Nick in boycott call
IIRC, to call for a boycott of a state with a strongly ethnic character is "racist" partly on the grounds that it involves "indirect discrimination" against British citizens and residents who share the ethnicity in question. Did Nick not get the memo from David Hirsh?
posted by Captain Cabernet at 5/30/2010 06:34:00 AM
9 Comments:
is he even calling for a boycott though? the piece is so garbled, it's hard to tell. he himself admits that this is not a problem limited to apple (while simultaneously wanking on endlessly about apple in typical cohen style). if his point is that people should consider working conditions a bit more, then fair enough, but it's impossible to tell if it's that, or if he wants a full-on boycott, because as usual he is more interested in berating 'hypocrites' than making a coherent case.
As conservatives have always been better than leftists at defending the freedom to worship ...
!?!?
I just find Nick heavy going these days. I thought the thing about the iPhone prototype was a Nick being confused by the Gizmodo story but the Beeb says it's true.
And yet the citizens of the world, particularly Europeans... why 'particularly Europeans' more than USians, Canadians, Brazilians, Japanese, etc? Don't they consume a lot of far eastern goods too?
If you criticise Saudi Arabia in a rightwing paper, Arabist diplomats and the friends of arms dealers will say you do not understand the virtues of the "stability" the Saudi royal family brings.
I don't think this is true. Quite a few right-wingers are uncomfortable with Saudi Arabia. According to the CIA Factbook, the country spends 10% of GDP (making it the third highest in the world after Oman and Qatar) on the military, which given the size of GDP is incredible. So Nick may have a point about arms dealers. Also from the CIA Factbook:
Saudi Arabia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking [in persons] and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government continues to lack adequate anti-trafficking laws and, despite evidence of widespread trafficking abuses, did not report any criminal prosecutions, convictions, or prison sentences for trafficking crimes committed against foreign domestic workers (2008)
And here's a book I must read (had a very good review in the non-left FT) Inside the Kingdom. Amazon page includes glowing reviews from the right-wing Andrew Roberts (no publication given) and the Sunday Times (author not named). Both critical of the country. But perhaps the book pages don't count. ;-)
GG: here's Nick's Standpoint colleague Peter Whittle on religious freedom. I see what Nick means ... not!
the 'suicide over iphone' story was in private eye this week iirc. and yes - what is that 'europeans' thing about? ipads aren't exactly selling badly in america, apple's market share is bigger there than in europe iirc though someone might want to prove me wrong.
For me the piece is quintessential post-What's Left Cohen - this is his default position on current affairs, especially consumerism. What he really wants to do is berate lefties for wasting their moeny and having double standards, but this leads him into odd positions - thus he can't just say that there's been a rise in people buying new things instead of having their old possessions fixed, he has to loudly proclaim how amazing it is to buy antiques; he can't just say that some clothes are overpriced, he has to champion shopping in charity shops; he can't just suggest that people should think more about where their (expensive, in this instance) goods come from, he has to half-suggest a boycott of all chinese goods. It's the polemicising about everyday life that i find so tedious and patronising - so Nick's going to give up his computer? but if he's not going to, and he isn't, why should anyone else? more empty rhetoric.
so Nick's going to give up his computer?
You mean he didn't write in a steam-powered BBC Micro?
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Er, on a steam-powered BBC Micro.
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Boycotting China is meant to prove his anti-communist credentials I guess, unlike those Maoist-appeasing Mac users. He had a similar approach to the Beijing Olympics of sounding out a boycott of 'totalitarian' China without actually proposing one. In truth, there are a lot of good points to be made here about supporting the working class, but NC really isn't trying any more.
Incidentally, Denis MacShane, heir to Henry Jackson, is today calling for troops out of Afghanistan. Another end of decency moment?
This might be relevant or just amusing: The Young Ones 'South African Lentils'
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