Archive for November, 2008
Buy Nothing Day 2008!!!
Well, November 28th has finally rolled around, which means my favorite international holiday can officially begin (in North America, at least, for you Brits and Aussies, etc., will just have to wait until tomorrow). That’s right, kiddies! Today is ‘Buy Nothing Day’ (insert cheers and applause)!!! Your one chance every year to refuse the perpetuation of crass consumerism, and to promote more ecological and sustainable economics.
Come on, dude! Everybody’s NOT doing it! Even the right Rev. Billy is playing his part with his Union Square Dance Your Debt Away party up in New York City! So get yer little bum out there and start NOT buying things!!!
Buy Nothing Day, Links:
UPDATE:
Clearly these Wal-Mart shoppers in NY state could use a little Buy Nothing Day. Just stunning…
The Future That Could-Be…
They’re at it again, god bless ‘em! Those rascally Yes Men, masters of the fine art that is ‘culture jamming’, have hoaxed the American media. This time their ruse involved printing and distributing a fake version of the New York Times, predated to July 4th of next year, and chock-full of unlikely, progressive ‘if only’ scenarios otherwise uncommon to corporate news outlets. The headline of this imposture edition, for example, simply reads, “Iraq War Ends,” a short three-word sentence that seems to sum up the hopes and dreams of many concerned citizens around the country (maybe the world?) in the post-election, Obama era of American politics.
(See Rocketboom, Boing Boing, The Huffington Post, or the NY Times online Arts section for more details and imagery.)
I am particularly fond of the fictitious editorial, presumably written by NYT columnist Thomas Friedman, brilliantly titled “The End of the Experts?” In it the phony Friedman declares, “I will keep my opinions to myself.” He goes on to aks:
“…why are newspapers like the New York Times letting people like me make fools of themselves, mislead the American people, and, worst of all, give their wives a lifetime of ammunition? To err is human, but to print, reprint, and re-reprint error-mad humans like me is a criminally moronic editorial policy.”
Here, here, faux Thomas Friedman! For once, I couldn’t agree with you more. Let’s hope the publishers of the fake New York Times can inspire the publishers of the real New York Times to get real for a change.
