Supporting my need to be (a least a little) subversive in a time of overwhelming blandness, I’ve stolen a cue from the kids over at Flufflife and taken the handmade pledge. I also take this pledge to mean supporting unpretentious small local businesses and (equally unpretentious) artists.
Hopefully I’ll get through the majority of the season sticking to my ideology and not buckling to the pressure to shop at Target and its ilk. If, as a community in a capitalist culture we were to use our discretionary income more thoughtfully, think of the changes that could occur! Okay, now I’m sounding dangerously utopian and socialist, so I’ll sign off with a simple thought from Jacques Cousteau, “If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed [and] if we are not willing [to change], we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect.”
So no, I’m not saying that shopping is route to saving the world, (though most of the stores in 5 Points will be open late tonight followed by a 9:15 showing of "Goonies" at the old 5 Points Theatre) I’m simply saying conscious consumerism is a great way to put community-centric ethics into action.
Now the horse is dead, ’nuff said.
2 comments:
Yeah, this will be a hard pledge indeed, especially with the Christmas shopping season around the corner and with my little family under a tight budget. The massive shopping centers have the best deal for the buck.
Not sure if I could get diapers from a Mom and Pop shop either?
Very utopian indeed. I think the route of the problem is much deeper than us making our personal decisions for the cheapest goods.
Possibly it's in society in general. Maybe goes into urbanism in general. The death of the village. If we did not live in a global economy where competing for the cheapest prices is symbolic of survival in a nutshell.
I can't take this pledge because if we did it would mean going without.
Not getting the essential goods we can't find at the Mom and pop joints.
I wasn't speaking to a wholesale pledge of everything, just a consious effort to buy locally, and handmade when and where possible. Or instead of giving gifts, giving experiences...i.e. museum memberships or concert tickets.
Just a small effort. -mp
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