Reply #5: Well [View All]

[Cats Against Frist]

I agree -- and I recently decided to purchase a new Apple computer, rather than the cheapo Dell that would cost me about $500 less than Apple's cheapest model. The reason is that Dell Computer outsources a lot of jobs and gives buku to the GOP.

I try to make as many consumer choices, as responsibly as I can -- I do believe in it, and the "perfect consumer with perfect knowledge" is the part of the libertarian pipe dream that I can get on board with.

I generally try to buy from farmers' markets and festivals, or co-op food stores, when things are in season. I try to buy fairly traded gifts and coffee. I try to buy almost everything used, just because I don't want to support anything. The other thing I try to do is when I HAVE to buy something new, generally, I try to shop at stores where "consumer goods go to die." In other words, "Big Lots," or the fruit & vegetable stand at Aldi, or the dollar stores. I figure purchasing the stuff that no one wants, cuts back on production of too much new. I try not to shop at normal chain stores, or food places that are franchised or nation-wide.

If I have to buy some electronic or appliance, instead of buying from American companies that outsource, I buy foreign products -- just for kind of a "fuck you."

I try to outright belittle people who wear name-brand clothing. There is no vitriol too strong for someone who would pay $70 for a pair of jeans made in Bangledesh.

But, they can't all be this way. I can't afford a hybrid car, so I'm on gas. I'm also still on the grid -- and probably always will be, due to computing needs. I am also a big fan of air conditioning. I dye my hair. I smoke.

I try to make my health a political choice (except for the smoking), I guess. Be healthy, and you have fewer doctors' visits, etc. Non-processed, whole foods are cheaper to produce, don't usually have as much packaging and are better for you. I try to bring my grocery and produce bags to the store, so I don't have to use their bags.

My child's toys, books and programming are usually political choices -- though I can't stop people from buying him irresponsible gifts, because I don't want to hurt their feelings. People will give him clothes that they picked up at Wal-Mart, a lot, or stuff like that.

Also, I'm not rich enough to make all the responsible choices that I'd like to. I am thrifty, but my family lives on a lower salary, in modest surroundings (by choice) so we have time to persue our interest in the arts and spend a lot of time together. If we had more money, though -- I could afford to be really responsible and buy the recycled toilet paper all the time.

I think these things are important -- because as much as we like to bitch and moan about corporations, we're the enablers. We buy their products, watch the stupid TV shows that are merely vehicles for them to brainwash us with advertising, we work for them, we fall into their consumer trip traps (New!!! and Improved!!!), and waste our bodies with their chemicals and genetically modified hydrogenated white flower white sugar bullshit, support the mass-produced pop culture tripe they try to pass off as art.

So I do agree with libertarians on this point -- if we were responsible consumers, it would make a hell of a lot of difference.

As far as other non-consumer choices -- I suppose I give some money to the literary arts and to poor children -- those are political choices.

The people I associate myself with, and my education are political choices, I suppose. I generally have highly educated, artistic friends, but I've spent a large part of my adult life working with families through home intervention and mentoring.

Another thing -- bear with me -- that I try to do, as a result of politics is not to fall into the totalitarian trap mindset of everything having to be black or white. Studies have shown that conservatives are far more likely to use splitting and projecting -- and though I am an emotional and sometimes sensational person, I've really tried NOT to be like them. For a long time, I was anti-right totalitarian, where everything had to be my way. Now, I try to see things as an integrated whole, sensibly. But I don't always succeed -- I am human. If we all did more of this critical, gray-area kind of thinking, we'd be better off, too.