Will this Friday be "Shop 'Til You Drop Day" for you...or Buy Nothing Day?

[thatcrazycajun]

If you work for or own a retail store, or a chain of them, this Friday, November 23 is more than just the day after Thanksgiving for you: it's "Black Friday," the official launch of the annual December holiday shopping season for Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Solstice etc. and the biggest shopping day of the year in consumerist nations such as ours, with the possible exception of December 24th. (Full disclosure: I currently work for a temporary staffing service on long-term assignment to one of the world's biggest retail operations.)

If you happen to be an environmentalist, a social justice activist or just someone concerned about the impact of rampant  consumerism on our lives, our psyches, our planet and our polity, this Friday is something else for you as well: Buy Nothing Day, the 15th annual observance of a day of activism around reducing our global resource footprint, purposely timed for one of the West's biggest consumer spending orgies each year and sponsored by Canada's Adbusters Media Foundation, publishers of the quarterly radical journal Adbusters. (I highly recommend the magazine; its strident anti-corporate tone and far-left ideas/proposals may sometimes make you mad, but it will always make you think.)

The money quote on this comes from AMF founder Kalle Lasn: “So much emphasis,” he notes, “has been placed on buying carbon offsets and compact fluorescent lightbulbs and hybrid cars that we are losing sight of the core cause of our environmental problems: we consume far too much. [Emphasis added.] Buy Nothing Day isn't just about changing your routine for one day. It’s about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment. With over six billion people on the planet, it is the responsibility of the most affluent – the upper 20% that consumes 80% of the world’s resources – to set out on a new path.”

Something to think about as you sit down to your traditional abundant holiday meal.

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

I'm ahead of the curve; I haven't bought anything on Black Friday in decades.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

If it will make you feel better to not buy buttons from me on the first day of Darkover, please make up the difference later in the con.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Dear, I'm not even coming to Darkover due to financial difficulties, for the first time in over 1.5 decades. But thanks for the offer.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Then I'm sure you can sympathize with my desire to make some money.

I could get behind a Think Before You Buy Week--to my mind it makes more moral and practical sense, and might actually have a long term good influence.

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

If I do buy anything on Friday, it will either be from a grocery store, a neighborhood business or both. I don't plan to support malls or chain stores. I believe in supporting local business.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

The song you're listening to gave me some ideas for crossover holiday/pro-war toys:

The Jesus-I Joe Doll

Kwanzai Kamikazi Suicide Planes

The Hanukah Miracle Eight-Day Glow-In-the-Dark Grenade Launcher (recycled from old menorahs)

The Buddha Buddha Toy Machine Gun

Oh, OK, you get the idea

[fringefan.livejournal.com]

And if everyone were to Buy Nothing on Black Friday but just delay the spending for a day or a week, how much impact would it have on the retail economy or the consumerist culture? Seems to me like the sort of feel-good-about-yourself empty gesture that gave rise to the term "slacktivism."

By the way, snopes.com asserts that the day after Thanksgiving generally ranks not first, not second, but anywhere from fourth to eighth among peak shopping days of the year.

<-----11-21-2007-----MSG----->

[filkferengi]

We went out for breakfast & then for a longish walk in the local nature center we've offered to take you to.