Time for a boycott of Japanese products?

Emp_Fab

PolarityMan

I'm still boycotting anything with the "wazacraft" logo if that helps

Fretwired

heavyrocker said:

Some woolly arguments on this thread. Someone says “rape is wrong” to which half the responses are “yeah but people are getting murdered all the time, where’s the outrage at that?”

Just because there are other examples of dubious practices going on it doesn’t invalidate the original point. If someone wants to make a thread about an injustice they see in the world do they now have make threads about every other injustice first, otherwise they get accused of being inconsistent?

Directed at me. Not woolly at all. The Japs have been whaling every year - no threads, no outrage. I'm for a ban on whaling but let's not buy Jap goods isn't going to work. I had a quick check. I haven't bought anything made in Japan for years ... perhaps we should close the Nissan factory in Sunderland as a protest.

BigLicks67

I think the intervention of individuals and pressure groups could make a difference. Friends of the Earth used to like interrupting Whale hunts back in the 70's. However, as soon as you start in involving nation to nation boycott's then obviously it calls into question your own actions as a nation. As far as treatment of animals goes you cannot make a comparison with South Africa as the apartheid system was a one off in that region.

The Japanese could quite rightly call into question the rap sheet of Great Britain regards animal welfare, treatment and environmental performance. For example, Japan has a large number of large predators living on it's islands, we don't because we wiped them out. Red Kites, beavers and marsh harriers have all had to be reintroduced in recent memory and to this day raptor persecution continues, so millionaires can shoot Grouse out of the sky. Don't get me started on Badgers.

On top of this there is the ecological disaster that is intensive farming in southern England, have a read of "The Running Hare" by John Lewis Stempel for a more expert view.

So, as an individual fine boycott what you want, but as a nation it would be brass necked to say the least for us to dictate to Japan.

heavyrocker

Fretwired said:

heavyrocker said:

Some woolly arguments on this thread. Someone says “rape is wrong” to which half the responses are “yeah but people are getting murdered all the time, where’s the outrage at that?”

Just because there are other examples of dubious practices going on it doesn’t invalidate the original point. If someone wants to make a thread about an injustice they see in the world do they now have make threads about every other injustice first, otherwise they get accused of being inconsistent?

Directed at me. Not woolly at all. The Japs have been whaling every year - no threads, no outrage. I'm for a ban on whaling but let's not buy Jap goods isn't going to work. I had a quick check. I haven't bought anything made in Japan for years ... perhaps we should close the Nissan factory in Sunderland as a protest.

Not specifically at you, just at that line of thinking.

There are so many injustices going on in the world that it’s impossible for any one person to devote enough time to have an impact on all of them. Therefore people have to choose what causes to support, based on their own criteria.

Does that mean there aren’t other, possibly more important, causes out there? Of course not. But you don’t walk into a cat shelter and scream at the staff, “do you realise people are dying in Africa right now!” 

You just accept that they are least doing something, however small, to make the world a better place. If more people followed their example we might not be in such a mess.

darthed1981

Fretwired said:

...perhaps we should close the Nissan factory in Sunderland as a protest.

I believe the government is currently working on that, based on a vote a couple of years back.

Fretwired

heavyrocker said:

Not specifically at you, just at that line of thinking.

There are so many injustices going on in the world that it’s impossible for any one person to devote enough time to have an impact on all of them. Therefore people have to choose what causes to support, based on their own criteria.

Does that mean there aren’t other, possibly more important, causes out there? Of course not. But you don’t walk into a cat shelter and scream at the staff, “do you realise people are dying in Africa right now!” 

You just accept that they are least doing something, however small, to make the world a better place. If more people followed their example we might not be in such a mess.

Although in fairness to me I did stick to whales and whaling - I didn't fly off the handle and talk about foxes. I think if you want to attack the Japanese then you have to look at the Norwegians, Iceland and the Faroe islands. Apparently Korea is also involved.

heavyrocker

Fretwired said:

heavyrocker said:

Not specifically at you, just at that line of thinking.

There are so many injustices going on in the world that it’s impossible for any one person to devote enough time to have an impact on all of them. Therefore people have to choose what causes to support, based on their own criteria.

Does that mean there aren’t other, possibly more important, causes out there? Of course not. But you don’t walk into a cat shelter and scream at the staff, “do you realise people are dying in Africa right now!” 

You just accept that they are least doing something, however small, to make the world a better place. If more people followed their example we might not be in such a mess.

Although in fairness to me I did stick to whales and whaling - I didn't fly off the handle and talk about foxes. I think if you want to attack the Japanese then you have to look at the Norwegians, Iceland and the Faroe islands. Apparently Korea is also involved.

Agreed.

blueskunk

We have proved it many times folks. Human being are the shittiest species on the planet Earth.  

rze99

Boycott Chinese and Russian first.

Funkfingers

As a thought experiment, let's turn this topic the other way around.

If the citizens of a foreign country or political bloc boycotted British products or services until we ceased and desisted from some activity of which they disapprove, how many of us would comply?

p90fool

Funkfingers said:

As a thought experiment, let's turn this topic the other way around.

If the citizens of a foreign country or political bloc boycotted British products or services until we ceased and desisted from some activity of which they disapprove, how many of us would comply?

We wouldn't even know about it. 

Most people only had an inkling of how much our foreign policy is hated around the world if they watched Eurovision after the last Gulf War.