On the scale of "companies who I will try to avoid due to their actions" Benchmade is very, very small fry. My understanding is that they worked to help support overturning the folder import ban in Australia, and my understanding is that they have helped companies in Canada and are continuing to do so with its current situation. Not all of these are things I need every detail on, and I have to have some trust.
I will continue to support and recommend Benchmade where appropriate.
One of the things I would like to say again: By and large we are all friends here. We have disagreements, and that's fine, that's the nature of a hobby, not all of us need to like the same stuff. However with topics like this that are easily heated, any time you make an argument against "those kind of people" or "you people" or "those people" you are alienating friends that would support you. Any argument that equates an identifier or group with a policy means that the conversation with that group is no longer valid, it tells that person who identifies with that group that they will not be heard. That tribalism just weakens the group as a whole, and means that you get more of an echo chamber. This is a factor of our world now. We as a community decide if we are willing to be thoughtful and listen, or if we are going to pass judgment before having all the information. We are both part of the problem, and part of the solution. I understand that a lot of people have passion for the subject and it would seem to many like I'm preaching from on high with no skin in the game. But dudes, I do. I can't talk guns without the US coming up in conversation. No talk in Canada or Australia happens without comparisons happening to the US. So what I'm saying, the more level headed the conversation is internationally, the more people get their house in order no matter where they live, and have real solutions that are based on reality, the better it gets for all of us. The more we turn friends into enemies, the fewer friends we have, the math is that simple.
If this is your line in the sand, then that's fine, I probably can't convince you otherwise. But please don't take my position as opposition to yours. I don't know what the right answer is, I do know that some of the reasoning I've heard for a boycott is based on incomplete info, and political meme-ery. I'm not here to score points, because my team isn't even playing anymore. If you felt like you scored points, I want to ask, was it worth it? Was dividing the community farther worth it?
