So, everyone probably got a copy of the "May 15th Gas Boycott" in one form or another in one of their inboxes... The last one I got looked like this (from myspace):
GAS BOYCOTT - MAY 15TH 2007Now... First of all, this is a rehashed email/bulletin that's been going on for years. This supposed "gas out of '97" didn't happen... Gas prices did not drop thirty cents, overnight, or otherwise... But let's just take a little common sense look at why something like this wouldn't work in the first place.
Don't pump gas on MAY 15th.
In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.
On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places.
There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.
If all users did not go to the pump on th 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companies pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15 and lets try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.
If you agree (which I can't see why you wouldn't) resend this to all your contact list. With it saying, "Don't pump gas on May 15th".
So gas up today/tonight if your gonna be needing gas!!
Well, it's really quite simple to explain. Let's suppose that you followed this bulletin's advice and gassed up on, say, the 14th, instead of the 15th. Or let's say you waited until the 16th to go get your gas... You still bought the gas, right? You still drove your car, right? You used the gas, right? So... where's the loss to the "oil companies?" Oh, yeah... that's right... they didn't lose a penny. Gassing up a day early (or a day later) doesn't make a difference because you are still buying the gasoline. Hello??? They're still getting their money (well, they already had it, but that's a different story).
I'm not against, in any way, people wanting to do something good... but sometimes the way they go about it boggles the mind... I've always thought this bulletin/email was ridiculous because the premise is so... so... well, ridiculous. How did they think something like this would work??? Oh, yeah... because they got an email saying it would. I bet they also believe that they can grow more hair, have a bigger penis, get cheaper dope, etc., too...
When the United States government (R.I.P.) boycotts products from another country, they don't say, "We don't want your products, today... but Monday, give us a call," they say, "We don't want your products... period." So you can easily see how the term doesn't even apply to what the email is asking people to do. To boycott, you must do without...
boy·cott [boi-kot]–verb (used with object)
1. to combine in abstaining from, or preventing dealings with, as a means of intimidation or coercion: to boycott a store. –noun
2. to abstain from buying or using: to boycott foreign products.
3. the practice of boycotting.
4. an instance of boycotting. [Origin: after Charles C. Boycott (1832–97), English estate manager in Ireland, against whom nonviolent coercive tactics were used in 1880]
How to affect change: USE LESS GAS. The only way something like this would work is if people would abstain from buying gasoline for several weeks, if not months... can you imagine? Yeah, me, neither. But how about carpooling? Taking the bus/train? Riding your bike to work? God forbid, walking to work (when it's feasible, of course - I wouldn't expect someone that works twenty miles/minutes away to be able to do that)? When I was a kid, I knew a woman that walked about twenty blocks to and from work every day of her life... Not only was she "doing her part" (probably without realizing it), but she managed to help maintain a pretty kickin' body by doing so. Asking people to just sell their cars and walk everywhere isn't all that practical, but the gas we waste on frivolous driving could add up to something, y'know?
Actually, though... If you bought less gas, you don't even really hurt the oil companies... As I stated above, they got paid for the gas you're pumping in your car a long time before it ever made it to your car. The only thing "gas boycotting" really hurts is the gas stations where you get your gas, which have basically no say in the prices of gas in the first place. Which really only goes to reiterate my point... USE LESS... A short-term goal of dropping gas prices thirty cents isn't the big picture (gas prices are based on speculation over months - it takes about two months for a drum of crude oil bought at x dollars to make it to the pumps). Use less, and in time, change for the better will occur.
