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Do you boycott anything?

JNLister

By JNLister
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JNLister Grand Master

JNLister

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Those of us of a certain age may remember the disgust you would cause by eating a KitKat outside a student union, an act held equivalent to punching an African mother in her shrivelled bosom. But do any of us take part in any boycotts (formal or personal) right now? Let's hear it.

 

The only political boycott I make is to avoid Starbucks wherever possible. It's not simply for their tax shenanigans (detailed below for those unaware) but rather the sheer gall they had in deciding they'd respond to the criticism by making a voluntary contribution and deciding exactly how much they would pay in corporation tax. Cunts.

 

Non-political, but I refuse to buy anything from Play after an experience trying to buy a PS3 from them (which never arrived) and being forced to wait 28 days before they'd do anything, despite the fact that they'd clearly never sent it in the first place and their tracking number for the delivery company just came up as non-existent.

 

Finally, on a very personal note, I refuse on principle to masturbate to images of Jenny McCarthy thanks to her borderline evil campaigns against vaccination.

 

(Starbucks in more detail:

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

They claimed to have never made a profit in the UK in a five year period, despite telling shareholders they were profitable, and despite the fact that no real company would continue to expand their number of stores while consistently making losses. They hide their profits by pretending the UK stores have to pay a massive royalty fee to the US, thus putting them into the red. They also claim the British stores lose money because they have to pay a fortune to buy coffee beans from another Starbucks company in that well known coffee production country Switzerland; that company "turns a profit" but pays Swiss tax rates, which are considerably lower. Oh yeah, and the beans have to be shipped via Amsterdam where they are roasted (for another "fee") before coming to the UK, again because the Dutch government gives them favourable tax treatment rather than because there's any need to roast them in the Netherlands. Starbucks may be acting legally, but it's fundamentally dishonest and a perfect example of why there's a need for a General Anti-Avoidance Principle which says that you can only shift stuff around like this where there's a genuine business need to do so, rather than the primary reason being to artificially reduce taxes.

 

[close spoiler]

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Chest Rockwell Grand Master

Chest Rockwell

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What's workfare?

 

 

 

Starbucks for me also, as well as Apple. No caged eggs here either. The anti-vax lot are indeed a bunch of cunts, but there are no people in that group who I thought well of before anyway. Boycott Rob Schneider films? Oh, that stings, but I'll do it for the greater good....

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Bellenda Carlisle Grand Master

Bellenda Carlisle

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I'm really not keen on the way most big companies are run, that greed that makes them want to crush everyone, rip people off and be the only game in town really isn't my bag, if I boycotted everything I didn't approve of I'd hardly be able to get anything.

I don't do battery hens either, and one thing I make an effort to do is to buy from local independent shops when possible and not just get everything from Supermarkets and Amazon.

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Loki Grand Master

Loki

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I won't buy any Israeli products, particularly those grown by settlers in the West Bank. I tend to take a fairly cynical approach to international politics, but the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians is the key to a hell of a lot of the world's political problems, and also hugely immoral. I'm not contributing to that situation.

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Magnum Rising Star

Magnum

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I can't think of anything that I actively boycott, mainly because it opens up a bit of a worm can full of moral relativism. I tend to operate by the general rule of thumb that most very successful companies are by and large run by avaricious cunts who put the quest for profit above pretty much everything else. So I'll buy from local markets or fairtrade stuff when I can, but trying to organise big companies into some kind of Dante's Inferno hierarchy of tax avoiders, animal abusers, child labour-users, environment-poisoners and bullies is just too much effort.

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IANdrewDiceClay Grand Master

IANdrewDiceClay

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Workfare (it might be’ workfair’?) is the scheme where the unemployed are forced to work for private businesses to still get their dole money.

 

That's horrendous, I remember hearing about that now, I'm signing on at the moment so the thought of them being legally allowed to force me to work in Poundland to get my dole money is mortifying.

I used to work in Poundland when I left college years ago and was on the bones of my arse and juggling two part time jobs. Hated every minute of it. Worked there for a while, actually. 18 months or so. The managers are bitter as fuck because they obviously want something better than managing Poundland, but cant get out of it. Just imagine Bob Ryder if he worked in a pound shop. Our manager got the sack for shagging one of the shop workers there and she told everyone she was pregnant (she wasnt) which forced him to confess to everything, and in the process losing his job, wife and home. He works in Iceland now. Just a fucking circus. Couldn't imagine to actually not getting paid to go there. Horrible place to work.

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