Boycotts

make me sick.  I received another invitation to join the boycott against BP.  For fuck's sake.

If you have strongly held opinions on this sort of thing and want a petroleum company to suffer, or make your displeasure known when a whole damn state does something you do not like, or when you despise the return policy of a store, or any other issue or company that pisses you off, then get off of your ass and the Internet and actually do something about the injustices in the world that displease you.  Write letters, form or join commissions, fight for legislation and its enforcement, and get involved.  Volunteer some of that time that you are wasting playing War Whatever or Mahjong or Spider Solitaire, or sitting in front of the television.  However, do not join some business-front or side-of-the-road protest with your lame-ass signs, for chrissakes.  I will make an exception if you create a dance and songs specific to the issue and you wear nice costumes and are light-hearted in your seriousness, and it would be nice if you served refreshments, healthy ones that include chocolate.

Sitting at your computer (unless that is the limit of your physical capabilities, then bless your heart, sweetie) and signing up for sites, calling talk shows, penning letter to the editor or grousing-but-not-actually-doing-anything to your friends and family (trust me, we are all sick of you at this point), and just generally being an uninformed pain in the nether regions is pointless.  Talk is cheap, in fact it is free.  Doing something constructive takes effort and the use of some of your resources. 

Get a backbone to go along with those opinions and make the personal sacrifices necessary to pony up the money, or volunteer a decent amount of your time, to accomplish something that does make a difference.  Gosh, I receive a very small Social Security payment each month and my retirement benefits were lost when my company went belly-up, and if I can do it, so can you.

At the very least, stop listening to the talking heads (and simply regurgitating what you hear), do your own research and become intelligently and meaningfully educated on the entire issue.  Or, you could just mind your own business.

Oh, one more thing, when you are out and about, stop  annoying, lecturing, scolding or abusing the people who work for these companies.  They do not make the rules.  They do not create company policy.  They do not police corporate behavior.  They are simply trying to hold on to their jobs, make enough money to take care of themselves and their families and maybe, at the end of the paycheck, have a little fun.  Give them a break and shut the hell up.