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Buy nothing Day?

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Tryphena Absent

02:21 / 08.11.02

Ooh, look what I found, someone must have found this already surely!
Well it's something that those of who have no money can do. Or not do.

jUne, a sunshiny month

08:37 / 08.11.02

yesssssss! we do have special plans for BND this year in my town... i'll send ya pics if we can do what we wanna do... what about a Buy nothing WEEK ?

gridley

13:02 / 08.11.02

It's a cute idea, but by placing it in the middle of the three biggest shopping days of the year (in American anyway), isn't this noble effort bound to be invisible?

Obviously, they knew that when they chose November 30th, so they must have a great deal of faith in their ability to get the word out. Anyone think it will actually be noticable?

Mister Six, whom all the girls

14:14 / 08.11.02

Actually, a mate of mine (an former fellow-art student), Rich Makin, participates in this in, get this, Harvard Square. For those of you not in the know, Harvard Square used to be THE cool place (and not too long ago!), now it has turned into a huge shopping mall with old looking buildings in it. There are at least three cell phone stores, an abercrombie and fitch where a great German restaraunt used to be and nowhere to get a decent coffee.

In any case, he and a few other Mass Art-types stood around shouting to buy nothing and don't people have enough toys and CDs??

Yeah, it might be fighting uphill, but I regretted not being involved. It was a really great thing to see and I would have stuck around, but I had... shopping to do.

Naked Flame

15:40 / 08.11.02

Heh, I'm going to be in NY that day... hope I can find a freakshow to get in on...

Tryphena Absent

15:43 / 08.11.02

I'd better stock up on chocolate and cigarettes on the 29th!

Ethan Hawke

17:24 / 08.11.02

You'd better not um, make any long distance calls, watch TV, heck, use power at all. Damn, it's gonna be cold that night with no heat. And my toilet's gonna stink because I can't flush it (gotta pay for that water, you know). Don't go anywhere unless you're walking or ridign a bike, else you'll have to buy a bus pass or pay taxi fair or gas up your vehickle.

Tryphena Absent

17:38 / 08.11.02

I think you've got something wrong there Dover... it's Buy Nothing Day not Don't Use The Stuff You've Already Bought Day. You already bought the petrol, water, cable, TV Licence blah blah... All basic amenities still available if bought yesterday. That's the joy of one day protests tomorrow you can stop being aggressive and go back to irritation.

Ethan Hawke

17:52 / 08.11.02

Hmmm...I may not *pay* for my long distance calls at the time I make them, but I certainly am taking advantage of a service that is offered to me on the proviso that I pony up the cash on the first of the month. So, I "buy" them. Same goes for electrcity, etc. (they don't read your meter for nothing). It's consumption of the worst kind: it goes straight into the pockets of mega-corporations that have their fingers in everything evil. Evil, I say. If you flip on a light switch you may as well go kill some Iraqi babies with your bare hands.

Strange Machine Vs The Virus with Shoes

18:10 / 08.11.02

Dover, the only way to avoid participation in the “evil” you highlight is to go work in an Iraqi hospital, work for the Iraqi army or kill yourself. Even if you become a criminal or enemy of the state, you validate the power and cultural norms of the state. Try to look at the buy nothing day as a way of controlling your own consumptive desires. There is a diference between necessity and desire.

Tryphena Absent

18:23 / 08.11.02

But you don't buy it on that day. In order to buy there must be a transaction and that happens on another day. So you can be buy-free on the 30th November.

If you go work for the Iraqi Army you'll just be subscribing to yet another evil. Best to become a vigilante fighting crime and ill in your own way while maintaining the hypocrisy of the modern world through contradictory behaviour.

w1rebaby

18:42 / 08.11.02

What if you just use a credit card all day? You're not actually paying for anything. People are really just lending you stuff in a complex chain.

Is someone allowed to get stuff in return for sexual favours?

Strange Machine Vs The Virus with Shoes

18:46 / 08.11.02

Actually, its best to do what the fuck you want .If the buy nothing day doesn’t grab you, fuck it, its someone else,s idea of effete rebellion. However it is making you think, which can’t be a bad thing. And they are aiming in the right direction in terms of questioning newly emerging power structures. Consumption is gaining ground on production as a social virtue.

Tryphena Absent

01:40 / 09.11.02

Ah but a transaction is till taking place thus you have bought something.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

10:41 / 09.11.02

What's all this "allowed" bollocks? No-one's stopping you from doing anything.

The point of Buy Nothing day isn't the dedicatedly anal-retentive avoidance of any kind of financial transaction. It's a meant to be one day where folk are encouraged to take a day off from loading themselves down with purchases, one day where people are encouraged to think about the provenance of the goods they buy and the environmental implications of their lifestyles. That's encouraged, BTW, not commanded. Armies of marauding crusties are not going to descend upon your town and cut up your credit cards or burn your limited-edition Cartman doll. It's just... it's a thing, okay? You don't have to play if you don't want to.

Tryphena Absent

11:39 / 09.11.02

Well I'm shunning anyone who buys anything. It's the work of the devil! The devil I tell you!

_pin

21:26 / 09.11.02

Go Mordy! You've basically said what I worked out in my tiny little mind while at work today.

Just because people are gonna turn taps on, doesn't mean that they should stop and consider what they are doing. And maybe everyone just needs to spend a day doing stuff that doesn't involve the explict use of money. Go sit in a park and beat small children with large sticks. And call them wankers. That's free! (Except for bail. Which you can pay later. Presuming they actually give you bail)

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

05:24 / 10.11.02

I'm having a party that day... guess I'd better stock up on booze and drugs the night before.

Baz Auckland

21:22 / 28.11.02

*bumpity bump bump*

Oddly enough it's the 29th in this hemisphere....

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

09:35 / 29.11.02

I've been pondering over this one- how about if I buy the Iraqi army tomorrow?

(Actually, no. I have little enough space in my house already.)

Shortfatdyke

13:24 / 29.11.02

More or less every day of the year is Buy Nothing Day for me, so it's not much of a personal challenge, although I'm very much into the concept. The usual Christmas consumerism is utterly hideous, but I must admit to having a fascination - in the same way that one stares at a road accident - with the adverts on tv, especially the rigid gender roles that are still being defined for children. So depressing one has to laugh.

Baz Auckland

13:28 / 29.11.02

Ah, just stick 'em in the attic. They'd be great for housework, security, and ANY odd jobs you need around the place. Buy Now! Supplies are Limited!

Whisky Priestess

14:07 / 29.11.02

I always like to treat Buy Nothing Day as Steal Everything Day. It's amazing how much more fun it is.

Tryphena Absent

15:21 / 29.11.02

I did all my buying today so tomorrow I will be free of the spending of the money. Luckily I won't be going out as I am hooked on Daniel Deronda.

Bear

15:31 / 29.11.02

And Quentin Tarantino is on Alias, not sure why but he is....

I'll stick to just buying booze tomorrow its the best I can do.

Tryphena Absent

15:52 / 29.11.02

Reaalllyyy, I admit I do like Alias but really don't want to know why, just another excuse to watch it!

Shortfatdyke

16:04 / 29.11.02

Janina - I think you've rather missed the point....!

Tryphena Absent

16:05 / 29.11.02

My best feature don't you think?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:27 / 29.11.02

I can't get Saturday off, so I'm going to be working in a fucking shop. On Buy Nothing Day. Me.

I feel sullied.

William Sack

19:05 / 29.11.02

Shit. This Buy Nothing Day has crept up on me. Anyone know where I can get huile a la truffe noir in the next 3 hours?

_pin

21:47 / 30.11.02

I actually forgot this was today. I was working in a shop too. I don't think trying to get time off would have gone down too well tho (Why do you want time off? Because I don't want anyone to buy anything today).

And yes, Janina, it really is yr best feature.

Did that sound mean? That wasn't meant to sound mean. It's endeering! it sounded mean didn't it? Shiit.

Tryphena Absent

22:20 / 30.11.02

You never sound mean hon. Only people who are purposefully mean are really worth getting sad about and since you're never purposefully mean no one worth the blood in their organicnesses is going to be upset 'cos of you!

People I slipped up badly, two weeks worth of new food resides in my kitchen as I write, still I'm not gonna go hungry and I needed a fix. Yes, I'm an addict, I spent four days not buying anything anyway and I don't like to go with the crowd.

That was a bit too mocking wasn't it?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:59 / 01.12.02

I tried to resist the call of blatant consumerism, honest I did. But the call of beer and pizza was a bit trickier (most of the beer was after midnight, though.)

Baz Auckland

15:09 / 01.12.02

Buy Nothing This Year!

(Just an article detailing why you shouldn't buy anything this day/year/etc.)

Shortfatdyke

15:26 / 01.12.02

"People I slipped up badly, two weeks worth of new food resides in my kitchen as I write"

That doesn't count! It's blatant consumerism that's the target. I actually spent a lot of money yesterday, on my train tickets to London. I have no problem with this; I'm coming up to see, among others, a friend I haven't clapped eyes on for too many months, so it doesn't count, either. And I found a piercer who will put my new earrings in for free, so I get Brownie points for that, I think.

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