This pointless article misses the whole reason behind buy nothing day. It is supposed to raise awareness among people who are not usually politically aware. Any mother who shops at walmart deserves to be harassed. Maybe it might make her wake up and make her change her shopping habits. Also rascist insults like "Whitey McPrivileged" just show the authors ignorance and stupidity. If we want to make any political changes we need to unite all progressive minded people, not encourage class and race hatred and division.

I appreciate that you voice the complexity in something like this. Even if I go buy nothing, or by nothing, it makes sense that when I look at the nothing that others buy or do, I might pause before I judge. Perhaps those moments are invitations into the "else" of "what else might be going on here?", and I wonder how many are lost and voiceless in that "else."

edit: by "you" I meant the author, not the poster above me.

"Any mother who shops at walmart deserves to be harassed. Maybe it might make her wake up and make her change her shopping habits."

And you're talking about "ignorance and stupidity"?

Good article. Like any awareness-raising day, it's what people make of it...And there'll always be ideological puritans and fundamentalists who use their moral high to try to brow-beat others (like accosting the harried mother outsideof Wallmart). Marking the day by self-consciously refraining or self-consciously consuming and then talking about it, is all part of the process.

I have observed countless "Buy Nothing Days", and everything single one of them was involuntary. As the author points out, the credit-oppressed consumer is not the enemy. The people who have to luxury to choose to buy nothing are the people who need to catalyze the change. Chances are they're still buying something that day through their automated Gold Card installments anyway.

Even though the author claims not to believe in buy nothing day she is not convincing as to why. Buy nothing day isn't aimed at poor single welfare moms, it's aimed exactly at "whitey mcprivileged" who has no idea about the concept of over consumption and its effects on the planet and our society. If you are an enlightened consumer and do buy items such as fair trade coffee and locally created artisan products, than more power to you. But the brainless drones who spend just because they are programmed to do so need to be shaken out of their sleep.

Ah another "progressive" article from the good ole Tyee. Articles like this along, with crud from Glavin, "the poor man's Christopher Hitchens" and I don't have to bother with the National Post.

Personally, I would prefer a change in direction of the day. Instead of "buy nothing", how about "share everything"? The reason we buy so much is because we're so individual; we share extremely little. If we had communities that shared all the things we don't use very much, such as vacuum/carpet cleaners, movies, little used clothes, books, specialized cookware, etc. (which can be facilitated in common cooking areas), we will be forced to buy more and more.

BND is not to raise awareness of the consumer, by golly! It's to make those who have stuff to sell aware how much power there is in the consumer dollar - as if they didn't already know. With electronic payment methods, skewed taking out of remote accounts, etc., this will never impact on a single day, and the whole exercise becomes just plain dumb, another gimmick for bored people.
Better to train oneself to look at each single dollar one gives out. It is your saved up work, buddy. Convert it into minutes or hours worked (remember the overhead and taxes), and then see if you think the red shiny widget is worth it!

Ms. Farrell's point is a good one, but her logic is pretty poor. Of course "Buy Nothing Day" is targeted at the priveleged and the well-off. Does Ms. Farrell think that "The 30 Hour Famine" isn't aimed at well-off suburban kids?

The point, which Ms. Farrell chooses to ignore, is to raise awareness of conspicuous consumption. I don't know why she brings up the working poor, because they're more often the recipients of social programs, not the targets.

Ms. Farrell also fails to provide the more important and tangible reason to ignore "Buy Nothing Day". From the FAQ for "The Rebel Sell":

I love Adbusters! Buy Nothing Day is a symbolic event. It suggests that we try, just for ONE DAY ONLY, not to consume. And yes, Jenn, BND is partly about us middle class consumers with too much discretionary income. But it's more about the corporate interests that work 24/7 telling people the meaning of life is to go shopping. When Adbusters tried to take out full page newspaper ads about BND, our Canadian monopoly media refused. The matter is before the Courts. A very sad day for freedom of expression.

And no, BND is not about impoverished people with no money who need to buy milk for their children. But neither is corporte capitalism. I would invite Ms. Farrell to carefully reconsider her objection to Adbuster's attempt to undermine the pell-mell momentum of full scale consumer capitalism. BND is just one effort among many. Shopping for fair traded goods is another excellent effort. They are not mutually exclusive.

not so much an article about buy nothing day, but a personal story about a single mom/feminist with a grievance. Gee, haven't heard that one before...Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? newsflash: I don't. You shouldn't have gotten knocked up in the first place, and if you had an ounce of pride you wouldn't have collected welfare. Spare your class warfare for an NDP rally. Whitey McPriveliged earned their keep, can you say the same?

Getting people to behave responsibly and question the political correctness of consumerism and state capitalism is never going to be simple.

Anything and everything that makes this point in the public eye is valid and valuable. ‘Buy Nothing Day’ and Jenn Farrell's little piece (although I can't help but think Ms Farrell could have done something more useful with her 650 words) both play a role in a necessary but often seemingly futile effort.

Thank goodness for Tyee’s ‘comments’ section, which, as is frequently the case, rescues the initial weak effort and carries the argument much more forcefully than the journalism does.

I think the article misses the point of Buy Nothing Day.

To me, the pint is to make people aware that you should be conscious of what you buy and why.

Is it really a need or just a want that someone has convinced you that you 'need' it.

Just as they try and convince you that you will 'love' your new car or t.v.!

And the other point is to remind the sellers that much of what they sell we do not need!

Remember George Carlin's bit on stuff and needing more room to buy more stull, and when your you have no more space, go out and buy a bigger space, and so on, and so on!

I think it's important to understand the evolution of Buy Nothing Day, which was originally on September 24, for no particular reason. I know, of course, because I bought the t-shirt, and I think I did that on Buy Nothing Day. The objective of the event was just to give people a gentle nudge to think about their choices. As Adbusters became more involved in promoting it, they unilaterally told creator Ted Dave that they were moving it to American Thanksgiving, to target that US orgy of consumerism. And if you've never been in the US on Thanksgiving, you don't know what an orgy it is. That sort of changed the tone of Buy Nothing Day from "what if" to "thou shalt not." Of course, a polemical approach to discussing a problem always gets more attention than a nuanced one, which is a shame, because it invades and distorts all sorts of conversations about civil society.

Haha... on one thread Hyeena is pissing me off and on another making me laugh.

Yeah, Jenn, what's with the "Whitey McPriveleged"? That was not cool; There aren't privileged people of other skin colours out there? Give me a break.

Slight correction. The orgy takes place the day after Thanksgiving, because on Thanksgiving day itself, the US shuts down like it's Christmas Day,

Conservative Christians in the US have arranged for a boycott of Wall*Mart today on Black Friday because of the recent support for gay organizations by Wall*Mart.
It's a strange world, isn't it?

DO they take American Express Ron?

Not "strange" ronny, but sad. Sad that conservative christians would boycott Wall$$Mart for all the wrong reasons.

BTW
WHat is WRONG with CBC Radio?

I've had 690 on in the background this morning - Shelagh Rogers's whatever it's called show and it is a bloody disaster...some kind of collection of talking heads pretending they're having a party.

My God, can things have sunk that low. Evan Solomon and Mark Kelley on TV and this tripe on the radio. I'd get more of a charge out of sticking my finger in a light socket.

How is "buying consciously" (fair trade coffee, local artisans etc.) any less "Whitey McPriveleged" than Buy Nothing Day?

Thanks for your smug condenscion of me, a middle class, white priveleged male, (we do need this from time to time) to show how not every one can make symbolic political actions as easily as others. But to counter that with your own snobbery of your ethical buying (again a very important trend that me and many of my priveleged amigos try to do most days), leaves me wondering how you can expect the underpriveleged people that you are championing to do the same, or why is it that you don't mind excluding them in your actions.

Also, shouldn't BND be about showing you what you NEED versus what you want? I cvertainly don't stock up on toilet paper and other essentials so that my BND can be stress free, but if I did decide to do laundry, and found my detergent box empty, I think rather than just get in there and buy some darned detergent", I might not do laundry (again a priveleged white, middle class CHOICE, right?) and spend time with my family, as this is yet another thing that BND is about: denying the fallacy that entertainment is something to be consumed rather than produced.

The ultimate in Buy Nothing Day would be with respect to gas prices.

When gas prices were spiking over the summer past $1.20 per litre...some parties were claiming we should either boycott certain Brand Name gas stations or have full gas tanks and pick a day or two out of the week and NOBODY buy gas those days.

Given gas has a limited shelf life..ie 60 - 90 days before the quality drops ...this would have an economic backwash via mini gluts, producers panic..and drop the prices for fear of the "petrol equivalent of bad milk".

( Couldn't help but notice an instant 20 cent + per litre drop in gas prices just before summer driving season/peak demand ended...ie a few days before Labour Day ).

Such an BND initiative would most certainly be a productive joint-venture effort by all portions of the political spectrum.

G West:

Re your temptation to " sticking your finger in a light socket" ....make sure you talk to Rob first about the solar - powered option.

N/C.

the naming of "buy nothing day" seems problematic. it is impossible for everyone everywhere to buy absolutely nothing all on the same given day.

a more do-able approach could be a "buy less week".

and are there people who really stand outside stores and heckle shoppers on "buy nothing day"? i'm willing to bet some of them are the same sanctimonious and misled people who run amok once a month for their "critical mass" bicycle debacle on wheels.

and why are they trying it on a saturday in november anyway? is it because they know that trying it on a saturday in december would be futile?

There is an alternative to Buy Nothing Day called Steal Something Day -- aimed at truly challenging the fundamental basis of consumer culture.

See http://vancouver.craigslist.org/eve/235391961.html

I laughed the first time I saw a poster for it -- it actually made me think about the Buy Nothing Day event a bit more. To date, I haven't participated in either. I like the idea posted above of Share Everything Day or Get to Know Your Primary Producers Day (otherwise known as the Farmer's Market).

Compulsive buying is the issue with so many people. They do not need the product but it is on for such a low price they hand over there credit card and run it up just for the sake of running it up.
** That is why so many people are broke.

I think a much better alternative to Buy Nothing Day is Buy Local Day (observed last Saturday, Nov 18). In a free market society, the greatest power we have is our spending power and, as Heath and Potter noted in _The Rebel Sell_, if we don't spend our money our banks will invest it for us, and not necessarily in ways we approve. Spending money locally and responsibly year-round makes a much bigger statement than taking a day off from spending and making up for it on the "Business as Usual Day" that follows Buy Nothing Day.

no line-ups, lots of customer service, no sanctimonious tree hugging my shit don't stink types in the stores . . WOW

Sounds like paradise

Yeah, I never had to water down milk for cereal, though I did used to boil my pasta in beef bouillon to create the illusion of protein, and I can't stand this sort of BND tripe either. Remember, those who call for a Vote-With-Your-Dollar approach to politics are explicitly privileging the middle-class over we poor proles.

And for you dorks offended by "Whitey McPrivilege": give your empty head a shake and get a life. Somewhere a cop is knocking a guy's head into a squad car and calling him "chug" or "nigger" or "wetback" and you're typing on your iMac pretending to be offended by a mean-nothing joke. Spare us the feigned indignation, you peckerwood/cracker/ bloke/tête carrée/goyischekopf/gringo crybabies.

(And yes, though I too may be most of those, you couldn't call me a bloke or a tête carrée, you steenkeen Henglish peegs!)

Brilliant. Those who have been there -- or are still there -- get it exactly. Those who haven't -- or aren't -- never will.

And anyone who really wants to reduce his or her ecological footprint on the earth should try poverty: the results are truly staggering and highly effective. There are many people in my neighbourhood whose ecological footprint is practically nil -- and they don't have to give anything up to achieve that because they don't have anything to give up in the first place. What a stroke of genius!

I think the poor should be as "wasteful" as possible: unless there's a revolution around the corner, it's their only revenge against the conspicuous consumption of those who can afford to conspicuously consume. And those who can afford to do so have no business standing in judgement against those who can't. It's rank hypocrisy of the first order -- which is why the poor are always suspicious of the feel-good platitudes of the privileged.

I hope the "financially challenged" will continue to "spend their brains out" on Buy Nothing Day so that the marketing companies can increase their power over the obscenely extravagant spending habits of single mothers and welfare recipients. This is a timely and insightful article.

Oh God. Another self-righteous rant against Adbusters without realizing that they in fact have succeeded yet again. You are talking about consumption. Bingo. You are questioning your necessities versus your wants. Bingo. You are examing class. Bingo.

Everytime I do a BND action, people have no idea WHY there is a Buy Nothing Day. Some don't care, some are beginning to make the connection between global warming, poverty and their own spending habits. BND may seem like its the preacher and you the converte, but you have no idea how many people are totally clueless. You really don't. And these aren't working mothers. These are people with disposable incomes.

Twit.

Hey Fii: skip the racist question, it's old and you bore me. In fact, nobody cares. Do you have any guts at all? Speak your mind - do you really think people care that Jenn uses the words, 'Whitey McPriveliged'? Why don't you put the lip gloss away, girlfriend. Put your thinking cap on. What is the central point of this article? Do you even know? You may go back to your Women's Studies class. Peace out.

That reads like an anti-abortion rant with a couple of words changed. Harassing a person shopping has a very low probability of doing anything beyond angering the target. The comment from dbarefoot referencing "The Rebel Sell" makes a good economic point but the primary intent of BND appears to be symbolic, like so many other "points" made in an ongoing effort to:

"make people think"
"raise awareness"
"sell magazines"

Fourteen years of annual "awareness raising" by Adbusters has accomplished what exactly? Aside from selling t-shirts, bumper stickers and magazines plus the intangible "awareness raising" there is not much else. Why not get really bold and try to persuade people that Christmas presents are for kids or promote a gift free holiday season? Imagine the press coverage! This would still have no economic effect, but at least the self-satisfaction of the one-day participants would have some grounding beyond 24 hours of raising awareness. 24 hours is a stretch: after allowing for sleep, work, and some time at home I imagine the average person would actually be "Buying Nothing" for less than 3 hours. The talking will go on and on, but consumption keeps going up

Maestro said

If you mean being merely symbolic you are correct, but if you sincerely believe that such behaviour would influence the price of gas you are mistaken. An action such as that would merely redistribute the demand while not reducing it, hardly a major headache. Gas will still be purchased for the miles driven, and doing it Tuesday or Thursday but not Wednesday wouldn't make a difference. If smokers decided that they wanted to send a message to "big tobacco" by not buying cigarettes one day a week would it make a difference? Not if they still smoked as much as before. It would make a bigger difference if they tried to smoke one pack less a week, or better yet quite entirely: if they all did it then there would be no tobacco industry...

Considering that oil is traded on commodity markets that kind of change makes perfect sense: demand is going to be down so the value of a barrel of oil that will be consumed in that period will be lower.

Twit said:

Agreed that there are a lot of "clueless" people out there. There are also a lot of people who simply don't care because the marketing of BND is geared towards the converted. People are spending more than they bring in and they don't care! There are ads all over the place encouraging people to take out a loan on any equity they may have built up in order to "have the lifestyle you deserve." The simple expedient of buying less would be a simple step, along with not giving in when the kids (if one has them) demand a new cell phone whenever they see a new one on TV. Many folks can't see the connection between their latest big purchase, the large credit card statement and the need to borrow again: it is a huge leap for them to see anything as grand as a connection between global problems and consumption.

oops! I thought "Twit" was seanorr's sig until I posted. Apologies.

As I've said before, the Tyee is taking it's slow tack to the "middle", where the "middle" is defined as mockery (and written by people barely graduating from elementary school by the looks of it) of either side of any question. Now gleefully heading for the money and taking "support" from any old "foundation", the Tyee slowly but surely turns into an American weapons manufacturers sons dream.
The Tyee has surely reached "rag" point at this juncture. When you're resorting to printing crap like this (former unproductive, parasitic, brat spewing welfare mom sees the light!), you're sinking pretty low by journalistic standards.
I'm only sticking around these days to see just how craven and crap filled they'll let the writing get before they change their name to "National Review for Dummies".
The Tyee is starting to stink up cyberspace.

Gerhardius:

Please Re-read the premise...refined gas is a time sensitive commodity...cigarettes are not.

Many gas price adjustments have been made due to projected demand not meeting expectations and subsequent feared gluts, then its put " ON SALE ".

So far, " jrb" makes the most sense..simply buy what is necessary throughout the week.

Also, love the jab at the " bicycle nazis "...my family and 100's of others met em this year on the Cambie Street bridge...they had a quasi-political statement to make, shut down the bridge and ambushed those of us which were simply complying with the law and victims of their deluded message.

On a family outing , family and others had to cross the bridge on foot while the rest of us stayed parked......and many of those forced to walk were subjected to being called crude words by these self - propelled nazis.

The cops rolled up against traffic and gave them about 30 seconds before the paddy wagon was called....boy did they scatter.

Next time......(heheheh....)

As a former single mother on welfare, I take offence to this article.

It implies that single mothers are not educated enough or lack the compassion to engage in anti-globalist activities. Furthermore, it disparages single mothers as people who don't have the time or the resourcefulness to be able to be critical consumers.

My kids and I would be out at the front of the protest, proud and strong.

Main reason being "I forgot"?

Removed, personal insults. Hyeena, if you can't be civil in this forum, you will be blocked from posting. -- Tyee editor

Editor - you should be checking up the shacking up thread too.

G West; you always want to get mommy to come to your rescue ( the editor ) I have never had any dealings with ( the editor ). If I do I will acquiesce to the 9 the editor ). The editor is fair, and after all an editor. Edit, that's the word, edit. The most powerful position on this site, which is a clearly defined site. One which tolerates a free debate on ideas left and right.
I guess I would be pissed off if I was edited, but back to Wall*Mart. They have embarked on a prescription drug program that will offer generic prescription drugs at a fraction of the price that the consumer would normally pay for a group of generic drugs for $4.00 per month of supply. That is far lower than the rate of up to $30.00 per month.
Now I ask, is this program not more powerful than any Hillary socialist program, that would have the Govt. ( taxpayers ) pay for what the corporate world can operate at a far lower cost than a Govt. run drug program can offer?
Yes it is. And they also employ over 1 million employees, that could be on welfare.
I would say that Wall*Mart is more socially responsible than the government.

"Hillary socialist program,"

Er. what country are we in??? Secondly, Hilary is even less of a "socialist" (whatever that word means to you) than Steven Harper. But I an glad to see that you are back Oh Clueless One. We need you for comic relief.

Apparently we are in the North American World.
That is if you want to listen to the far left American conspiracy theorists that adhere to the vast right wing conspiracy to unite Canada the US and Mexico into a North American powerhouse,
Oh, but it doesn't stop there.
Of course the ultimate goal is to unite the world into a monolithic world order with one religion, and one currency.
I don't think that is going to fly. Particularly because South America is flaky, and they are important to this conspiracy theory.
And those opposing this [ new world order ] can be comforted in the fact that, it will never happen.
A new vision will realize itself. A vision that will unify us.
We won't all die from bird flue, or an asteroid, or carbon emissions [ water evaporating ], or nuclear bombs from North Korea, we will only be destroyed by ourselves.
So I have faith in us. We will work our way out of our problems as we have always done before/

Who is 'we'?

I've only seen you, Ron, speaking this nonsense. Are you keeping score on the results of your current heroes achievements in Iraq.

3700+ dead in October and the dead are stacking up like cordwood in November.

When is the good news going to start?

When every last Iraqi is dead or has moved to Syria or Iran?

Your predictive record took a hit on November 7, remember? I don't think anyone is paying the slightest attention any more...because you haven't got a clue.

I think that is something 'we' can agree on.

I would have to agree with buy nothing day. The reason why I state this is it would give me a day of relief from, using my car, parking, getting wet in the rain, a rest from crowds, not running up a credit card and buying something that I don't really need.

LOVE this one!!!

carrotwax
posted: 17 Hours Ago
Personally, I would prefer a change in direction of the day. Instead of "buy nothing", how about "share everything"?
And with that in mind Here is my sharzee

And whe Y'all can get yer heads around the content we'll talk
Dio

http://www.policestateplanning.com/preface.htm

Enjoy

It's the people living paycheck to paycheck who are forced to shop at Walmart, who can't afford a buy-nothing day, and they're the ones who are most disadvantaged by consumerism.

If the goal is better conditions for poor and working poor people, personal protest actions are far less valuable than, say, legislative action restricting or eliminating payday loan and check cashing companies.

G West:

That would likely be the easier solution. That would truly make a "buy nothing" day in Iraq, 'cause the invaders could just help themselves............

IAMC:
FYI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Union

As a former single father on welfare, I am appalled by this article. It implies that single fathers on welfare don't have the time to shop wisely, nor to make informed choices.

What a load of BS - why don't the buy nothing types move to Darfur, I hear there's nothing to but there....

What a load of BS - why don't the buy nothing types move to Darfur, I hear there's nothing to buy there....

bcneocon
Nice to see you picked the right name.

bcneocon, aptly named, as Alci points out, totally misses the point of BN Day. Go sit in the corner with your little buddy Clueless One.

anarcho ----> well put

Hehe... yeah, I bore you so much you're on this thread 4 times a day, Hyeena. I think maybe it's your life boring you, and the fact that you probably have very few friends.

I think there's very little point to this article. The point of Buy Nothing Day is to make people AWARE- to at least avoid frivolous purchases one day of the year (it doesn't need to be taken literally- as if I'd go a day without buying a coffee, and I'm hardly a huge consumer)... To make you stop and think when you see the signs "Buy Nothing". The writer puts her own spin on it; fair enough- and I hadn't actually noticed the 'Whitey' thing until I read a previous comment... but I mean, really- what was that all about?

Allow me to summerize your position.

"We consume every other day, so making a conciencous effort not to, on this particular day, only serves to expose our own hypocracy. Buy Nothing Day will not save the world, so why bother."

Your position is not new. It's called apathy.

Personally I find your attitude defeatist. But the very fact that you bother to write about it betrays a guilty concience, and proves that Buy Nothing Day is having an effect - even on you.

maestro said:

Many gas price adjustments have been made due to projected demand not meeting expectations and subsequent feared gluts, then its put " ON SALE ".

I read and essentially disregarded your comments regarding gasoline shelf life because the scenario you propose would easily allow for the supply to be disposed of within a time frame that even poorly stored gasoline would fit into. The "shelf life" of refined gas varies, and with use of stabilising agents can last for years. Properly stored in a sealed jerrycan most of the stuff one can pump here will be good in 12 months. Poorly stored and you may see a degradation in only 30 days. Gas companies store their supplies in good conditions, not environmentally but chemically, and it is in their interests to be able to extend shelf life when necessary.

Gasoline is not like a deli sandwich and refined to for each specific fill up: it is refined and stored according to the given company's practices and anticipated demand calculated on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Now let us pretend that gas purchases are evenly distributed over a week and give each day a value of 10 units. One week of gas sales gives us 70 units and so on. When the boycott takes place, and we assume a total boycott in this case, 10 units remain unsold. Unless the boycotters reduce their driving to equal the failure to refuel they will still need to purchase those 10 units at some point in the consumption cycle.

Pretending that all gas must be used within 30 days of refining we can extend this further. Respecting the units used above, one month of gas is refined on day 1 yielding 210 units that must be used by day 30. This also assumes that there can be no redistribution at any point in this cycle and that all 30 days of gas are destined for our station. We have 210 units to sell based upon weekly consumption data and the first 3 days we sell 30 units, but day 4 is a boycott and we are +10 units over where we should be with 26 days left in the life of the gas. The rest of the week sales are stuck at 10 units a day, apparently people really did not drive for those days! The second week and we have another boycott and we are now +20 units with 2 weeks of shelf life left. Things continue as they are and in a perfect boycott where people concurrently cut back on their driving The gas station has a surplus of +40 units, 4 days of gas lost in a 30 day cycle assuming a scenario that considers a utopian boycott and zero reaction from the boycottee with respect to distribution. If the boycotters still drive the same number of miles and simply redistribute their purchasing pattern there is no problem for the gas company even with a gratuitously short life span for refined gas. Gasoline is fungible and price changes are a result of its fungibility: if you truly want to influence prices then reducing the consumption is the only sure fire way.

FYI cigarettes are time sensitive, 12-18 months depending on the storage conditions. They do not become unusable for their designed purpose, but apparently the taste is somehow worse...maybe they aren't time sensitive in that sense. I chose cigarettes primarily because most of the purchasers have regular rates of consumption...like most drivers.

I really don't think it's an apathetic piece at all -- NGOs and consumer awareness are the contemporary equivalents of Victorian philanthropy, charity and religious piety. The emerge in the vacuum created by an absence of policy-centred, socially-progressive working class movements.

The useless authors of Rebel Sell pretend that this is their thesis, and if it actually were then the book we be more than a factually-mendacious neo-liberal pep rally chant sheet (Potter's pathetic essays in the newly-wignut minted Maclean's are further evidence of the authors' actual aims.

But middle-class puritans (whether turn of the century salon ladies who didn't like the sight of drunken Irish proles or today's anti-consumption advocates, who encourage those who can afford to buy a Prius to spend responsibly while the rest of us are urged towards austerity) have always wanted a programme of individual responsibility over the state policy-centred movements of the working class left.

That, in essence, is why BND is offensive to actual poor people. Because we want national daycares and living wages and working public transit and healthy food at affordable prices -- not mention longer work breaks in which to digest lower-glycemic, less calorie-dense foods. There are real policy planks we can champion to a cut in harmful consumption, without guilty people who can barely put food onthe table by bafflingly accusing them of buying too much stuff: fuel-efficiency regulations, a carbon tax, an end to predatory lending, meaningful nutrition and home economics courses for high school students, a ban on private airplane use, limits on public airline use, and a public transit system which is affordable, efficient, far-reaching and, most importantly, subsidized by those who drive private vehicles.

It's only in the absence of real and useful and practical campaigns such as those that the quixotic moralism of BND seems like a useful initiative. Someone earlier compared it to the 30-hour famine. My point exactly.

and holy christ, I must apologize for the intense and recurring grammatical errors in that post. I need another cup of tea, obviously.

If you plan on buying anything try and buy something that is manufacured in this country. For example; if you purchase a kia vehicle the profits are sent back to there own country. If you buy one of the big 3 the profits stay in norht america. That is importnant if you want a raise in pay in north america. But we as north americans want a pay raise but support toyota, kia, etc. Next time you buy nothing or something keep it in your own back yard.

That, in essence, is why BND is offensive to actual poor people. Because we want national daycares and living wages and working public transit and healthy food at affordable prices -- not mention longer work breaks in which to digest lower-glycemic, less calorie-dense foods.

I don't think there is any contradiction between wanting what you suggest and attacking corporate consumerism. I think you will find the people who support BND are progressive in the other issues as well. I think the emphasis ought to be put on CORPORATE consumersism. And by the way it has nothing to do with neo-puritanism, but is part of a strategy of fighting corporate capitalism. I for one, tryb my best never to buy anything made by a Gringo corporation.

anarcho

In this day and age that requires no big sacrifice.

Gerhardius:

The additional assumption re: your example, would be that everyone would stay home, and not consume the gas, thus resulting in a real loss.......

The point of the exercise, were it adopted by all for one measly day, would show just how much the consumer is ESSENTIAL for this society to function. But we are a disparate group, which those who so liberally insult us count on........
BND is an attempt to band us together, even for just one day, asnd judging by this thread, isn't succeeding very well.

Yes, I WALKED to a bookstore today (a chain), read parts of several books, and walked home. Good on me!!

Oops!I mean, yesterday.......but that was so destressing that I did it again today....

There has never been any question about the importance of the consumer to capitalist society. There actually used to be a "buy nothing" day once a week when we had Sunday Closing Laws in much of the country. Daily consumption is relatively unimportant when the bulk of supply is based upon the total demand of many days or weeks of predicted consumption.

Power, in this case the power of the consumer, is only real if it can be effectively directed to specific ends. Consumers are not a united group, therefore their participation in economic activities is not predicated an overall organisation. The lack of recognised common interests reduces the hope for a consumer revolt to nil: as long as there is stuff to buy and credit to buy it there there will always be a fool eager to part with his/her money and keep the ball rolling. Take away either the ability to purchase goods or the supply of goods to purchase and you have a volatile situation, but there is no hope for a universal withdrawal of consumers from the market for even a single day as long as their is cash/credit and goods.

How about "Borrow Nothing Day" instead? Give those credit cards a rest. Buy with cash or debit card, or put what you would have spent on paying off your credit cards or student loans or what have you.

When I visited NYC, I was astonished to find that debit cards are rarely offered in stores, but credit cards are ubiquitous. That just encourages people to buy stuff with money they don't have.

This discussion suggests to me that Buy Nothing Day and other such individual protest actions accomplish little or nothing, and legislation is the only thing that's going to make a difference to the environment or poverty.

What amazes me are the labels on products such as; made in china, singapore, mexico, etc. Not very often I see made in Canada? I wonder where our credit cards are mfd? Where does the raw material come from?
** I am surprised that our 5 dollar bills don't have pine beetels on them!

Gerhardius:

True enough! I have been reading with some "amazement", home purchasers' struggles with fraudulent home inspections. At first, I thought John Les' remarks that people should take more responsibility for their home purchases was being high-handed. But while it IS high-handed, he does have a point -- people treat the most expensive single purchase of their lives with some frivolity, and in spite of all the ready knowledge available on crappy construction methods (yet fully approved by governments everywhere).

Re: Home Inspection;

That is its own interesting area of consumer caveat emptor.

Anyone who is truly upfront and honest ie truly professional in this HOME INSPECTION field will lay it out right at the start.

Hidden (latent) defects that are not obvious are something they cannot realistically be responsible for.

At best, and excluding the obvious, the inspections are simply educated guesses based on relevant experience.

However, if Rick W is alluding to the recent GLOBAL TV series on this topic...one should never take an inspector recommended by the realtor...due one's own due diligence on finding the right one, as that is a conflict of interest in the making,..and the Real Estate Board should make this as a clear policy to every realtor -agent.

Simply stated, when you acquire the services of any professional, one is effectively buying insurance ...aka a lawyer/legal representation if and when the sh*t hits the fan.

Uh oh ... nurse? Nurse! One of our commentors is lost. He needs to find the Home Inspection Foul-up thread ... quick!

So many comments for a rather silly and self righteous article. The article was not up to the Tyee's usual high standards.

On a family outing , family and others had to cross the bridge on foot while the rest of us stayed parked......and many of those forced to walk were subjected to being called crude words by these self - propelled nazis.

OMG you had to WALK? What was it like? It must've been horrible!

I liked the fact that buy nothing day got the Tyee's attention. In any manner whatsoever, the fact is a dialogue was started here. So thank you Tyee for lowering your standards to that which the common folk and their mighty purchasing power might find some true meaning for which to use all that capital, I find it to mean for the betterment of mankind and not the benefits of a few corporations, conspiring to delude us that all our needs and the sum of our meaningfullness as can be purchased.

The fact is, that we as consumers have the power to choose. We vote with our dollars, or lack thereof. Besides writing letters to PR penpushers, this is all we have. So BND's success mirrors this powerlessness. If we can't even go ONE DAY without consuming things we don't need (we're not talking food here, we're talking DVD players), then how can we possibly influence our government to pass legislation?

Of course, neither should be abandoned.

While Iraq Burns
By BOB HERBERT NYTimes 27.11.06

Americans are shopping while Iraq burns.

The competing television news images on the morning after Thanksgiving were of the unspeakable carnage in Sadr City — where more than 200 Iraqi civilians were killed by a series of coordinated car bombs — and the long lines of cars filled with holiday shopping zealots that jammed the highway approaches to American malls that had opened for business at midnight.

A Wal-Mart in Union, N.J., was besieged by customers even before it opened its doors at 5 a.m. on Friday. “All I can tell you,” said a Wal-Mart employee, “is that they were fired up and ready to spend money.”

There is something terribly wrong with this juxtaposition of gleeful Americans with fistfuls of dollars storming the department store barricades and the slaughter by the thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, including old people, children and babies. The war was started by the U.S., but most Americans feel absolutely no sense of personal responsibility for it.

Representative Charles Rangel recently proposed that the draft be reinstated, suggesting that politicians would be more reluctant to take the country to war if they understood that their constituents might be called up to fight. What struck me was not the uniform opposition to the congressman’s proposal — it has long been clear that there is zero sentiment in favor of a draft in the U.S. — but the fact that it never provoked even the briefest discussion of the responsibilities and obligations of ordinary Americans in a time of war.

With no obvious personal stake in the war in Iraq, most Americans are indifferent to its consequences. In an interview last week, Alex Racheotes, a 19-year-old history major at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, said: “I definitely don’t know anyone who would want to fight in Iraq. But beyond that, I get the feeling that most people at school don’t even think about the war. They’re more concerned with what grade they got on yesterday’s test.”

His thoughts were echoed by other students, including John Cafarelli, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of New Hampshire, who was asked if he had any friends who would be willing to join the Army. “No, definitely not,” he said. “None of my friends even really care about what’s going on in Iraq.”

This indifference is widespread. It enables most Americans to go about their daily lives completely unconcerned about the atrocities resulting from a war being waged in their name. While shoppers here are scrambling to put the perfect touch to their holidays with the purchase of a giant flat-screen TV or a PlayStation 3, the news out of Baghdad is of a society in the midst of a meltdown.

According to the United Nations, more than 7,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in September and October. Nearly 5,000 of those killings occurred in Baghdad, a staggering figure.

In a demoralizing reprise of life in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, the U.N. reported that in Iraq: “The situation of women has continued to deteriorate. Increasing numbers of women were recorded to be either victims of religious extremists or ‘honor killings.’ Some non-Muslim women are forced to wear a headscarf and to be accompanied by spouses or male relatives.”

Journalists in Iraq are being “assassinated with utmost impunity,” the U.N. report said, with 18 murdered in the last two months.

Iraq burns. We shop. The Americans dying in Iraq are barely mentioned in the press anymore.

Since the vast majority of Americans do not want anything to do with the military or the war, the burden of fighting has fallen on a small cadre of volunteers who are being sent into the war zone again and again. Nearly 3,000 have been killed, and many thousands more have been maimed.

They are dying anonymously and pointlessly, while the rest of us are free to buckle ourselves into the family vehicle and head off to the malls and shop.

What would we do without TV and all of the commercials?

steerpike.

No, actually we learned a lot.
The precedent the self - propelled nazis established that day gives the rest of us free license to drive in the bike lanes, possible even the sidewalk...and an " open door" policy for all the rest. It wasn't a total loss...Wave next time we see ya.

Oh look, an Internet tough guy threatening to put people in harm's way because they had to wait a few minutes for cyclists daring to make a statement.

Do you make the same comments about all the cars and drivers that are in front of you blocking your path when it's a car traffic jam?

Anyone who makes this type of comment is into the poor bashing game. We shop at Walmart or Zellars or anywhere else because it is cheaper! Buy fair trade coffee? Only if one can afford the price. poor people do not have the priviledge of choice. Choice only happens when you have sufficient money to make a decision.

When you decide to "adopt" a family or a person on disability and give the cash difference to purchase where you wish to dictate where they purchase, then you will have made a difference. Giving to a food bank doesn't count, the damn things should not exist. People get high wages to serve the poor and yet we have noore using the food banks and living in poverty than before.

Many cannot even access them as they may only be in a core of a city. I have no food bank where I live, thus I will purchase wherever I have to in order to survive.

I work part-time and my wages go to replace my home support worker, pay for non-perscription medical ,user fees, and extras I need for health related items that were chopped by this current government.

Thank god I have subsidized housing but atthe same time I am trapped in ghettoization and have no choices over where I live. Even packing to move becomes insurmontable due to my disabilities.

Shop at Walmart? As long as the price is within my means, then I will go to the next cheapo place.

I have participated in critical mass rides in Edmonton.

I am surprised that Maestro is not complaining about parades too!

And then he sounds like he would be willing to take his car onto the sidewalk mwing down pedestrians.

I suppose Maestro is the same person who is concerned about cars speeding in a school zone and when the school zone is monitored it turns out all the speeders are parents of the kids at that same school!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How about trade day; similar to share day; talk with your neighbours and see if you have anything they need (preferably as opposed to want), and they have anything you need - and trade!

Freebeer:

No, you misunderstood me...fair -is- fair on "who" owns/uses "what", but if one side breaks the truce, all bets are off. ( but when I see you on your tricycle with training wheels I promise I will "try" to swerve ). Pedestrians are not- guilty till proven otherwise.

The infrastructure costs for dedicated bike lanes are one of the biggest waste of tax dollars (and hence green house gas inducing public investments) there are.

PS Remember to where your helmet, don't bend the propeller, but feel free to offer your services as a speed bump in school zones. Now go back to Edmonton(..sorry to hear about the Eskimos......)heard it was going to be 30 degrees below...enjoy.

Stump:

If you read the original post...and still hold your own posted view...obviously you equate enviro-bullying with "public statement" which by the way was more like 20- 30 minutes of gridlock on a bridge which is equated with PUBLIC USE yet limited access, dare I say what if an emergency vehicle aka ambulance or fire truck had to use it...and how about we call the females in your family and all the others the " B " and " C " word...much like what was voiced by these 2 wheeled nazis ?

I am sure the female posters on the TYEE ,with or without children, would agree with you...right ladies ???

PS You're P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C.

Though let me echo the welcome back to The Clue-less. He is our caricature Neocon, and because of that, such an easy target, doing the radical left cause here, which he hates so much, more good than he does harm, for sure.

Double though, I probably effectively wind up on the side of the Neocons here and the "Market Forces Firsters" of this thread. In that there is no bloody question but what that in this self-centred, anti-social, self-serving, bourgeois market mentality time, that these kinds of boycott "conciousness raising" notions are unlikely to produce much by way of participation or lasting good-, certainly from the lower strata and class levels of society. Who by and large have a quite different set of "purchasing problems" than the higher income and more yuppified bent journalistic, and do gooder, feel good "professional" stratas, who might be drawn into this cause. It is really "their" day anyway-, for it means little to nothing to folks with a lot less-, that single welfare mom for example this writer seems to have a lingering identity with-, and hence actually secures some understanding of what she is talking about from me.

It is a bullshit day, by and large, this buy nothing day-, certainly from those class strata with whom I am most closely associated. This is a "feel good", I am doing something noble event for folks who are otherwise, the rest of the year, spend, spend and pile up debt anyway. (It took a long time for me, but I have been completely debt free for many years now. A liberating state of affairs not possible for everyone, I understand. And I am fortunate to be one of those males with "simple" tastes anyway, who could as well live in a shack as a castle-, nay better, and an old lady even more content with the simple "debt free" life.Which in itself is a huge blessing men, I tell you, compared with the other kind. :-)

Nope, to change the prevailing waste, greed and exploitation proclivities of this society, especially in this highly "apolitical" time, there is going to have to be a quite different class sence and motivational set kicked in and raising hell across the land: A little less "safe" and "yuppified" an activity perhaps, and a whole lot more challenging to the status quo than staying away from the market place for a day, which most of us and certainly poor folks don't actually have a problem doing anyway. Which is not to say that boycotts cannot have any usefulness, as part of a serious social and political struggle. (The Mrs and my last week of every month is a tad hunkered down, waiting for our end of the month pension cheques to come in, at the best of times. And it's just me and the old lady sitting in our empty nest. :-)
-------------------
And though he tries to hide his true self from time to time, every once in a while, maestro does reveal the sociopathic sicky inside that he really is, eh Stump?

Rebel Sell makes some valid points about the anti-corp marketplace and the quote by Billy Pilgram nails this issue nicely.("predictably, most people are mesmerized by the marketing companies and fail to exercise any independent thinking. i have observed buy nothing day for many years and look forward to purchasing my 2007 adbuster calendar.")

ultimately more glossy paper wasted! to support adbusters or to follow the cooler-than-thou branding herd? there are all sorts of ways to be mesmerized into consuming and an equally vast number of ways to smugly justify it.

how many blackspot sneaker wearers actually "kick corporate ass"?

C(lueless)oyote:

Loved yer "True Confessions" in the other TYEE topic ...talk about " au natural" ....not that we really wanted to know about what really makes you tick.

Bring it on mad mangy dog, but remember to wear the flea collar next to the fake license when you are off -leash with the bicycle nazis .

PS Now its your turn in chain -letter fashion to call another comrade to bless us with your/their Wizdumb(?)....or Stump may spank you....(not that its any of our business ).

Right on Danielle E! This whole anti-branding kick has become a brand in and of itself. It's a bit ironic and perverse that there are t-shirts for sale proclaiming one's support for BND. I observe BND's 5-6 days a weeks depending on whether or not I have fresh produce in the house or if the baby needs formula. Screaming at single mom's on welfare as they enter a Wallmart is about one of the most counter-productive things one could spend their energy on. I like to think that most progressives stay away from these "protests" - it's much like the time a friend and I were acosted by an animal rights activist handing out paphlets to encourage vegetarianism. When my friend ask what material her birkenstocks were made of, it sent the "activist" into an incoherent tirade. Shite like this just gives the right fuel for fire.

ubiquitous
Was 'paphlets' by design, or inadvertent?

Either way, it has a nice Freudian-slip quality to it. Could we agree to dropping the 'h' though?

Often thought much the same when confronted with most brochures.

Why is The Tyee turning into Grumpy Old Men and Women? This pointless, pointless, pointless guilt trip - right down to rubbing Whitey McPrivileged's nose in a closing shopping list of righteous ways to consume - is neither well-argued nor well-written. Its only positive outcome is that this literary construction of an indignant ex-welfare mom gets to cash The Tyee's small cheque and buy more rice and bananas. Although how dare Jenn Farrell flaunt her preference for pricey fair-trade products in front of that poor suburban Wal-Mart-shopping mother of three who just wants to get in there and buy some darned detergent?

Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy Tyee. Any crap journalist knows how to generate heat without light. The Tyee is supposed to turn that upside down. Instead, if there's a Whitey McPrivileged to out here, it is the middle-class eggheads at The Tyee grovelling to what they presume is a kind of working-class outrage at their own presumptuousness.

I could use less stories on The Tyee if you just ran the good ones. I'll bet even Terry Glavin observes Buy Nothing Day.

lol. Wouldn't be surprised.

While we are on the subject, I'd like to invite you all to the shameless Workless Party production of "the Church of Pointless Consumerism"
Premiering December 15 16 and 17. http://worklessparty.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=133&Itemid=55

When I lived in Ontario we had a legislated BND every week. It was called Sunday.

Apparently, this was thanks to the federal Lord's Day Act -- which because of its Christian origin was eventually deemed unconstitutional.

But I guess in a non-secular nation like ours, cause is more important than consequence.

Maestro:

When did Critical Mass make it onto the talking points lists your boss hands you to discuss on the Tyee? As a cyclist I'm a little bit honoured to be considered such a threat to the status quo.

BTW, when you discuss the issues, you're stringing together words and sentences wonderfully, but when you start to attack ad hominem, you forget the simple declarative sentence advice I've already given you once. Why is that?

Only in Canada. Specifically Canada can someone complain about a complaint, critique a critique...

That a single mother that has 'been on welfare' and sees that as a starting point to argue about a great idea like Buy Nothing Day. Nice. To assume that a 'single mother on welfare' is not privileged is absolutely ignorant.

What do you propose, project RED? A tax on crap people would never buy anyway.

You're privileged to even have this forum (the tyee) where you can come up with this garbage. This is why the west will never get it's head out of it's on ass. Too many universities giving out too many degrees to people who know nothing except how to argue themselfes in and out of wet paper bags.

You people should really find a way to spend your time more effectively. I'm knee deep in snow with minus 22 degrees in the blowing white stuff or I would be working outside, even at 70 years of age.
Cheers.

Gosh, so much heat generated over one rather innocuous symbolic act!

Stump:

Good, enjoy your part of the road... 7 days a week, and I'll respect that..." subject to " its reciprocated.

Remember "guilt by association" versus distancing oneself from the rogue facet of the umbrella group...

...and the English Lit. lecture???...is usually a tactic of the scraping at the bottom of the barrel...masking the white flag waving ( Alci do ya need a flashlight down there ??? )

Otherwise ....pedal on...

"The English lit lecture". LOL. More like basic grammar.

You're getting ellipsick again.

This writer's view is supported by the fact that many malls are conducting Sustainability feature events, whereas the "Main Street" merchants (those suppossedly against the big box stores) haven't been as supportive of sustainability -- which is the opposite of what we are led to believe, by reading the newspapers. Here is an article from The Republic that supports the writer's (Jenn Ferrell) view:
http://republic-vancouver-article.blogspot.com/

full text of the Republic article is snipped below:

How shopping malls have become a major forum for
Sustainability

For Alexandra, it began with a packet of seeds given by
an uncle. For 11-year-old Simon, his love for trees
came from learning about salmon habitats during a trip
to a nature centre. For the students of a Surrey public
school, their reasons varied from, simply wanting to do
something about forest fires, to reading about why
glaciers are in full retreat. These are some reasons
why kids came to a workshop to build their own solar
ovens at a mall in a Vancouver suburb. These young
people say they'll use their solar ovens for camping.
Solar ovens may even bring more people outdoors, as
bonfire permits in BC get more restrictive, due to the
risk of forest fires.
Free, hands-on, open-to-anyone Sustainability mall
events are a new trend in BC. They started just a year
ago, when Solar Power Roadshow put together the Raging
Grannies, Vancouver councilors, electric bikes, a pop
music band, and a baking contest for a mall. That event
worked rather well. Another mall event that made the
papers' front page was an exciting tractor-pull race
using remote-controlled electric skateboards. These
powerful e-skateboards are used by some commuters as an
alternative to the car in traffic-locked Vancouver.
Then, last Halloween, we organized a used
Jack-o-lantern recycling drive that brought people to a
mall, to drop off clean, used pumpkins, for eastside
soup kitchens.
Thanks to another shopping mall's initiative, kids now
know that sailcars and wind turbines came were used by
ancient Chinese people. Sail-wagons and sail-carts were
even used to build the Great Wall of China. Humans used
sail-wagons for 3,500 years. Germany had a sail-train
between two cities that ended in only 40 years ago.
Sail-power is coming back, as oil supplies shrink. Some
European ocean-going container ships are wind-assisted.
With help from mall staff, we led kids in a hand-on
sailcar workshop, which they decorated, raced, and took
proudly home.
Why do people come to malls for Sustainability events?
More than one person said, they're concerned about the
loss of nature, and the apparent lack of green
transportation options. To which we often reply, we
came by public transit or by an electric vehicle.
Sustainable energy awareness takes many forms,
including stage-magic shows that we've performed at
three malls. But, it's not always just a trick: A
patented process that uses molecular energy powers our
water devices. These magic shows always end with
everyone performing the 'David-Suzuki-save-a-
tree-karate' exercises. Thus, everybody leaves with more
energy than they arrived with!
[end]