Completely irrelevant news

[sabotabby]

I've been told that today is Buy Nothing Day. I'm not normally a consumer whore or anything, but I think I will celebrate it by being one. You know, just to be contrary. Also, I've already bought a coffee -- at the Second Cup, no less! It annoys me that a lot of people think that Adbusters' notions of switching one sort of consumer capitalism to a "better" consumer capitalism is actual activism.

The magazine has very pretty pictures, though.

In other news, career criminal and whiny baby Lord Black is asking for his Canadian citizenship back. I guess maybe he shouldn't have said those nasty things about us when he renounced it in the first place. Excuse me for a sec...

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh man, I hope they give his citizenship to the poorest Haïtian refugee they can possibly find -- preferably a poor Haïtian communist refugee. Who has converted to Islam. And is gay. And drives a cab. That'd be the best thing ever.

Comments

[rayaluna.livejournal.com]

Also, I've already bought a coffee -- at the Second Cup, no less!

Starbucks would have been better, but Second Cup is still up there.

[sabotabby]

Yeah, but I really can't do Starbucks. I'd like to say it's because they've been utter bastards to my union, but it's actually because their coffee tastes like a combination of mud and burnt dogshit.

[rayaluna.livejournal.com]

Really? I don't have any of their regular coffees, mind, but I do like the ones I get there. Current favourite is Java Chip. I love their desert coffees.

[sabotabby]

I like their ice cream, but I don't think you can get it in Canada. I used to like their insanely strong Rocket Fuel/Red Eye type things for waking up but not for the taste.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

It's tomorrow over here... or at least that's when People and Planet are marking it. I think there's plans for a Critical Mass cycle ride too.

Thing is, today was payday... and there's things I could actually do with buying, and I've got a free weekend for a change!

Anyway, sod it, I don't go for that sort of hair-shirted version of environmentalism anyway. (Though P&P are excellent folks in most respects.) :)

[sabotabby]

Did I mention that (now that I've seen Serenity and all the Firefly episodes) I utterly love your icon?

It was technically payday for me a few days ago, but today is when I get to deposit it, and either a) go drinking at McVeigh's or b) go dancing at Vazaleen. And I like to support my local musicians and/or eccentric DJs. Oh, and if I don't buy cat food today, my darling Marinetti will starve. And there is no food in the house.

Critical Mass is always worth doing, BND or not.

[human-loser.livejournal.com]

now that I've seen Serenity and all the Firefly episodes

Now you'e all caught up! And, sadly, done.

My favorite episode is Out of Gas. That's some excellent televison!

[sabotabby]

I'm sad that there won't be more. There really should have been at least five more seasons and a shitty seventh season so that when it ended, we wouldn't totally miss it.

[human-loser.livejournal.com]

yeah, but no formerly awesome show has EVER done that...

oh.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

Sequels! There may yet be sequels! Apparently the box-office figures in the US weren't up to the required level, so everyone has to buy a dozen copies of the DVD or something (preferably not on Buy Nothing Day I guess) to give it a shot.

[human-loser.livejournal.com]

from my understanding of how the industry works, it doesn't matter what this movie makes now. What matters is domestic box office. Yes it's probably made its budget back by now, but just barely, and only after 2 months. It's really a shame that this very good sci-fi movie was killed by shitty marketing and a lack of "names". The name issue I wouldn't change for the world, but they could have marketed this as something other than a movie for the fans, which i think is what ultimately killed it.

Don't get me wrong, I WANT sequels, but I'm not betting the farm on them happening.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I can't remember where I gacked it, though I'm fairly confident the person I gacked it from wasn't the original author, just one of the ones going around. I hope this doesn't make me a bad icon thief. :( I'd seen a couple of Mal icons with that quote, and badly wanted one, but took ages to hunt one down.

Marinettis and Sabotabbys should definitely not be allowed to starve in the cause of BND.

Might well go to Critical Mass; some people have been linking it to BND, as in "do it on a day when it will block the shoppers and not the workers." But the 'official' info isn't making that link, so I can go without feeling like a complete fraud.

[sabotabby]

Can you really steal a Mal icon? You know he'd be LiveJournal's biggest icon thief if he were a real person. "The people on the Rim planets need this icon more!"

Marinetti will not starve. Nor will sabotabby restrict her alcohol consumption on a Friday night when she's been dry for a few weeks.

When I finally get a bike, I'll probably do Critical Mass.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

I'm sure if you exlain to him, Marinetti will be happy to take one for the revolution...or maybe not. :)

[sabotabby]

You clearly haven't met my cat.

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

Can't stand Adbusters. Consumerism as the solution to...consumerism!

[sabotabby]

That's the most concise critique of Adbusters ever.

[lokilokust.livejournal.com]

WIN!

[ironed_orchid]

One of the papers on Wednesday was on this topic - not by a philosopher, but from a guy in the Institute for Sustainable Technology Policy. He had a go at the idea that we can make an environmental impact by being more enlightened consumers. Also mentioned a book by Clive Hamilton called Growth Fetish which came out at the beginning of the year - have either of you read it?

[sabotabby]

Haven't read it; would be interested in reading it.

I don't know -- I think there's a fundamental conflict between global capitalism and environmentalism. Businesses can certainly make ecologically minded decisions and possibly profit from a certain percentage of consumers, but the average consumer, given the current economic structure, is going to go with cheap and dirty over expensive and clean. Short of massive government regulations (everywhere; it can't just be in the First World), the companies that don't give a crap about the planet will almost certainly be more profitable than those that do.

[ironed_orchid]

the average consumer, given the current economic structure, is going to go with cheap and dirty over expensive and clean

Absolutely, which makes ethical consumerism a privilege for those who can afford to spend more money. Which is fucked up, because being ethical should not be the privilege of the rich.

I do try to buy organic and fair trade products whenever I can, but often the discrepancy in price between them and 'conventional' products is simply not economically viable on a small budget. as for household recycling etc, people will do it if councils make it easy to separate recyclables, but a household doesn't produce anything near the waste that a company does.

I remember springheel_jack writing a good entry some time ago about the rift between hard core environmentalists and socialism, which was very interesting and I think drew attention to many of the ideological differences. However, to be really concerned about the welfare of human beings should include a concern for the environment because a healthy environment makes for healthier humans.

[sabotabby]

I think I made a post about that regarding air conditioning, and how the alternatives proposed by various environmental groups were all geared towards people who owned their own homes. The more money I make, the more ethical my spending habits get. It's a pretty direct correlation.

I'd like to read springheel_jack's post, if either of you could find it. If one assumes that capitalism and environmentalism are fundamentally incompatible (and that's my assumption), you'd think that socialists and environmentalists would find a bit more common ground. I tend to fault the environmentalists more on that, but I'm probably biased.

[ironed_orchid]

Here you go, this is the part I was thinking about, but the rest of the post is also very awesome:

Incidentally this is why I am not a Green. I am a Red. You can't be a Green and a Red at the same time. That doesn't mean you can't care deeply about the environment and be Red. Indeed you must: the workers have nothing to gain by shedding their chains in a ruined and filthy world. But you can't be Red and be a Malthusian, and I think that the global Green movement is exactly that. Marx's most bitter polemics were not against the Ricardians, they were against the Malthusians; the Marxist desire for justice is simply a mistake if scarcity is irremediable.

[sabotabby]

Oh yeah -- I remember reading that and not really knowing what to say other than, "Wow."

[ironed_orchid]

Me too, but it stuck with me, and I've been reminded a few times since then.

[morgoid.livejournal.com]

I agree. I think that's why anarchism wouldn't work, ultimately. If businesses could get away selling biohazardous carcinogens as shampoo, they'd do it if the payoff was good enough.

But then, I'm also of the opinion that corporations would flay babies alive as tributes to Satan if it would guarantee profits.

Actually, not just facesless corprorations. I'm pretty sure there are just plain assholes out there who would too (as long as they didn't have to do it themselves that is).

Boy, I'm sure down on peoples!

[sabotabby]

Well, that'd be anarcho-capitalism. Actual anarchism might not work for other reasons, but it'd have to entail dismantling large corporations and eliminating any sort of profit motive.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

George Monbiot had an article recently about how some industrial leaders were more or less begging the government to introduce more environmental legislation; by levelling the playing field for everyone, companies don't get penalized for spending extra money on environmental measures.

[sabotabby]

But...but...what about the free market!

[99catsaway.livejournal.com]

It annoys me that a lot of people think that Adbusters' notions of switching one sort of consumer capitalism to a "better" consumer capitalism is actual activism.

Word. :)

[sabotabby]

"Grassroots capitalism."

El oh el.

[human-loser.livejournal.com]

So, lemme get this straight:

He hates our country, with its soft left politics...but he'd rather do time in OUR jails...

hmmmm....

[sabotabby]

Delicious, isn't it?

[human-loser.livejournal.com]

so delicious, I'm going BLIND.

I really have no idea what that meant. It felt good, I said it.

[morgoid.livejournal.com]

The word for Mr. Black:

FUUUUUUUUUUUCKFAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!

May he rot in American prison.

--as much as you can rot in white-collar jail.

[frippy.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Adbusters in a while so I guess I missed when they suggested switching to another form of consumer capitalism -- maybe when they began selling shoes? I do like their design and photography, though.

I like the spirit behind Buy Nothing Day although I'd think something more like Buy Less Month or Produce At Least 25% Less Garbage Year would have a greater impact overall. It's not going to do much good if you do your extravagant shopping on Saturday instead. But it is good, especially in white middle America here, to think about how wasteful and extravagant we are, particularly the day after we showed our gratitude for life and all that is in it by gorging ourselves into the next pant size up. As I got older, something about that seemed strange, "Yay, I'm thankful for my family and my life and my health, now it's time to mainline gravy."

[sabotabby]

We had some sort of reduce-Canada's-pollutants-by-one-tonne or something awhile ago, complete with a cute Rick Mercer ad campaign. I'm not sure anything ever came of it.

I think the shift came when Kalle Lasn realized he was raking in the big bucks with a big glossy magazine. It was probably before the shoe thing, although that was the first big indicator.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

Wuh-What? Someone's raking in the big bucks in the magazine business, with no advertising, no less?

[sabotabby]

If only I knew his secret.

I think it has to do with not paying his writers. Bet he doesn't. I think he just swipes things off teh intarwebs.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I hope they give his citizenship to the poorest Haïtian refugee they can possibly find -- preferably a poor Haïtian communist refugee. Who has converted to Islam. And is gay. And drives a cab. That'd be the best thing ever.

Don't forget being the holder of an actual but "useless" PhD degree...

[sabotabby]

I think not when he or she comes to Canada; our refugee would have to earn a PhD here. Using money from a grant. From the government.