carrol> I have not the slightest idea where the meat I eat comes
carrol> from, nor do I intend to spend a minute finding out. _Except
carrol> in those cases where a mass movement organizes a formal
carrol> boycott of a given product_ I will base my consumption
carrol> choices on nothing else but personal convenience.
I don't eat meat produced by corporations from the incalculable physical suffering of billions of animals. That's my personal moral choice, which I've reached in consultation with many others in my local community. I reached moral conclusions about using MS products for similar reasons and in similar ways.
If and
carrol> when software comes along that is cheaper, easier to use,
carrol> more convenient, etc. than Microsoft I'll buy it -- but I'll
carrol> be damned if I will have my consumption practices regulated
carrol> by individualist moral choices.
Ouch. Well, I haven't the slightest interest in *regulating* anyone's "consumption practices" by my "individualist moral choices", nor do I have the power necessary to do so, given the intention or inclination.
You should read what I said more carefully. I was specifically talking not about all workers or about society, but about progressive people who are already predisposed to self-regulating their consumptive practices based on their own moral reasoning.
If you're free to ignore what I actually say, why not just call me an evil Nazi pig and be done with it? That's a lot more efficient.
carrol> But at the present time I would not refuse on "moral"
carrol> or political grounds to buy Folgers. (I have not the
carrol> slightest idea what kind of bastards are the corporations
carrol> whose coffee I do buy, nor do I care.)
Well, I care about the origin and provenance of what I buy. I know others who care, but there's sometime an asymmetry in our actions, which I find interesting from a theoretical point of view. So what's your problem?
carrol> Such individualist moralizing as in this post from Kendall
carrol> is politically reactionary.
How so? Surely not just because you say it? Are all one's choices supposed to be made only after a mass movement has agreed to them? Or just choices about your consumption practices?
This is quite fascinating; I wonder if you acknowledge any moral obligation on you *as an individual*?
Best, Kendall Clark