Ace is tired of the Pepsi challenge already. PepsiCo's ranting, anti-American CEO just didn't light his fuse the way it did for Hugh Hewitt or Powerline. And you know what? That's fine.

Ace had a brilliant entry a while back about the concept of keeping "Conservative-Kosher" and how he's kinda half-hearted about it. Part of the reason he drifted right into South-Park conservatism is the incredible number of stupid boycotts leftists frickin' HAVE TO DO OR YOU'RE AN IMPERIALIST PIG. Below the break, his example, plus a long rant of my own:

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"Hey man, don't eat Snickers."

"But I love Snickers."

"Nope. Boycott Snickers. Didn't you hear?"

"Hear what, exactly?"

"Uhhhhh... well, like, something? You know? Like they don't pay their migrant workers enough to thresh and harvest the Snickers trees? Or, like, five cents of every nickle from a Snickers bar goes to fund the Death Squads in, um, Portugal?"

"What Portuguese Death Squads?"

"You know... all those Death Squads in Latin America. I don't know the facts, I'm just telling you what I know. And what I know is that Snickers is filled with the Devil's Nougat."
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I'm going to paraphrase my thoughts from that thread on what I think is an important subject: boycotts.

I think it's fine and important to organize the occasional conservative boycott--I mean it's just necessary: if you're a private actor and you know that you can piss off the right with impunity, whereas you'll get no end of crap from the left for the tiniest infraction (or none at all, eg Nestle), you're going to tack left. That's why we're losing the culture war. We're unable to impose economic discipline in quite the same lockstep fashion. And that's actually OK.

You want a good example of a right wing boycott that worked, though? Smith and Wesson. They wussed out on settling with the Clinton DOJ and their name is still mud. It will take them years to regain the goodwill of gun owners who had plenty of alternatives--fine American firearms makers who would actually protect their customers' rights.

Here's the difference, though: If it's possible, we need to be a little bit latitudinarian about the boycott thing so we don't do what happened to Ace. Don't go off like a Teamster on a scab if you see someone you know open a bottle of French wine or Gallo wine (E&J Gallo is a huge donor to Nancy Pelosi--that includes E&J cooking brandy, too). Instead, drink up with them. If a guy has a new Smith and Wesson, go to the range and shoot it. Don't politicize this stuff relentlessly and don't demonize people for these personal choices.

At the same time, do make the case publicly on blogs and outlets like NRO, Fox, etc. I respect people's right to disagree with me on, say, paying a little extra for American or Taiwanese manufacture over Chicom slave-dreck. But just like I'm not going to be an effective evangelist for my religion (Christianity, I highly recommend it, e-mail me for details!) by insulting people and telling them they're going to HELL RIGHT NOW UNLESS I DUNK YOU IN THIS WATER YOU HEATHEN WRETCH I have to be satisfied with making the case with some humility, and hoping a few people will agree with me--maybe enough to make a difference.

Should you boycott Pepsi? I don't know, but even if this isn't a trangression as gob-smackingly vile as Linda Foley's, they should feel some consequences. Let 'em know you heard. Write 'em an e-mail. Buy Coke instead for a while. Tell people about what their silly CEO said when you're talking politics. But let's not make it an article of faith, and don't call someone a RINO who doesn't see it as being quite as urgent as you do.

It's politics, not a religion. Not for us, anyway.

Posted by: seedubya at 07:43 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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