Mr. Boycott. To boycott. Yes, they’re connected.
Words have history and the study is called etymology. In Ireland, people waged a twenty-year struggle to achieve ‘The Three F’s’–fair rent, the fixity of tenure, and free sale. That struggle took place in County Mayo from 1870-90. Frustrated by a lack of progress against money-hungry landlords, in 1880 the Mayo community ignored and ostracized the English land agent, Captain Charles C. Boycott. Eventually, the tenants won their battle and a proper noun (Boycott) became a verb (to boycott).
Many people don’t know that the word, ‘boycott,’ is named after a person–the person just named–Captain Charles C. Boycott. A boycott inflicts an economic loss on the target or indicates moral outrage, to try to compel the target to alter an objectionable behavior.
A boycott has proven to be a powerful force for disenfranchised folks, just like those Irish tenants. However, the poor aren’t the only ones to use the force of a boycott. Just recently, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) announced that it would not hold any football games in Mississippi as long as the state flag carried a symbol of the Confederacy. The SEC, like many others (organizations and people), had had enough racist glorification.
In other states, college sports have proven to be an economic force for change, too. Not too long ago, North Carolina made changes to its so-called “bathroom law.” Georgia changed its state flag to remove symbols of hate. The threat of boycotts–like Facebook now faces–is strong.
All of this is good…in a way. Yes, it is great that the last state flag to glorify treason is now gone.
However, would it not have been more powerful and meaningful had not Captain Charles C. Boycott, Facebook, Georgia, North Carolina, and Mississippi seen the wrong of their ways and then changed?
Mr. Boycott used battering rams to demolish the walls of an Irish hovel before evicting a poor family. Later, he was made an outcast in Mayo and wrote a whiney letter to London newspapers. State legislators told us that the symbol of slavery was heritage and not hate. They changed their stance when threatened by college football and basketball.
Yes, those changes are good. But it also shows our sad state. Evil behavior changes only after making economic threats.
