choose choice

   How you spend your money and live your life is your choice.  It might come down to something as personal as how much you can stomach an authoritarian or corrupt government in a country whose products are sold in Canada.  (Remember the boycott of South Africa during the apartheid era?)

    Or some folks pay more to support a commitment to an endangered species or to protect wilderness.  It might stem from strong feelings about personal health, or just because a particular brand feels good.  It might be part of a grand vision of Canada and the planet, or just something that gets your goat. 

    One Friend Of Dudley (FOD) still boycotts Gillette because Gillette it one of the the first manufacturers to pull out of Canada when the U.S. free trade deal was signed.  Another FOD won’t buy Schick because it was one of the first boycotts advocated by the New Left back in the ‘60s for sponsoring a pro-Viet Nam War broadcaster.  Ditto for Dow Chemical: it made Napalm.  Many shun Nestlé for its powerful campaign against breast feeding in developing countries.  But now Nestlé owns a Quebec company that could well become the largest producer of natural health products on the planet, and the sector's largest employer.  Sustainable jobs, jobs, jobs.

    We know people who go out of their way to buy goods from Israel; we also have friends who won't touch goods from Israel —  even if the product creates jobs for Palestinians and is an environmental winner, like SodaStream.

    Some Canadian Muslims used to favour buying Turkish dried fruits and nuts because they approved of Turkey's advance toward a secular state.  Not true right now.  And many Armenian, Greek and Kurdish Canadians boycott Turkey as a country with a genocidal past that it won’t acknowledge. 

    Suppose you don’t want to support countries with anti-gay laws, or laws that discriminate against women, especially young girls.  That would include all Islamic countries, plus India, plus many Asian, African and Latin American countries — in fact, most countries in the world.  A new government in Bermuda just reversed legislation that had briefly made gay marriage legal.  Do you cancel a trip there to protest?  Don’t workers and farmers in those countries deserve a few dollars of your support?  

    Where do you draw the line?  Good question.  It can't be answered simply or dogmatically.  But with Dudley Does Right, at least you’ll be among thousands of others who wrestle with the same questions. 

    We have more chances to make choices when we shop than ever before.  Let’s just say we're trying to make the best of them all.