Boycott North Carolina. It has a new law allowing businesses to deny civil rights to gays, lesbians and transgender people.
Boycott Target. It allows transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice.
Boycott FedEx. It’s a prime sponsor of the Washington, D.C., NFL team that’s named for a slur against indigenous people. While we’re at it, boycott the NFL.
Boycott China. Because … well, the list is too long for this column.
There are almost as many reasons to boycott as there are places and companies in the world. So when Electroimpact president Peter Zieve was revealed to be the source of postcards rallying the citizens of Mukilteo against a planned mosque, he was met with a familiar refrain: Boycott Electroimpact.
That sounds like a great way to make a stand and exert some power as consumers. We’ll just stop buying whatever it is that Electroimpact makes.
One problem: It makes airplane assembly systems. You don’t see a lot of those at the mall. So the logical next step is to pressure businesses and governments to exert their influence by ceasing to do business with the offending party.
With so many things to boycott, you can see how this could be a slippery slope. In our latest poll at HeraldNet.com, we asked whether Boeing and other major employers should boycott businesses run by people who distribute anti-Muslim materials. The vote was a resounding 75 percent “no.” Perhaps it’s an option best reserved for more extreme grievances.
In the meantime, we’ll have to settle for Zieve’s promised apology to a local Muslim leader. That leader may not be amused by an interview last week with Puget Sound Business Journal in which Zieve linked mosques to terrorism, or by the wording of the apology.
“I would apologize to him that the postcard thing became so twisted by the paper,” Zieve said.
Sounds like he has something to boycott.
— Doug Parry, parryracer@gmail.com; @parryracer
Next, we’re looking ahead to the Washington state presidential primary election and wondering about your interest in casting a ballot.
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