Fuck “Buy Nothing Day”
So yesterday I made a dumb post about someone else’s dumb post about participating in “Buy Nothing Day” instead of “Black Friday”.
I think it’s probably better to clarify how I feel instead of just linking you (actually incorrectly, making the post kind of pointless!) to what someone else is doing with a “fuck them” sentiment.
I am not participating in “Buy Nothing Day”, because of a few reasons:
1) I really hate Adbusters. A lot. I disagree with a lot of their politics (one example being their notorious cruelty towards Fat People and continual use of fat bodies as an example of greed and capitalism) and cannot get down with kind of totally useless “Merry Prankster” type activism they promote. Here are some of the suggested/promoted activities for Buy Nothing Day:
Totally not productive or helpful. Totally belittling and inconveniencing to people who may need to be shopping. I don’t imagine that the powers that be are watching this and poised to dismantle the entire capitalist system at any moment.
- Zombie Walk: Participant ‘zombies’ wander around shopping malls or other consumer havens with a blank stare and marvel at the expressionless faces of the shoppers (their fellow zombies). When asked what they are doing participants describe Buy Nothing Day and explain its foundational principles.
- Whirl-mart: Participants silently steer their shopping carts around a shopping mall or store in a long, baffling conga line without putting anything in the carts or actually making any purchases.
I mean, I really don’t relate to activists personally, but I actually have more respect for so-called “Black Bloc” style protesting than I do for this sort of activism. I do not understand the need to try to make protesting “fun” for it’s participants, and It seems completely misguided to direct their taunts, jeers and insults towards the working class they are apparently trying to help. A huge contingent of people generally doing “sales shopping” (such as on “Black Friday”) are doing it because they can’t otherwise afford to. The sort of people who generally shop in malls and giant retailers are often the sort who can’t afford to “Buy Local” or whatever mode of consumerism are acceptable to activists.
The whole exercise just seems to be completely counterproductive and a waste of energy and thought.
I believe the “First as Tragedy, then as Farce” Zizek RSA that I posted yesterday kind of fits in perfectly here.
100% this, and thank you for mentioning the classist aspect of Buy Nothing Day.
Also, not doing anything (in this case, buying nothing) is pretty much the laziest form of activism one can do.
