Buy Nothing Day...

Buy Nothing Day's got just a few hours left....

I heard about Buy Nothing Day a few years back--back when I was actually into the stuff put out by its sponsor, Adbusters. The idea of the day is to break through and disrupt vapid patterns of consumerism. It's a day to try to interrupt the 24-7, 365-day routine of living in a free-market economy. It's a day to say that we don't really need most of the things that advertising sells us. It's a day to acknowledge that cunning selling and mindless buying are an insidious combination. It's a day during which people are invited to wake up to a new way of being, to a new way of relating to things and to our money.

In theory, it's a great idea.

Of course, it's also a stupid idea. First, it's paternalistic - an "I know what you need better than you do" approach to people and their buying habits. A lot of people are having "buy nothing" days today because they're poor and they can't afford to buy the things they need... let alone the things that "the man" tells them they need.

Even more to the point, this is the worst kind of activism - intellectually elitist and not effective at disrupting the systems it claims to oppose. Not buying things in our economy doesn't affect the corporations who work tirelessly to inflate and perpetuate our consumptive habits. Buying nothing puts retail outlets out of business... it puts low income salespeople and middle income managers out of work.

I guess that's kind of why I'm a fan of the Advent Conspiracy, which I talked about yesterday. It offers something more than giving something up. It says that there are some things in this life the cost of which is worth paying: caring for the least among us, for one. Adbusters wants me to buy black sneakers to show my commitment. Advent Conspiracy suggests I take up a cross.

So, I ended up buying stuff on Buy Nothing Day: a 1/2 lb. of French Roast coffee beans at Porto Rico and a six-pack of beer at the corner deli. Still excited about coming "conspiracy," though....