Chekhov’s Mistess

You Don’t Have To Be Blue When You Shop For Books This Holiday Season

Having a one-year old who screams as if he’s walking on hot coals when he wakes up in the night can leave one sleepy and grumpy, particularly when you’ve stayed up late to watch your respected lit-bloggers on TV. So perhaps it’s my mood when I say that I feel offended by some of the things that I’ve read this morning about boycotting Amazon based upon their political donations.

This is the fact that is being cited by BuyBlue. org: 61% of Amazon.com’s PAC contributions went to Republicans. For that reason, some intend not to shop at Amazon and Buy Blue advocates a boycott of the company. Now to be clear, I voted for and support the Dems (and the Green party) and my political views are easily found in the archives of this site. However, I think this idea of not buying from Amazon because they gave more money to Republicans than Democrats is little more than a tantrum and counter to progressive ideas.

I think I understand the impulse. I walked out of a favorite restaurant, never to return, when I saw that they had crossed out “French” from French fries on their menu and replaced it with “freedom.” I’m not French, but I think that sort of behavior is childish and offensive (as was the Senate’s when they did the same) and the restaurant deserves to lose business (as does the Senate, but I’m not yet to the point of anarchy).

But let’s focus on Amazon because a) this is a book blog, and b) they are being singled out by Buy Blue and some lit bloggers as a place to avoid.

First of all, there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to do business with someone you don’t agree with politically as long as you don’t eliminate the discourse that is so important to a democratic society. When we stop the discourse, the other side wins. To single out and boycott a corporation who gives 61% of its PAC contributions to members of a political party that you don’t agree with, seems pointless when the real activism could go to VOTING in every local election, talking to those that DISAGREE with you, writing to your elected officials and all of the other productive means of making your views known. The Buy Blue group advocates visiting their site every time you want to make a purchase to check on the status of the company you intend to purchase from; if they fall into the “red” category, look to the “blue” column to find an alternative blue-friendly company (which appear to be those that give more than 50% to Dems).

Let’s think about this practically. If Amazon gave more money to Reps and you don’t want to buy there, you look in the blue column and find that Borders gave all its money to Dems, so you want to buy from them, but gee, it turns out that Borders and Amazon are in cahoots on-line and if you go to buy something from Borders on the Web, you’re actually buying from Amazon.

The Buy Blue group would have us not buy gas: “Most major oil/gas companies supported Republicans with more than 80% of their donations,” and avoid what amounts to most every brand name to be found in American malls (see the list). Such an idea is not only impractical, but think about the impact if the Buy Blue group were truly successful in their campaign; how many working class people would lose their jobs?

Now I do think it would have been reasonable to boycott Disney when they meekishly backed away from distributing Michael Moore’s movie this year, but I didn’t see anyone trying to avoid Disney and the myriad companies they own. A vocal backlash against Disney’s effective censorhsip would have sent a message – not necessarily that they should believe what we believe, but – that Americans will not be treated as if they are too stupid to make their own viewing choices. [Disney refused to allow Moore’s film to be distributed through its subsidiary Miramax because the film would “alienate its customers,” according to the firm. The hypocrisy is that other subsidiaries of the company are responsible for so many other things that could easily do the same, the film “Kill Bill” for instance.]

But let’s get to the heart of the matter. Look beyond the list that Buy Blue lays out and judge for yourself. I went to the Center for Responsive Politics’ site, Opensecrets.org (the organization Buy Blue cites) and found that in 2002, the same Amazon Pac gave only 54% to Reps and 46% to Dems. This hardly represents “Amazon’s finance of a right wing agenda” as Buy Blue says on their site. (During the year 2000 cycle, the first in which information is available, the ratio was 64% to Reps and 36% to Dems, still showing no real trend.). A look at Bezo’s personal donations shows an equally mixed amount given to Dems and Reps and Amazon’s employees gave money to plenty of Democrats, Moveon.org and the DNC.

Further, if one looks at the PACS of the computers/internet sector (where Amazon is categorized) as a whole, the donation pattern looks similar to Amazon’s, with 62% going to Reps in the 2004 cycle, 64% to Reps in the 2002 cycle (making Amazon look like the liberal of the bunch), and 62% to Reps in the 2000 cycle. Education PACS gave 65% to Reps and even unions gave money to those damn conservatives; the pattern is repeated in many industries. The truth is that corporations give money to both parties and more often than not the reasons are self-serving based upon their own legislative agenda and not, in most cases, any desire to “finance a right wing agenda.”

News America, the holding company that owns Fox news, has a PAC that donated 52% to Democrats and 48% to Republicans. While there are certainly good reasons to not watch Fox, shouldn’t this information lead a reasonable person to question political donations as an indicator of where to do one’s shopping?

Ironically, one little whipping boy of the left (at least the anti-globalization folks), Starbucks coffee, gave 100% to Democrats, according to Buy Blue. Just what is a progressive consumer to do?

comments

I would say that the shrugging of shoulders is an appropriate response. (strike the following: It would be remarkable if “Buy Blue” advocates that also write or publish refused to allow their books to be sold on Amazon. But that would entail a personal sacrifice that most people don’t seem to be willing to take. end)

It’s been brought to my attention that refusing to sell through Amazon may not be possible, so please pardon if I offended anyone with my lack of knowledge on that matter.

- Bud Parr

    – Bud Parr (12/31  at  11:00 AM)

I hear you.  It’s not amazing that Amazon gives money to some Republicans.  If you look at who exactly they support, it’s those whose interests are the same as Amazon’s.  For example, they support the candidate who is against sales tax on the internet.  That’s no surprise.  I am sort of shocked by the backlash actually. First because all this came out about a month ago, and it took that long for people to notice.  Second, because I never understood people’s support for Amazon to start. 

Now, I used to buy books from them when I lived in an area where there was just a Waldenbooks.  The closest bookstore was 30 minutes away, and it was a Borders.  Now I work at an independent.  And I won’t link to Amazon for obvious reasons.  It’s just as easy to link to the publisher site or to Powell’s (I can’t do that either but again for the obvious reason---they are our rival). 

I like what BuyBlue does.  It puts the information out there for all to see.  But in reality it’s hard to shop along political lines.  Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, favorites among 20 and 30 something hipsters, is owned by a pretty conservative guy---he supports Rick Santorum.  Anyway, I suppose I don’t what my point is exactly.  I’m just surprised is all.

    – bookdwarf (12/20  at  03:11 PM)

The independent bookstore issue is something else. I generally look at Gotham Book Mart, Ivy Books, Labyrinth Books, The Strand, 12th Street books, Mercer Books, etc. before I go anywhere else, particularly for fiction and poetry. I do link to Amazon from this site because so many times when I’ve looked for books at Powell’s, they don’t have what I’m looking for in stock. I also use Alibris and Abe Books a fair amount. The point is that I’m not trying to champion Amazon so much as point out what I think is a well meaning but ultimately pointless exercise.

But isn’t it such an American thing that we’ve resorted to Consumerism as a political weapon?

    – Bud Parr (12/20  at  03:27 PM)

Part of me applauds not shopping at Amazon, and part of me just shrugs my shoulders knowing it won’t make a difference.  Those who live far away from bookstores are helped by Amazon I know.  And it is a good tool for information.  But I’ve reached this age where there is a certain amount of weary acceptance for the way the world works.  So I guess I don’t know if I agree that it is pointless.

    – bookdwarf (12/21  at  01:39 PM)

I’m glad to see that at least one person hasn’t gone completely off their nut.  Of course considering the date of this post, I can’t vouch for what’s happened since.

    – Caryn (06/13  at  10:18 PM)

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About this Post

• Posted by: Bud Parr
• Date: December 20, 2004
• Filed Under:
  Dependent Children of Independent Bookstores

Tags: Dependent Children of Independent Bookstores

• Comments:5
• Links to this Post: Technorati

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