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Buy Nothing Day


  3. dgahr
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Tired of the rampant commercialism that Christmas has come to symbolize in this country? Sick of the mainstream media urging all of us to consume our way to happiness? Stressed out from the pressures of the holiday season? Dreading the traffic snarls and long lines of ravenous shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving?

Then celebrate Buy Nothing Day. The 15th annual, 24-hour consumer-fast is a day to relax and not spend a dime, or to engage in some anti-consumption activism. Hang out with family and friends, eat some leftovers and think about the impact our consumer culture has on all of us, as individuals and as a global community.

While your at it, you can share "Toxic Villages" the fantastic Vanguard pod that looks at the consequences of out-of-control consumption with your relatives:

http://current.com/items/76355482_toxic_villages

Or, you can venture out and risk being trampled at Target because they just put 32 inch LCD TVs on sale.
dgahr

10 responses // Buy Nothing Day

  • http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/
    MTV - Money Television
    MTV - Money Television
    Here's a great piece on the anti-consumerism day! MTV even refused to air the commercial for it, obviously they don't make enough money!

    You agree with MTV not running a commercial?
    mattbrawn
  • Umm, but this day has SO many crazy good deals. You better believe I'll be out there buying up lots of stuff! Hey It's either buy it now or buy it later, so why not get a super deal?
    Dustball
  • Isn't rampant consumption the only thing keeping this economy afloat?
    mcamargo
  • The economy is a sinking ship, my friend. It's going down whether we buy or not. I don't believe its worth keeping afloat. capitalism is alienation.
    ILiveonaClock
  • I dont buy anything anyway, except weed.
    stephenthomson
  • Does anyone really think that not buying anything for one day is going
    to affect any business’s bottom line, or have a lasting impact on the
    economy as a whole? No. It’s meant to evoke
    reactions and thoughts and dialogs and maybe, just maybe, change the way people
    think about over-consumption, debt and over-spending.

    Seriously, watch “toxic villages”
    if you need a visual reference for the impact that consumer culture has
    on the global community. Or take a look at the mounting debt
    our government is amassing by the minute ( http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/),
    or the recent subprime mortgage debacle, or the credit card debts
    carried by young people to realize the gravity of the situation.

    Call me an idealist, but the argument that it’s a token gesture undermines the
    power of individual choice in affecting broader change. Trying to
    get people to consume less (and think about how their consumption
    affects others) is absolutely critical to the conservation
    of resources and has real consequences in the fight for healthier
    humans and a healthier planet, and Buy Nothing Day is simply
    meant to raise this issue.

    Look, I love Christmas. Family, friends, food, parties, lights, snow.
    I’m all about it. And I love finding the perfect gift for someone.
    The point of Buy Nothing Day is not to say Christmas should be banned,
    or that you’re a bad person if you buy things, it’s to allow
    for people to take stock and, hopefully, realize what truly matters.
    Lofty goal? Clearly. Pretentious? Maybe. Pointless? Hardly.
    dgahr
  • The power of "the people" is not being utilized. The source of this power is our spending. What if we did not buy gas at a particular company's gas stations because they still haven't paid their fine on the Valdez oil spill? What if we did not shop at a particular store until they start paying their employees a living wage and providing benefits? What if we didn't shop on a particular day at a particular company because it stays open on the Holiday? What if we did not shop at companies who support candidates who want us to attack Iran too? We could have power. All we need is for an organization to organize us. (Moveon.org? TrueMajority?)
    rannecone
  • So you anti-capitalists (like ILiveOnAClock) think capitalism is wrong? I know a poor family that would like your computers and your internet connection because they can't afford their own. There are 4 kids 13 & under in the family. Which of you will be the first to give up your toy so these kids can access the web for their studies?
    (silence)
    Hey StevenThomas, what do you do, make your own clothes out of stems & baggies? Are you on a PC in a public library?

    Hypocrites!
    dont_taze_me_bro
  • Dont taze me bro-capitalism (private ownership of business vs state ownership) by definition is not the issue. Consumerism is. If we have what we need, why do we covet more? Waste is generated by covetousness.
    resolute
  • Resolute: We may or may not "covet" more than we need. Who's to say what we need? If we are free, we decide, not some committee or majority. Nobody needs art, yet it is through the "waste" of money on art that I feed my family. Are you suggesting we should starve? Or would you rather use government to force me to dig ditches or perform some other "useful" service? I like you because you have the sense to support Ron Paul, but you err when you assume capitalism isn't the issue. The haters of those who are willing to work harder then they, will always say that capitalists are evil and greedy, but it is they who are truly evil. The haters hate those of us who paid our dues to earn what we do, and always assume we get our money with no effort; but in fact they wish to have as much as we do or more, and to do so without expending any effort. It's all quite ironic really.

    Your definition of capitalism is somewhat lacking. The proper definition involves the ownership of the means of production, not the ownership of the corporate title, but in the interest of appealing to the limited understanding of the masses, I'll go with your definition in spite of its wrongness: Consumerism is practiced by private companies, government-run companies, and all persons in between. It is, as McAmargo posits the only thing keeping us afloat.

    Consumerism is a good thing.

    The bad things in our (US) economy include the federal reserve bank inflating our currency, too many people willing to trust the (federal and state) governments to guard our interests and liberty, and the ever creeping philosophy which holds Socialism/Communism up as a superior ideal to that of free market Capitalism. (Oh and also the idea that "democracy" somehow equals freedom.)

    In case anyone is interested, my real genuine email address is at halebobb dot com and is the same as my name here..
    There's an "at" symbol in there too.

    Ron Paul 2008!
    dont_taze_me_bro

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