There’s been lots of talk about boycotts lately, particularly BDS. The
predictable response to BDS on the right is, “How come they don’t talk about
other human rights violations, but only Israel’s?” So I’ve made a convenient
table listing the human rights violators usually cited in such discourse (“Top
Violators”), and how BDS can be expected to react:
Action
>
Violator
▼
|
Boycott
|
Divest
|
Sanction
|
North
Korea
|
1. Do they have anything we want?
2. Do you know of any Western academics who seek to collaborate with any North Korean academics?
3. Is Roger Waters scheduled to perform there?
|
Do you know of
universities, churches, or other institutions invested in any North Korean
companies?
|
Aren’t
we already doing this?
|
Islamic
State
|
1. Do they have anything we
want?
2. Do you know of any Western academics who seek to collaborate with any ISIS academics? Are there ISIS academics?
3. Is Roger Waters scheduled to perform there?
|
n/a
|
Have you heard anyone
express anything other than condemnation? I mean, who’s not already there?
|
Putin
|
1. Does he have anything
we want?
2. Do you know of any Western academics who seek to collaborate with any Russian academics?
3. Is Roger Waters scheduled to perform there?
OK. Then you may call for a boycott. |
Do you know of
universities, churches, or other institutions invested in any Russian
companies?
|
Thought we already were.
|
Iran
|
1. Yes, they have oil.
2. Do you know of any Western academics who seek to collaborate with any Iranian academics?
3.Is Roger Waters scheduled to perform there? OK. Then you may call for a boycott. |
Do you know of
universities, churches, or other institutions invested in any Iranian
companies?
|
TBD
|
There. That was easy, wasn’t it? But for the sake of transparency, we
must discuss one more human rights violator: Saudia. If you look at the table,
the big difference between Saudia and the other Top Violators is: Petroleum. Anyone
who wants to boycott petroleum had better be energy independent. Ironically,
who’s more dependent upon Saudi oil: Israel, or any other Western country? Unless
shipments are coming in the back door unmarked, I‘d venture to say that barrel
for barrel, Israel is the more energy independent country. Yay, us.
But you know what’s even more important? We should aspire to be a respected
member of the family of nations. I should hope that irrespective of BDS, we
hold ourselves to a higher standard than do the Top Human Rights Violators. Do
we really want to be “Best of the Loser States”?
