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12:07:2005 Entry: "Ann : Buy Blue"
Buy Blue
An interesting talk on WPR this morning with the guy who runs the website Buy Blue. I'm still pretty much undecided how I feel about this. Many would probably say, "who cares?" Well, I care, and I don't want my very hard earned money going to a corporation who will support things I do not believe in. But in terms of practicality, it's frankly impossible to limit one's purchases solely to those businesses whose ideals align with your own. Sometimes one is forced to shop at the Big Evil W when that is the only place open for 50 miles and you need an emergency supply while travelling. (For those of you scratching your head at the moment, you obviously live out east in a congested area and have never been west of the Hudson river, let alone The Mississippi.) And what about "blue" companies that, despite their politically correct leanings according to the website, you prefer not to patronize? One comes to mind--Starbucks (no connection to the husband of the last name). Starbucks is the Wal-Mart of coffee shops--put up a Starbucks and put Mom and Pop's Java Joint out of business. Despite that, they're ranked blue. I'm sorry, I don't buy it. Literally. Personally, I would want someone to buy my jewelry or graphics or fonts or art, because they LIKE it, not because I'm sympatico with their political agenda. Likewise, I wouldn't want someone not buying from me because they disagree with me on political issues. The politics isn't the point. The piece of art is. Nonetheless, I found it an interesting website with a few surprises. For example, Whole Foods (YES! The Whole Knee Situation!), a Granola Giant who you would *think* would be a blue company is in fact rated bad on labor and human rights issues (kinda explains the ambivalence about a fallen customer, huh?) And eBay, who despite all these bad rumours I've heard of how "Republican" they are, are in fact a blue company, not only in terms of the majority of their political contributions, but also in terms of their practices when it comes to labor and human rights, corporate and social responsibility, and the environment. Makes me feel not as bad about paying my listing fees.
1 Comments
I'm really getting tired of Whole Foods and prefer to go to the smaller local stores - especially because they are far more convienent. It seems to take a long time to go in and check out of Whole Foods and they want a lot of money for thier products. I still have to go there for a few items which other health food stores don't have - at least not yet. The rating system thing is good but this kind of thing is really only good when choices are possible. It's a good consumer education tool and as my dad use to say 'tools are good' or ... well he said something like that. I really don't like the concept of only dealing with people who shair the same views as we do - because I don't believe this will change the world for the better. It is important not to divide the world up into idiological compartments and file all of the people in the world into them. This method of sorting out life and all of the people in it smacks of Fashism. I hate Fashism and I'm really getting sick of liberals who think they are progressive when they only have arrived at their own brand of Fashism in liberal terms. I think if you take this kind of information as a guide for making shopping choices it is good, as long as it doesn't become a devicive liberal political movement to make everyone fit into the 'if your're not with us you are aginst us catagorys.'
Posted by Stan @ 11:26:2005:10:07 AM CST
By Ann @ 08:23 AM CST:12:07:05 ..::Link::..
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