Post #186,057
12/5/04 4:19:21 PM
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Vote with your feet this holiday season?
Perhaps an idea whose time has come? This was started in 2001, btw....
Source: [link|http://www.buynothingchristmas.org|http://www.buynothingchristmas.org]
6. If we all buy nothing this Christmas, won't a lot of people lose their jobs?
Yes, and now we're getting close to the core reasons for why Buy Nothing Christmas is necessary in the first place: our economy is based on a consumer driven capitalism. And because it's the only economy we have right now, if we stop shopping we stop the economy. (Hence we have President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Jean Chr\ufffdtien telling citizens to get on with their lives after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and shop.) But the pitfalls of our current economic system (we work too hard to save money to buy things we don't really need, and we endorse a standard of living that reinforces the gap between the rich and poor and ruins the earth) are simply untenable. Once we finally see the retail sector shrivel (e.g., the growth of McDonald's has finally slowed and the fast food industry is arguably enjoying it's last hurrah; Wal-Mart has been denied entry to several communities; town councils have banned big chain stores; and local communities have created barter systems, among other things, to keep the wealth circulating among the people), we can redirect our efforts to cleaning up our mess and developing more sustainable activities (how we build our homes, transport ourselves, manufacture clothes, and spend our leisure time).
Thoughts?
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Post #186,066
12/5/04 5:40:58 PM
12/5/04 5:42:02 PM
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Careful, with posts like that, ...
some one will take you for me ;0)
[Edit] How are things w/your family? I trust all is well?
bcnu,
Mikem
Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer.
(Just trying to be accepted in the New America)
Edited by mmoffitt
Dec. 5, 2004, 05:42:02 PM EST
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Post #186,075
12/5/04 8:20:10 PM
12/5/04 8:20:33 PM
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<grin>
As for family, we are hanging in there...
Edited by slugbug
Dec. 5, 2004, 08:20:33 PM EST
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Post #186,067
12/5/04 5:42:47 PM
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I'm all for it..
...however, there's such a large amount of emotional fallout from doing this that unless you've got a really tough hide, it's all but impossible.
Peter
[link|http://www.debian.org|Shill For Hire]
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
[link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home]
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Post #186,076
12/5/04 8:27:16 PM
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things to do instead....
From the same site:
[link|http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/alternatives/|http://www.buynothin...org/alternatives/]
Within our family, we draw names. Whoever you get, you find
out what charity they want to support and make a donation in
that person's name to the charity (instead of buying them a
gift).
Cheers,
Slugbug
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Post #186,079
12/5/04 8:56:19 PM
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That is the way to celebrate Winter Solstice!
Or whatever you call it ;0)
bcnu,
Mikem
Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer.
(Just trying to be accepted in the New America)
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Post #186,085
12/5/04 9:50:33 PM
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That's GREAT!
Imric's Tips for Living
- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
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Nothing is as simple as it seems in the beginning,
As hopeless as it seems in the middle,
Or as finished as it seems in the end.
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Post #186,095
12/5/04 10:23:44 PM
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This is what we're doing
My younger sister suggested that we draw names and all make out a check to the charity suggested by the person chosen.
Tom Sinclair
"This is a lovely party," said the Bursar to a chair, "I wish I was here."
-- The Bursar is a man under a *lot* of stress
(Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)
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Post #186,100
12/5/04 10:40:07 PM
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Slugbug Rocks
[but we Knew that]
Yup.. do not feed the Machine.
About all 'we' can do for the foreseeable is, subvert. Creatively, passionately and - with enough skill - effectively. What we/U.S. hath wrought is sustainable, when you do the ez extrapolation -- only via the relative-misery of all those Not-US.
Eventually, even the dullard just might make that connection. Meanwhile -
cha cha cha
May your Solstice pause .. at its zenith .. for a physics-defying looooong moment!
moi
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
-Margaret Mead
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi
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Post #186,112
12/5/04 11:31:34 PM
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I'm reminded...
of the people who want to stop routine tipping. They're right, it would be better to have tips be special. But being the one person who doesn't tip in a world of people who do comes off as cheap.
That said, the part of sharing presents for Christmas that I like is that it remembers the non-Christian roots of the holiday. I like that, I just try to ignore the overcommercialization.
Your alternate solution below echos this attitude. It is still a gift that you're giving, a donation in the spirit of the holiday. It just isn't a commercialized gift...
Cheers,
Ben
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
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Post #186,164
12/6/04 12:32:49 PM
8/21/07 6:28:33 AM
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A couple years back
I sent everybody a copy of "Skipping Christmas" as a gift.
[link|http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385508417/qid=1102354184/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-5544725-7814456?v=glance&s=books&n=507846|http://www.amazon.co...&s=books&n=507846]
It took about 15 minutes to cover all my shopping and neatly made my point.
The book (now a film this season called "Christmas with the Kranks") does a good job of detailing the enormous peer pressure to participate but wimps out in the end when they ultimately cave on their plan.
It seems the only way to really escape the madness is to leave the country. I can't afford to do that this year.
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
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Post #186,181
12/6/04 1:48:46 PM
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On leaving the country.
Just as well, your dollar wouldn't buy much these days anyway. :0\\
bcnu,
Mikem
Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer.
(Just trying to be accepted in the New America)
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Post #186,183
12/6/04 2:10:37 PM
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maybe better to relate to the....
...."build" it versus "buy" it thought process? Then, the pressure is nil and you can really enjoy the holiday.
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Post #186,218
12/6/04 8:00:16 PM
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No problemo!
No job, no income. So, this year the kiddies discover that there is no Santa Claus.
lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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