My Buy Nothing Day diary yesterday had a response from some people that I hadn't expected. While most people were supportive of my decision to not shop on "Black Friday" and to rebel against the consumerism-based culture that is embodied in the frenzied shopping that is almost expected on the the day after Thanksgiving.
But a number of people castigated those of us that don't subscribe to that mindset. They claim that we're hurting the economy and doing a disservice to our fellow Americans who are struggling and/or out of work.
Not only is that a load of utter tripe, the fact is that we (the anti-consumerists) are often doing more to support our fellow citizens than our detractors realize and, in fact, maybe doing more than THEY are.
First of all, let's put the blame for our crappy economy squarely where it belongs: on the financial "wizards" that dragged the whole goddam global economy down through their greed and their speculation with OPM (other people's money).
Period.
They fucked things up, they made credit hard to get and THEY caused this recession/depression we're in. Not anti-consumerism folks like myself.
So what about us anti-consumerism types? Does refusing to shop on Black Friday make us anti-American?
Hardly. In fact, that accusation sounds eerily like George W. Bush and Rudy Giuliani right after the September 11th attacks who told us that what we could do to help was to fucking "go shopping".
But think about this: on Black Friday, businesses deep-discount their wares to bring people in, lowering their profits. If I shop their some other day, their profits are higher. And, make no mistake, Buy Nothing Day isn't about NEVER shopping. It's about rebelling against shopping on ONE DAY OF THE YEAR.
So, Black Friday shoppers could actually be seen as doing a disservice to proprietors by shopping that day, taking advantage of deep discounts.
Finally, consider one more thing: you want to help out your fellow business folks? Then shop locally. Screw Walmart and the other multinational Big Box stores. Shop locally. Buy from your neighbors. Encourage local entrepreneurs and help them out.
At the end of the day you'll have enriched your own life and helped your local community and neighbors, doing WAY more for them than buying some television or laptop for half off from Walmart or Best Buy will ever do. That's the kind of thing us anti-consumerists types are talking about.
And there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that.
I'm just sayin'...