Saturday, April 29, 2006

It doesn't make sense to me either

Danielle quotes Father Thomas Euteneuer's article on Catholic Exchange, in which he discusses the mystifying phenomenon of companies such as Johnson & Johnson--a company famous for its baby shampoo, baby powder, baby lotion, and commercials featuring happy babies and blissful parents, and infamous for its support of Planned Parenthood. They are also a large manufacturer of birth control pills and devices.

Do they not realize that they are donating money toward, at best the prevention, and at worst the murder of their future customers? It doesn't make good business sense to me.

Knowing J&J's role in the whole situation, I find it very hard to watch their commercials. Hallmark-card sentiment is merely a veneer for the destructiveness underneath, and I resent their attempts to sugar-coat what they are doing.

Of course J&J is not the only one. But it's a big one, and that's daunting sometimes. Do I think they really notice, or care, if I don't buy Johnson's Baby Shampoo to wash my child's hair? Of course not. I think that what needs to accompany a financial boycott such as the one LDI proposes (and I support) is an effort by those people who participate in the boycott to do three things:
1. Don't buy their stuff.
2. Write to them, and tell them why you don't buy their stuff.
3. Pray for them, that God may change their hearts, and that they ultimately will change their policies.

It's really easy, most of the time, not to buy their stuff. There are plenty of other readily available alternatives to most of the items J&J manufactures. And you get used to it, after a while. It's the two other parts of the boycott that are tough. I like to write (but you knew that) but I don't like to write boycott letters. Why? Yes, I resent that I have to--but I think there might be a little embarrassment in there. That's silly, because those people don't know me, so I have nothing to fear, really.

I am going to make a better effort to be an instrument of change by really following up on the writing and praying parts of the boycott.

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