Spiritual Boycotting

Boycotting works, we know it does. When people, en masse, boycotted segregated restaurants in the Jim Crow days, attention was brought to this racist policy that helped to break the backs of the bigots who supported it. The lettuce boycotts of the sixties brought attention to the conditions of migrant farm workers and so on and so forth.

But what if its just one person trying to make a lonely statement in world that hasn’t quite caught on to the need for a particular cause? What if you just want to boycott something because you hate what it stands for? What if you know that it won’t really make a difference in actuality but will make you feel better? That’s what I call spiritual boycotting. Causes small and not so small can be taken on by an individual to help shape who you are. Don’t like factory farming? Buy only from local farmers you trust. Don’t believe in the lack of benefits for employees of certain warehouse stores? Don’t set foot inside their doors, no matter how tempting the sales. Want to combat the proliferation of carcinogens? Fill your home with non-toxic cleaners and organic food. Does the waste of the holiday season bother you? Give sustainable gifts wrapped in reusable cloth bags.

Spiritual boycotting is valuable because it allows a person to define what gives one’s life meaning. If you refuse to buy something or go somewhere because it clashes with your values, it’s important to know that it does make a difference. It makes a difference because you are now acting like you would like the world to act. While it isn’t likely to change the popularity of whatever it is you are boycotting, there is value in defining yourself by your actions. There is value in being an example for others too.

It is very clear that so much of the commercial shrimp industry is doing major damage to sea turtle populations. If you refuse to eat shrimp because you don’t want to participate in the detrimental effects to this endangered animal, it will probably not hurt the shrimp industry. Apparently the appetite for shrimp in our culture outweighs the endangerment of these magnificent creatures. The shrimp industry will more than likely continue to catch and kill these magnificent animals due to the heavy demand for shrimp and their need for income. They will do this until it is no longer economically rewarding to do so or until the shrimp populations are reduced beyond recognition. Refusing to eat shrimp is all about defining your values. It’s also about connections, the one we each have to our sustaining planet. We are all connected to the natural capital of this planet.

We are also trapped in the dominant paradigm of our current societal ways which doesn’t permit us to boycott all that we’d like to, but it does allow for some opportunities for making a statement. We may not be able to choose to repair something instead of buying something new due to the prohibitive costs, but we may be able to avoid giving our hard earned money to corporate giants which have no care for anything but their bottom line.

In the song, “Alice’s Restaurant” Arlo Guthrie encourages people to go to their draft board and act crazy so that they won’t be drafted to serve in Vietnam. If one person does this, they’ll think you are crazy but if three or more do it they might think it’s a movement, he advises would be draftees. That is the hope behind spiritual boycotting. The hope is that your particular issue will “tip’ one day when a more enlightened population will follow your boycott and help your cause take hold. Until then gain meaning in your life by siding with issues of justice, peace and sustainability and it will indeed be a happier new year for you and the rest of the world which needs our committed attention.