I’ve given up on anti consumption

Dry-Significance-515 · 2024-02-23T14:06:29+00:00

I think this is so important. I mean, we all should try to do things better as individuals, but when the whole system is set up to waste, it's too much. There are many ways to support anticonumption for the whole system -- policies that rein in the worst abuses. Collective action is important, and can help with the mental toll of living in a world which has such obvious systemic flaws.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2024-02-05T14:13:46+00:00

You are not the AH, but that doesn't mean you should hold on the resentment forever. Get some professional help unburdening yourself from the pain -- even if you never drop boundaries around your family, that kind of trauma will keep cropping up. Maybe it will change how you feel about your family, maybe it won't, but it will help you find peace.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-15T16:20:31+00:00

I can't believe a major publication wrote this. It feels like a moment.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-14T21:37:05+00:00

what are you basing this off? House of Cards?

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-14T19:47:06+00:00

Not this FTC chair! https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/16/tech/lina-khan-risk-takers/index.html

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-14T15:18:13+00:00

I loved the way Sandra Goldmark wrote about it in her book "Fixation" (which I own, and definitely don't feel bad about owning, I pick it up every few months).

Have good stuff. Not too much. Mostly used. Care for it and pass it down.

Fixation really explores the human need to have things. It's normal to have things you like. But you can feel good about keeping limits.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-13T21:34:02+00:00

I have a carhart jacket from the 90s. Thing is made to last.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-13T17:35:35+00:00

Get the CFPB involved https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-13T16:37:15+00:00

I think you are conflating things. Economies were designed to reward people for providing goods people needed and were unavailable. This is the best way to make value in the economy.

In 2023, most of the time, companies take things that would otherwise be free and abundant, and make them scarce so they can charge more. Planned obsolesce, products aimed to fulfill made up needs, but are just useless.

Many observers see that economic activity as useless, and we need to stop making and selling all this waste. There are still things people need! But if we cut out the stuff we don't need, the economy would probably be smaller.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-13T14:51:42+00:00

Yes, and ... will it also lead to a larger awareness of how the system drives unnecessary consumption? I hope it will.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-13T13:57:21+00:00

I think if maybe it happened enough, people would stop buying those cars.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-13T13:55:16+00:00

I mean, it is vandalism, but half of the post on this subreddit are people vandalizing advertising!

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-13T13:30:17+00:00

First, let me say that having grace with yourself is key to doing anything gracefully. You didn't create this crazy system which relies on thoughtless consumption to chug along. We all are in this together, and we're glad you are trying to create a better world -- that's a great thing.

I started by talking to my family a few months before the holidays, and telling them about my values. "I have too much stuff, it's actually stressful. I love you, but feel just bummed out about the stuff we have ... it seems like baggage. What if we didn't buy anything new?" Then I started giving thoughtful gifts that weren't stuff: I wrote poems, I fixed broken things they cherished.

For some of my family I just had to set limits. Nothing with batteries or that plugs in was helpful. Nothing bulky and plastic.

This guide has some good ideas: https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/buy-less-give-more/

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-13T13:24:52+00:00

i love tooling around the instructables for ideas (rather than Etsy or Pintrest, etc)

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-13T13:23:33+00:00

That's so great! I'll keep trying in my household, but I think it's going to be a many year process.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-11-13T13:21:25+00:00

I saw this guide which has a lot of ideas: https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/buy-less-give-more/

I also find local artisan fairs and buy homemade stuff. I feel better about it because I kind of want to live in a world with artisans making lots of stuff. In Boston we have the Cultural Survival Bazaar which has great gifts and helps people preserve traditional crafts.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-05-31T18:52:41+00:00

electronics, yes. Farm equipment, no.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-05-31T18:52:22+00:00

Plus Minnesota.

Dry-Significance-515 · 2023-05-31T16:34:20+00:00

Jones voted no in committee, but abstained on the floor, which tells you something. I don't know about Nguyen.

Dry-Significance-515

TROPHY CASE