Office Depot Apologizes. It’s Okay to Buy Paper Clips!

Breathe a sigh of relief. It’s okay to buy your paper clips and printer ink at Office Depot. The retailer of office supplies has issued an apology to Maria Goldstein.

Actually, I’m kidding–that’s a bit of satire there! Despite the bluster you hear around the Internet whenever Someone doesn’t like what Someone Else does, I would have shopped at Office Depot anyway because it’s near my house.

As a general rule, I am an opponent of the “Boycott!” threat that pops up so regularly on social media. I think that the “Boycott Them!” meme, like its more reckless cousin the “Sue Them!” meme, is (a) a waste of effort, and (b) ineffective, and (c) paints a very negative, whiny picture of Christians or whatever special interest group is throwing rocks at any particular time.

Do I think there’s a time to take action en masse? Yes, yes I do. When Planned Parenthood kills in excess of 357,000 unborn children per year (2013 statistics), and when they are exposed for the cruel bastards they are for slicing and squishing and dismembering tiny bodies for fun and profit, then compassionate Americans of all stripes should rise up in a display of solidarity, demanding change.

But refusing to shop at Office Depot does diddly-squat to impact the profit shares of the company, and quite likely overlooks the social sins of other similar companies who did the same thing but who just didn’t get caught. I haven’t done an exhaustive study of corporations which support abortion or other causes with which I disagree; but as a case in point, I see that Staples made Life Decisions International’s list in 2010 for its financial support of Planned Parenthood.

And it’s not that I think the executives at Office Depot are such great heroes! They did, after all, embrace Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, producing a special line of back-to-school supplies and pledging at least $1 million to the anti-bullying, pro-gay organization. [Anti-bullying – good; pro-gay – not good; Lady Gaga – DEFINITELY not good]

Everyone’s got to make their own decisions in this life; and perhaps buying pencils at the supermarket instead of the office supply store made you feel you were Doing Something Important. But to me, all the harping about Office Depot amounted to a colossal nothing.

Oh, I reported the story–including Office Depot’s apology–at the National Catholic Register. The final communiquê from Office Depot on Friday said, in part:

“Office Depot has contacted Ms. Goldsteins’s representative to explain that the store associate’s decision to decline a print order was in no way based on religious beliefs, but on the fact that it contained certain words and phrases that could be construed as graphic or advocates the persecution of groups of people, which is a violation of the company’s copy and print policy. Office Depot has long maintained a policy of not allowing associates to print items that violate copyright laws, advocate persecution of any group or contain graphic material.

Upon a more detailed review, we have determined that the content of Ms. Goldstein’s flyer is not a clear violation of the company’s policy.

We sincerely apologize to Ms. Goldstein for her experience and our initial reaction was not at all related to her religious beliefs. We invite her to return to Office Depot if she still wishes to print the flyer.”

You can read the rest of the story at the Register.