Monday, April 1, 2013

Thoughts on Amazon.com

Its been about a month or so now that my husband and I have decided, after much prayer and counsel, to cease our business with Amazon.com.

Silly as it may sound, it wasn't an easy decision, as we were loyal customers and bought a lot of our houshold items from the website. We loved the convenience of being Prime members, where shipping was only 2 days and free. I loved that we got such great prices, better than almost anywhere else. Needless to say, we were fans.

However, Amazon recently launched a new commercial for its new product, the Kindle Paperwhite. We do not have cable, so we did not first see it on tv, though one of the men that Sam works with did. Actually, his daughter did. He wasn't too happy.

The commercial is about the release of the new Paperwhite, and in the ad, a woman and man are sitting side by side and he says they should celebrate him just ordering a Paperwhite. She says something like, "Oh, my husband is bringing me a drink right now." Then the man says, "Mine too!", and the camera pans to their to respective husbands.
:(

The little girl of the man that Sam works with saw the commercial on tv one morning while getting ready for school, and at the end she said, "Ew! Daddy that's gross! Where's that man's wife?" He then had to give his 7 year-old daughter a lengthy explanation about why that was on tv and that it does not make it okay.

While I certainly know that not everyone agrees with mine and Sam's old-school thoughts on morality, we strongly hold to the teachings of the Church, and that is that marriage a covenant between a man and a woman, and is not something that can at all be redefined by man. I really don't like that Amazon did not just promote their product, but instead decided to push a completely different agenda.


After we heard about this commercial, Sam called the apostolate at Catholic Answers, and I posted a thread on catholic.com, just to get others' perspective on the ad. Some people answered that they don't care what Amazon is advertising, as long as they get a good price and the products they want. Others said they won't be doing business with them any more. As for the apostolate, Sam talked to Jim Blackburn (for those of you who may know who he is), and he basically said that our contribution to Amazon (especially if we mainly buy from vendors other than Amazon)is so miniscule and remote, that it wouldn't really make a difference... that we are not culpable if we decided to continue to buy from them. He also mentioned, that if we wanted to move our business elsewhere, that we'd thouroughly have to research the inner trappings of each company to be sure they are not similar in their advertising or that they don't give to parties we believe work in opposition to God's will for us.

:sigh: The whole thought has been exhausting, really. And while everyone, everyone has told us that its okay to continue to buy from them, my heart tells me its not. It is not okay to buy from a company that publicly advertises what the Church teaches against.

It may be scrupulous, on my part. It may indeed. But I cannot shake the feeling that God is telling me that this is an easy decision. I feel like I can almost hear Him saying,

"Miranda, my child, do you think this is a business I would support, knowing what they're promoting?"

"No, God, certainly not."

"Then why are you struggling in trying to decide what you'll do? Just follow me, my love."

"Yes, Father. I will follow you."


Sorry for the inner monologue, but this is why we've resolved to at least do away with Amazon. As far as researching every company, we've yet to figure that part out. But I now have no problem severing ties with Amazon, since they are so boldy supporting the re-definition of marriage that we do not.