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Boycott France?

I've heard the argument that its absurd, gingoistic, closed-minded, etc. to consider boycotting French products. That it would show low moral character, etc. etc. etc.

Really? Well, whatever that attitude is, it seems Americans have less of it than the French, German, Russians, and Canadians who would loudly decry an American boycott of their products. Consider a NewsMax report that international polling organization Ipsos-Reid found the following nationalities agreed with the statement "I currently avoid U.S. products and services" to a strong degree (marked 7-10):

Nationality% Boycotting
Spain29%
Russia27%
Canada26%
France24%
Italy23%
Japan22%
Germany19%
United Kingdom13%

So, as far I as I can see, boycott away, folks. Whatever attitude Americans may want to have about foreign products, and however strongly they may wish to boycott them, seems to be no comparative problem whatsoever. None of the above will have any grounds for complaint, condescention, or moralizing about the wrong-headedness of boycotting their products.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to buy something other than Chinese products...

(See also A Trip to the Whole Foods Market.)

Comments

Z,

First, why are you so afraid of leaving an e-mail address? Are you afraid I might actually respond to your words and tell you something you might dislike?

The French were right? About what? Chirac and others also argued that Saddam had WMD. Their opinion on this was no different than George Bush, Tony Blair, or Hans Blix. Your statements are revisionism, not history.

Chirac claimed he took the "moral" stance, but today we know that French banks were benefiting from the Oil-for-Food program, billions are unaccounted for, and we have evidence that many French government officials were being bribed with Saddam's oil. And even then, we knew that Saddam had promised multi-billion-dollar oil rights to the French if the Saddam regime could continue.

What's so "right" about defending Saddam under those conditions?

Look, if the US had wanted oil from Iraq, the easiest way would have been to simply buy it. Saddam was more than willing to sell.

Lastly, in the US we have hundreds of independent news outlets, only one or two with any government funding, and access to even more (UK, Aus, India, etc.) through the internet. This is very different than France where the government tightly controls the media, much of the media is partially government-owned, there are frequent corruption allegations involving the media and government.

Have you considered that perhaps it was your mind which was "taken by your government marketing"? I mean, after all, whose government actually has more media control? Look into that question and see what you discover, friend.

Just a little possibility to consider.

Sincerely,
- Tim

Posted by: Tim on March 9, 2004 11:12 AM

My Uncle was killed in Italy fighting for the Canadian Army so I guess according to this logic we should all boycott Italian products too and give them some good exposure also right>>>???

Posted by: on June 9, 2005 12:34 AM

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