On the St. Martin's Press boycott

This is a bit of an impromptu post but I just heard from a friend in the publishing industry about the St. Martin's Press boycott that really put some things into perspective. I do want to put some ground rules on this conversation; I don't want to come across as someone who has all the answers and certainly I don't want to be the one to dictate your personal actions.

I guess I just want to go through the thought process I had during this conversation. This whole movement started of an employee's personal tweets after October 7th that in retrospect can safely be called in poor taste. Emotions were very high and there was none of the context of what we now know the Israeli government is responsible for.

However, I do think it's worth considering what the end goal is here. In an ideal scenario, what would be enough to satisfy those boycotting: An apology? A commitment to sharing Palestinian voices? Firing the employee involved?

I won't pretend to have any of the answers but I do worry about the potential harm being done for punishing someone for speaking impulsively without a full grasp of the situation on the ground. Even as a citizen of the internet, there's a pressure of being on the right side of history... of saying the perfect thing at the right moment. I would hope that we would all act with good intentions and correct ourselves if/when we realize we've gone off the right path.

Please don’t misconstrue my weariness in supporting the boycott as me not unequivocally supporting the Palestinian cause. I just am reevaluating whether boycotting a publisher because of one person’s actions is a worthy use of time and effort compared to actually trying to influence elected officials to stop the atrocities currently taking place in Palestine.

Please reach out if you agree or disagree with this; I welcome the conversation.