FUCK TARGET

[Toughy]

Originally Posted by Galahad

Toughy,
I know you can explain the whys if I'm looking at this wrong. I think that any big business, like Target will donate money to candidates who further their interests the best. The Republican party is the party that protects the interests of big business. So anywhere we shop that isn't handmade or homegrown will be giving a share of their profits to the Republican party. I don't think I've ever heard of big business to care about regular people except in a token way for their own advertising. Now that businesses can give as much as they like to the politicians of their choosing we are in trouble.
The farmer workers strikes really hurt pocket books and boycotts stayed in peoples minds that way. Now boycotts are forgotten so soon by all but a few, that the big companies will still make their profit.
So sincerely, give us hope if you know how boycotts can make a difference.

I don't think there is a right or wrong way to look at this.

I rarely shop at box stores like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's, Sports Authority, etc.. I live in a major urban area and there are other options for me to buy stuff.....such as locally owned business. In small town America (today) those options are almost gone....and what you get is Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is a thousand times worse than Target ever thought about being. They fuck their employees, drive out locally owned small business (the backbone of our economy), donate to any and every right wing cause you can think of and create a huge box store with a huge tree-less parking lot. And they have been doing it for years and years.

Boycotting a single huge corporation is only as useful as the publicity it can generate. Hopefully (though not likely over time) it will wake-up a few people and help them change shopping patterns from big business to small locally owned business. It also gives the individual a chance to feel good about themselves. However, switching from Target to K-Mart in the end only continues to support big business, whose goal is maximum profits generated on the backs of cheap labor and low quality products.

Delores Huerta, Cesar Chavez and Larry Itliong organized a once in a lifetime event with the farm workers strike. The reason it worked was coalition building among different groups of farm workers. Comparing that to a big business boycott is apples and oranges.

Yes Citizens United has completely changed the political money game. It will go down in history as one of the worst SCOTUS decisions. Congress could pass some campaign finance laws that would mitigate the impact, but the likelihood of that is about equal to pissing into the wind and staying dry.

Anyway.........that's my take on boycotts in general. I'm not sure I'm giving hope to anyone with it..........you and I have the same basic feelings I think