We had this discussion on another topic : Behringer D Synth
And @psyclone001 was right about this. Behringer should probably be boycotted. The decision is even simpler as those products aren’t necessary for your survival.
But then again you should probably boycott almost everything.
I would like to state again that “there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism”: your jeans are probably the product of cheap labor, and so is your t-shirt and so is almost everything around you (desk, computer, screens, smarphone, pens, mugs, just to mention some of the objects surrounding me). Everyone feels like their purchasing power has rised since the 50s but this is mostly become nobody buys quality things anymore.
I tried for a while to only spend my money on ethical products: not only this is hard because there are not much left, most of what’s left is a scam. For example, I’ve learned that those Made in U.S.A. New Balance I bought (thrice the price of regular ones!) contain a significant number of parts sourced in other countries. Those (french brand) jeans I bought were made in (E.U.) Portugal, but, to my dismay I’ve heard that the working conditions there were quite poor and that the inflated price was mostly due to the inflated margin. Same thing goes for coffee, chocolate, etc.
People want to feel better by making consumption choices that do not harm people, but they’re lied to constantly.
This doesn’t mean we should be relativistic about those issues, but some Redditors on the aforementioned topic are right I.M.H.O:
- “Support legislation and systemic change. Vote. Hit the actual problem, which isn’t Behringer, but the ugly intersection of capitalism and globalism. Buying or not buying Behringer isn’t going to do anything to impact this problem, because people value price above morals. And it’s nonsensical to to wear clothes created under similar conditions and type on laptops made in similar conditions and fill your life with products made in similar conditions but draw the line at … synths?” - PolyBen
- “don’t waste too much of your energy worrying about whether or not it’s morally justifiable to buy a deepmind or whatever. Despite their gross callousness, the takes in this thread to the effect of “yea but every company does it” are rooted in truth. Complicity in exploitation is inescapable as a consumer. You have to square up with that fact. But the ‘politics of consumption’ are a diversion of your actual power. You’ve been socialized to consume. To express yourself via consumption, to identify and individualize yourself by your consumption, and even to do politics via consumption. It all accomplishes nothing but to keep you sealed in your own personal bubble, and to keep the value produced by workers like you flowing into the pockets of men like Uli B. In a case like this, there’s really nothing much you can do to directly help those workers. But there’s plenty you can do in your own sphere of influence. If shit like this gets you fucked up, then fight against the same dynamics as they appear in your own life. Unionize your workplace. Join a mutual aid network. Do whatever you can to build institutions that will fill the gaps the state and private charity never will. Workers have never achieved concessions to their own labor interest through any other way than mass coordination. If you want to help chinese workers, start by helping yourself.” - freelance_shill
As for myself, well, I haven’t done much work this morning, this is how I fight the system. From the inside.
