Quote
Originally posted by: tman5
Ricarleite, I don't understand why you are so vehemently against a boycott. It takes nothing away from any other effort. We can work to gain media attention and public support but if Lucas doesn't bend then what? Pack up and go home, stopping at Walmart on the way to pick up a copy of the DVDs?
We must be willing to go as far as possible (and legal) to make our voices heard. If we limit our options starting out, we have already lost. While we are getting the word out, let's also get the word out of a planned boycott to add more pressure on Lucas and his supporters.
And I agree getting people to actually boycott will be hard. But like Warbler said: How do we know if we don't try?
I oppose it because I belive it will be useless effort on our side. While boycotts might have some political power, mostly because political causes are followed by the masses, it is quite innefective in this case. If Lucasfilm was poluting a major river or burning the rain forest in order to do its movies, then we would have a way to convince people, but I'm afraid we can't do that based on what we've got. Sure, I won't buy the DVD set, but other people will, regardless of how much I scream "GREEDO SHOOTS FIRST!" on their ears. I could boycott ROTS's first week, but most of the fans, even those who hate the SEs, won't. "Why shouldn't I watch this movie, it's a free country and I do what I want to do", is what people would think.
I think we should concentrate our efforts on other ways. First, we have to make sure the people KNOW what's going on without making it sound like a joke. "Oh, it's just some nerds who are complaining about their new star trek movie", it's what most people would think of us. Boycotting would make us sound more ridiculous. We must get people's attention in a serious way, and unfortunally the only way to do so is by using the media. People's minds and opinions are shaped by what the TV tells them, so if the media take our side and people get to know our message ("Star Wars, one of the world's great artistic achievements, is DYING"), THEN we will achieve our goal. Maybe then a boycott would me more easily accepted. If preassured enough, Lucasfilm would have to give in.
It is a tough achievement, and as much as I support originaltrilogy.com, sometimes I belive we will not succeed. The decision behind the release of the OT is on few people, and it's near to impossible to convince them. It would be like convincing Hitler not to invade Poland because we don't want to. But oh well, I still belive there's one thing that would convince him: money. If he realizes how much people would PAY him to have the classic trilogy, perhaps he would be convinced. And you can't convince him of this if we start boycotting his products...
That's what I think, I know you guys don't agree with me.