That is because the average American is comfortable with the status quo.

sanaer.bsky.social•16 hours ago

I think also the idea that workers in wealthy countries have no power as consumers is something people really want to believe, but I don't think it's true. A consumer wants a T shirt for $10 and across the ocean a child sews it for them. That's an incredible amount of power

sanaer.bsky.social•15 hours ago

I intended to write something more productive on the general topic but I wrote 1500 words of bullet points probably nobody wants to read

sanaer.bsky.social•15 hours ago

To clarify more to the random people who found their way here, I think people in the US are mostly correct to think any particular boycott won't work but that's less because boycotts inherently can't work and more because nobody wants to do them, including the people calling for a boycott

sanaer.bsky.social•13 hours ago

I also think that as one piece of optimism, I think if things get worse enough, people in the US would respond the way people are in Canada.

The problem, aside from things getting worse, is they need to get worse for *everyone*

sanaer.bsky.social•15 hours ago

are people like searching for words in this thread and why

We need private posts on bluesky

cyrushall.bsky.social•10 hours ago

I think you are also seeing an ideological preference for a world in which capitalism doesn't allow for effective action (ie, "boycotts don't work"). It's a sort of side-door argument against capitalism by removing agency.

kate23-ca.bsky.social•14 hours ago

The operative words are ‘enough people’. It was easy for me not to buy anything on 2/28. I can easily boycott every Friday, however, it was shocking realization that so few ppl participated in this boycott. SF malls were full of shoppers, a city once considered a capital of the left coast.

scottgoblue314.bsky.social•14 hours ago

Okay, but if everyone in the city who was NOT at a mall were participating in the boycott, would you know? Leaving aside the trouble of a movement that depends on invisible (in)action, there's always room for lots and lots of people to be both in and out of any particular group

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