Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Surely the goal is to not do business with anyone with questionable practices, right?
|
Of
course not, that's not a realistic goal.
I try to be a good person, and to make the world a little better. But I'm no hero, and I'm far from immune to the temptations of laziness, selfishness, and convenience. So I give some money to charity and to beggars, but I also keep plenty money to buy things for myself I don't strictly need but enjoy. I take the train for long-distance travel when I have time, but fly when that's significantly more convenient, despite the environmental impact. I eat less meat for both environmental reasons and because of animal welfare, but I'm far too fond of the taste of meat to go complete vegetarian. And so on.
And yes, I do sometimes avoid local businesses if they have immoral business practices, provided I learn of it, and provided it's not too inconvenient. For instance, the major electronics chain here was in the news a few years ago for union busting, so I avoided them for a while. But then our dishwasher broke, and this chain had by far the most convenient mix of location and choice of models, so my principles buckled (and for all I know they've changed their practice by then? I don't know and haven't checked).
Of course Amazon is more of a target than Joe Blogg's pizza because it is well known. I need to know about an issue in order to want to do something about it, and I'm more likely to know about wrong-doing from well-known companies. I'm certainly not going to spend time researching the ethics of every company I give my money to -- life's too short for that.
But quite apart from the morals of Amazon: Even if its business practices were no more immoral than those of other bookshops, ereader manufacturers, or publishing houses, I'd still prefer to avoid it, although I'd be less absolute about it. I think it's bad for consumers when a single business gets too dominant in the market, and it's also bad for consumers when a single business controls all of the product chain (ereader + publishing house + book seller).
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
If not, do you stand on the street corner every day screaming for all to hear about how a local business is evil incarnate like you seem to do here with Amagoogle every chance you get?
|
Not every day, that would be exhausting. But I do go yelling in the streets about the evil of our national oil company Equinor now and again, even to the extent of civil disobedience, and I have the arrest record and the fines to prove it.