An online campaign to boycott French goods is gathering a little momentum in the wake of the aggressive, torch-grabbing protests during the Olympic procession in Paris last week. There is more about it at the bottom of this Danwei post.
Below is a translation of a short blog post by San Lian Life Week journalist and popular blogger Wang Xiaofeng about the boycott.
Boycott
by Wang Xiaofeng
I received an SMS from a friend calling on me to avoid Carrefour, to boycott the French people that have insulted our country’s athletes on their procession. I replied saying that I have always boycotted French culture: I cannot speak French except to say ‘salut’…
I never boycott any type of goods, including Japanese goods, Korean, American, and now French. My first mobile phone was an Alcatel. I stopped using it because it had a particular characteristic: the screen did not display any information, like a cordless land line. I also do not boycott Japanese goods, the first TV set in my home was a Sharp. I don’t often buy Japanese goods not because of any patriotic feelings, but because I do not need them. If I need such goods, for example a digital camera, I will definitely buy Japanese goods. I do not like Korean goods because I think their stuff is much better looking than it is useful, for example their good looking but useless mobile phones.
In fact, the best boycott is a closed door policy for the country. Let’s go back to the Mao era: can you guys handle it? If you can’t handle that, then stop making a fuss, boycotting this and that.
The best boycott is to make yourself really awesome (牛逼); if you’re not cool, other people will pick on you. If you boycott someone when they pick on you, you’re just pretending to be be great. If you like it, maybe you should go to North Korea, where they only have north Korean and Chinese goods. Using your purchasing habits to demonstrate whether or not you are patriotic, this is really “universal values” with Chinese characteristics.
When you boycott, you are just showing that your target is much stronger than you, that your target is already mixed up in your life. So what the hell have you been doing before now?
I just happen to have some discount coupons for Carrefour. I guess if I go these days, there won’t be long queues.
If there is anything I am going to boycott, it’s all these stupid idiots [arranging boycotts].
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Note: See also this post of translations on ESWN: Kitty Shelley versus France