Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Another Word of the Day: Boycott

boy·cott ( P ) Pronunciation Key (boikt)tr.v. boy·cott·ed, boy·cott·ing, boy·cotts
To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion.

Who's going to the National Book Festival on the mall on Saturday?? ooh ooh ME ME! I'm so excited to see my favorite author: John Irving, among others, such as Sandra Brown, a fine mystery writer with 51 best sellers to brag of, and David Baldacci, a thriller writer whom I was very envious of in my late teens for pulling in a multi-million dollar contract for his first series.

The only potential problem I see is that this anti-Iraq-war protest is going on at the mall on the very same day and already some authors, such as the one in this recent article in The Nation, are boycotting the Festival in a show of solidarity with the protestors. Okay, we get it. You don't agree with the war. But does that really mean that you can't support books because it happens to fall on a particular Saturday when anti-war protestors will be trying to make a statement? And this is supposed to somehow show your defiance to the Bush Administration?

I say we stop mixing our peas and mashed potatoes. It's apples and oranges. What does attending a book festival have to do with protesting a war? Nothing. Exactly. Let's try to keep it that way.

1 comment:

timoni said...

I will be with you in spirit, though corporeally speaking I'll be in Bethesda at the Small Press Expo. Sorry, but THOSE guys are selling their wares for $1 apiece. Not to mention going to SXP gets you a whole lot of geek cred, something I KNOW YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN.

So...have fun!