That, it seems is the latest demand from the facile Twatterati.
German brands and products are the latest target of political activists upset about the Greece bailout.
#BoycottGermany was first mentioned on Twitter in connection with the Greek crisis over the weekend, but started picking up on Monday. The hashtag has since been used more than 30,000 times, driven up the trending charts across Europe by left-leaning and anarchist voices.
Oh, my, it’s even got a hashtag. Must be serious, then.
I’ve got two BMW motorcycles in my garage. I will continue to buy BMW motorcycles. So, er fuck your hashtag and fuck your boycott.
Whatever sympathy I have with the Greeks, they got themselves into this mess. The Euro was always a bad idea and they should have stayed out of it. The answer is clear – and it’s one they should have gone for initially. Default, return to the Drachma and devalue.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to buy German goods if I see fit. I don’t much like boycotts and I like the sanctimonious, self-righteous twats on Twitter even less.
So exactly whose fault is the Greek debt? Did anyone hold a gun to their heads and demand they borrow shed loads of cash and splash it around? Just because it was there doesn’t mean they had to borrow it. Is the argument that the Greeks are so weak minded that all a bank had to do was wave some euros under their noses and they were suddenly incapable of rational thought? A rather racist assumption that effective underpins the ‘The banks are at fault for offering them the money’ argument.
And the Greek electorate are no less culpable than their politicians. Did they ever vote for a party that demanded they balance their budget and live within their means? Of course not, they all voted without fail for more spending, and no more taxes either.
The Greeks are in a hole entirely of their own making.
I know it’s no help whatsoever Jim but human nature dictates that an electorate will not vote for a party that a) tells the truth and b) fields itself on policies of what you cant have.
I call the phenomenon promisory politics. We’ve been doing it for decades and it’s a tried and tested formula. The labour party are particularly good at this and it works till the card’s maxed out.
Corruption is endemic in Greece from the very top to the very bottom.
The only way forward for Greece is to default and leave the euro, totally unacceptable to the eu. It’s probably a 50/50 split in culpability between the Greeks and the eu but as per the one with the biggest wallet wins. Greece is going to be completely asset stripped with corporates buying chunks of infrastructure at bargain prices. In very short order anything of any value will be bought up by the corporates.
That said you can’t keep lending beer money to an underemployed alcoholic he has to learn to earn his own beer.
I’d also point out that the electorate don’t get what they want anyway. Look at what happened with their referendum. They got the opposite of what they voted for. Politicians will do as they will, regardless of the electorate.
It was curious to notice that Tsipras looked like a terrified rabbit in the headlights while he sat listening to Farage’s speech in the eu parliament.
It’s a curious phenomenon, politicians are often vociferously critical of the eu while campaigning but once in office they almost always comply.
The eu must have some very big sticks in some big cupboards that we don’t know about.
We, most in the west live, in elected dictatorships anyone who imagines we live in a democracy is delusional.
“So exactly whose fault is the Greek debt?”
Well its a combination of Greek fecklessness, corruption and weakness, allied with EU power projection and overarching political vanity.
Ask yourself this?
Why was Greece admitted into the EU/EZ when it was obvious to a blind pig that her books had to have been cooked – and then some. Couldn’t be they wanted to expand their Empire at any cost?
Why was absolutely flipping shedloads of money thrown at Greece (and Spain/Portugal). Do you remember Athens getting a brand new spanking state of the art airport and the Olympics to go with it. Who benefited from all the building contracts. Who got all the bungs? Bear in mind that Greece, Spain and Portugal had been under dictatorship – so the EU was trying to bribe them to show them how wonderful it was in the so called European paradise.
Do you remember how quickly Papandreou and Berlusconi were removed once they started mentioning things like Referendums? Do you remember only a fortnight ago the fury of the EU elite when Tsipras mentioned the referendum word?
The EU are showing Greece that they are the masters and they will not be defied. It doesn’t matter that Greece is being ar$e raped slowly, all that matters is that the EU control Greece and that Greece must never leave the Euro or the EU. If any country leaves the game is afoot.
Lastly, and I know you’ll find this odd, It’s actually not really about the money – it’s all about political control. You know as well as I do that you cannot have control of a currency unless you have that political control.
Are these political activist idiots calling for a boycott of German brands and products sure they themselves are not buying German?
I bet they still shop at German Lidl supermarkets – because it’s still cheaper.
I bet they still buy german beer or wine at the pub or bar – because they don’t know the drink is exported from Germany.
I bet they still buy German made beauty products and toiletries from Superdrug stores – because they are habitual favourites they have bought for years.
Bleeding hypocrites!
I like German goods. I love my BMW motorcycles, so will carry on as before. I never indulge in boycotts unless a particular provider upsets me, whereupon I take my business elsewhere. I never indulge in the kind of sanctimonious, self-righteous twattery being advocated here.
Jim,
As we will be soon and I didn’t really have a say in it. Have you?
Great idea , get a credit card, max it out, get another one, pay off the previous one with it ,get third one repeat process and in the meantime spend money like water then blame the creditors who finally lose patience and ask for their money back .
What’s not to like? 😉
I respect your views, each to his own, but…I had a K75 once, it was the most soulless motorbike I have ever owned. A thin Ford Fiesta minus two wheels with a seat on top. Was it the 3-cylinder engine configuration? My Triumph Sprint says no, it wasn’t.
The boycott of German goods has been tried before by International Jewry in 1933. Let’s give it another try. What could possibly go wrong?
I’ve not ridden a K so can’t comment. The twins certainly have character – the R80R is one of the sweetest machines I’ve ridden. However, that was never the point here.
As you say, the Greeks went on a spending spree with Germany’s credit card. Now they’re squealing because the Germans want their money back. Boo fking hoo.
The Twatterati can go and place their heads back in their usual fragrant position. Which the rest of us find vaguely comical, in an unhygienic way. No boycott from this side of the water.