The Big City

I am a boycott kind of a person, I have to admit. In the olden days it was Barclays Bank and South African wine. These days it’s a bit complicated. For example, Palestinian farmers have to label their produce as Israeli or they are in danger of their crates being left ‘accidentally’ to rot on the tarmac, so I still sometimes buy Israeli avocados. I try not to buy toys made in China, but it’s as much on aesthetic as political grounds because I know that, despite my objections to the torturing, murdering government, success in the Chinese economy has the potential to lift millions of people in China out of miserable poverty. And of course there’s America. I have the uncomfortable feeling that any of my money that goes into the US economy is funding repression, injustice and global warming. On the other hand, I love my Mac, I couldn’t buy any other make of computer or operating system.

So when I was looking recently at buying two LCD computer monitors, reading lots of reviews and comparing specifications, I was quite relieved that I was able to rule out the highly rated and cheap Dell monitor almost entirely on political grounds. Michael Dell, the boss of the company, gave lots of money to Bush and worked on his campaign. I really never would buy anything from Dell, even if it was a real bargain. Mind you, they are very ugly as well.