The "Other"
It’s like a game of chess, where the threat of an action turns out to be more powerful than the action itself. A surgically, or selectively, applied boycott was always at least implied, not a kick in the balls for everyone. No one was threatening the innocent hoosiers. Collectively, though, Indiana and a few other misguided states deserved a wake-up call.
In fact, it’s implied that in-state consumers can implement a surgically applied boycott. Obviously, they’re not gonna boycott every single business---that is, unless they’re planning on eating dirt casserole for every meal until the boycott is over.
As for out-of-state businesses, they are in a slightly different position. Either they’re going to invest in the state or they’re not. For them, if they allow the threat of collateral damage (i.e., against innocents) to become a dealbreaker, then no form of protest or activism would be possible or effective in the first place.
In the meantime, most of the tighty-righty presidential candidates are still aligning themselves with the garbage legislation that BEGAN this whole kerfuffle. The South (and the southern diaspora) make up the bulk of the nutbar conservative juggernaut in this country. They are the same old elements of the old Confederacy---sometimes dressed up in modern clothing, sometimes not. At least they rarely lynch anyone anymore. I’ll give them that. Emphasis on “rarely.”
Everyone in the U.S. and Europe knows which bloc of voters retards progress in the United States---on health care, on the environment, on hyper-nationalistic militarism, on our crumbling infrastructure, and on a million other issues that desperately need tending. They cling to their “slave mentality” economy and other ridiculous, unworkable dogmas. They have a perverse need to discriminate against “the other,” both as scapegoats and as the ultimate “losers” in their neo-feudalist economic schemes. First they targeted Blacks. Now they target Blacks, gays, and followers of Sharia law (LOL)---probably extraterrestrials too.
What the rightwing bloc of yahoos NEEDS is REFORMERS, not apologists. The dumbshits can’t even raise the minimum wage, which would be $20 per hour right now if it had kept up with inflation. And yes, they’re everywhere---in every state, not just Indiana and Arkansas. That’s basically what “diaspora” means. It’s like a rancid attitude that never entirely disappears or that resurges now and then---you know, like Puritanism.
It’s odd how more and more religionists are becoming the exact opposite of their own religious ideals. Perhaps it’s always been that way. Fiscal conservatives use social conservatives as a front. Otherwise, they would receive a radically diminished number of votes.