Boycott US / Buy EU

[Will]

So this popped up in my Reddit feed a while back and I ended up spending quite a bit of time thinking about it, with all the new Trump tariffs it seems like a good time to discuss it. Essentially the premise is that with this and the other madness Trump is up to plus the fact we’ve become so reliant on the US it’s time to be more mindful about putting our money and time with things more closely aligned to us. There is a similar movement for buying from the UK though I don’t see much of a difference between EU/UK here.

Anyone else been keeping up with it? What are your thoughts? Generally I think I’m in support of it, and will try to move away from US products and services where I’m able to.

I’ve long been trying to keep my data out of the hands of “big tech” - probably relying on Apple too much and their privacy first stance. Until late last year I’d deactivated Facebook but had to get back on it due to so much school stuff going through it. As of last week I’ve deactivated everything with them again and can’t see myself going back.

On my commute this morning they were listing off everything that originates in the US and basically concluded that it’s so difficult to boycott you may as well not bother. I think I see it more as a stepped process, where possible buy EU/UK. Over time you can change your habits bit by bit and get to a good place with this.

Anyone else making an effort with this?

Edited 19 hours ago by Will
Spacing weird on mobile posts

[Hero-of-Time]

Honestly, this should have happened after the pandemic when it was highlighted just how things were being made elsewhere and we couldnt get them into the country.

As a country, we should have started to rely more and more on British products and started bringing everything back in house. Instead we kinda went the other way and closed down more industries and factories and sourced it out to countries with cheap/slave labour. 

As for the question at hand, it's like a lot of these types of problems, people do right by trying to make changes but it's very hard to do in practice. I mean, look how much electronic stuff is made in China, in no doubt very poor working conditions and little pay, but we are happy enough to continue to buy it.

[Will]

31 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

As for the question at hand, it's like a lot of these types of problems, people do right by trying to make changes but it's very hard to do in practice. I mean, look how much electronic stuff is made in China, in no doubt very poor working conditions and little pay, but we are happy enough to continue to buy it.

Yeah I think that is very much the key issue, and one I think will be the most difficult to deal with. We're probably too far gone to expect things like that to come back but we can buy things that are more friendly to the cause. I'm seriously considering a Fairphone next time I need to upgrade and I think that sort of thing is a good move in the right direction.

What I do wish we'd do here is be more protective of our public industries. We should be self-reliant on things like power, transport, food (to the extent its possible) but as you say, seem to outsource the lot of it. I think a lot could be done if we underpinned our mass-consumer/free market desires with a very socialist approach to the fundamentals.

[Julius]

25 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Honestly, this should have happened after the pandemic when it was highlighted just how things were being made elsewhere and we couldn't get them into the country.

As a country, we should have started to rely more and more on British products and started bringing everything back in house. Instead we kinda went the other way and closed down more industries and factories and sourced it out to countries with cheap/slave labour. 

Agreed. I thought this was one of the falsehoods Brexit was supposed to be built on, bringing back our factories and industries and creating new jobs, but it feels like it's gone even further the other way – and everything is more expensive in a post-COVID world. 

Not to derail the thread with Brexit talk, but Brexit or not, this is something we should've been looking to do anyways 

But yeah, as for your question @Will, I think for me I might have a bit of a read up on things, but ultimately like H-o-T says, it's something difficult to do in practice, though I do think a good number of these have been highlighted over the last year and a half or so with people boycotting certain companies over what was going on in Palestine.

Personally, I struggle to see it much differently to how I view boycotting some games (because of crunch, bigoted views of licensors, etc.) – where you can do it and it suits your day-to-day needs, in this case I guess in a way which is cost effective more than ever given the rising cost of living, great; but otherwise, depending on your circumstances and maybe product preferences, I think it's fine to continue as you are as and where you see fit. 

I suppose a difference here, too, compared to my examples of games, is just visibility and conversation – this is honestly the first I'm even hearing of this, whereas comparable boycotts in the gaming space seem like all-encompassing pieces of news when they happen.

Now that I'm aware, though, it's something which I imagine will at least make me second guess and want to check things for a time – even if it's just out of curiosity more so than a want to take action. 

[Will]

1 minute ago, Julius said:

people boycotting certain companies over what was going on in Palestine.

My wife hates me when we do the shopping and I go through all of the avocados to find the acceptable ones.

2 minutes ago, Julius said:

Personally, I struggle to see it much differently to how I view boycotting some games (because of crunch, bigoted views of licensors, etc.) – where you can do it and it suits your day-to-day needs, in this case I guess in a way which is cost effective more than ever given the rising cost of living, great; but otherwise, depending on your circumstances and maybe product preferences, I think it's fine to continue as you are as and where you see fit. 

Yeah I totally agree on this. I think its just about being more aware and making changes where it makes sense to you. If everyone just considers it a little, and makes a 5% change then it adds up to a huge swing overall.

3 minutes ago, Julius said:

I suppose a difference here, too, compared to my examples of games, is just visibility and conversation – this is honestly the first I'm even hearing of this, whereas comparable boycotts in the gaming space seem like all-encompassing pieces of news when they happen.

I guess it comes down to interests and what media you look at. I'd expect people here to be way more clued up on games than your average person who probably has no idea about those game boycotts. Since I started having a long commute twice a week I find I'm a lot more clued up on events simply because I listen to the news for a lot longer than I did three months ago.

[Hero-of-Time]

16 minutes ago, Julius said:

 

Personally, I struggle to see it much differently to how I view boycotting some games (because of crunch, bigoted views of licensors, etc.) – where you can do it and it suits your day-to-day needs, in this case I guess in a way which is cost effective more than ever given the rising cost of living, great; but otherwise, depending on your circumstances and maybe product preferences, I think it's fine to continue as you are as and where you see fit. 

 

This is a good point. It's easy to take the moral high ground when it's a luxury purchase but when it's part of your everyday needs, that's when it becomes more difficult. Even more so now, what with everything constantly going up in price. There are so many families living on the breadline, by paycheck to paycheck or even losing their homes. It's ridiculous that it's even got to this.