Wars and Boycotts 2

My post regarding the Gaza issues has generated much of debates and differences in terms of ideologies from every vantage point. If you have not read the so-called controversial post - here is the link. In this edition, I will try my best to recap at all the 14 comments that I have received and give some feedbacks. There were no rights or wrongs on your comments because they merely represents your stands on this issues, so I hope you guys don't get too hype over it.

Susane said... "I used to be forced to joint this kind of program(street protest&etc) I remembered I was in my 1st year at uni. Luckily I'm able too escape eventually"

I remembered recently that our good Minister of Education suggested the students to take part in some student movements to protest and promote hate against the Jewish. I agree that the decision made by Israel to act against Gaza was so wrong that the innocent civilians became the shooting target there. But, inflicting hates into others are just not right. If you are a Christian, you are almost assured to have heard on how Jesus Christ has told its followers to not to hate their enemy, but instead "love" them. The reason was hating your enemy will only encourage violences and avenges, in which it makes no much different between you and your enemy. Besides, hating someone would not bring an end to an issue.

Renaye said... "it's a sad thing. it's the messiest war on earth. there's always a solution but no political will. always tepuk sebelah tangan."

The solutions are there but peoples prefer to do it the hard way. In any wars in the past human history, when an authority fought with another authority, the civilians will suffered the most. Army troops and normal peasants died on a war - only the government merely stood still. But mark my following point, just because Israel is fighting the Palestine, it doesn't mean that the Jewish in general are against the Palestinian in general. Only 30-40% of Israeli respondent agreed to go on war but on the basis of Hamas constant threat into their land. There are many others Jewish who against of going war. Don't make any assumptions based on a small sample size, according to one renowned speaker, Dr Azzahari Ismail, whom concluded that we Malaysian always jumped into the conclusion too soon without knowing our facts.

Twenty-six said... "the moral is don't simply boycott..get the knowledge first."
Gempakz!!! said... "Did u know,when u buy something like ...XxXxXxX... ,u have donate to Israel to buy weapons,boms and other.."
~Wong~ said... "But then again, it won't affect Israel in any way as they are the invisible force of US economics, and those are not in the war."
firdaus said... "I'm just saying boycotting is a small & short-term solution...its not even a solution. It's better to think long term and strengthen economically, become entrepreneurs, offer alternatives and reduce the dependancy."
Some anonymous dude said... "When u buy Americans/ Israeli products:U give them money -> they buy weapon -> Kill people."
Kritz said... "What's the point of boycotting those products? Wouldn't that affect other innocent peoples too? Wouldn't that be the same?"
Harmony said... "I'm not going to just boycott my fast food and other stuffs so easily"
Acura said... "But boycotting American goods isn't a smart solution. Protesting on the streets aren't going to solve the prob. UN & the US need to do something or else the war is just going to go on & on"

This is a hard thing to investigate on. I am not an economist and I cannot assured how much the impact of buying these products will directly goes ioto the weapon coffer. The last time I checked, the consumers paid extra 5% government tax for the products, plus some 10% servgice charges in certain outlets of products. The revenue of a company will go to paying utilities, the salaries, raw materials, maintenance and social charity (in certain cases). Do not forget on other operating costs which I have not mention here.

Furthermore, most of the products and brands available in Malaysia are mostly franchise - meaning a local who brought and open these brands into our market. As mentioned before on the lengthy post, boycotts means backfire into our own volatile economy prospect and may not necessary brings an end into the issues.
I think it is not a time for us just to do any boycotting campaign for their products to end the issue. Why not focus on the main issue and tackle them on diplomacy manners or any methods available which will serves more realistic approaches to end it rather than attacking only a minor fraction of the issues. Boycotts solve problems in short term. Once we voiced our objection over Dutch and Danish products but the things cooled by itself, what's next?

I wished to thanks all our commentors which have resulted in the following conclusions:
1) All of us are against the cruelty of the Israel has done over the Palestinian over the past 20 days. The Jewish should stop attacking the Palestinian and the same goes to the Hamas. Cease the war and negotiate on a round table. Stop killing of the innocents and I believe both Israel and Hamas should be blamed.

2) Not all Jewish around the world and even those in Israel itself are supporting this war and killing. By just merely assuming a small sample size of 100 peoples who went to war doesn't make it a generalized statement that Jews are cruel, Jews killed Palestinian and so on.

3) Boycotting American and Israeli products resolves issues in temporary manners but the war will continues. Why waste our time tackling something insignificant while the core issues remain unresolved? Anyway, I believe it is an individual right to whether support or not support the campaign.

4) There are two sides of stories in an event. However, it may be easier to simply pick one side, abide and stand for it, but it would be unfair to the other side. In the revolution of human thinking in the modern age, why not take into considerations from both parties before passing out judgement. We perceived Nazis were evil because the history was written by the one who won the war. Does anyone ever wonder why Germany turned into an Axis power during World War 2?