When was the last time you could help a movement buy sitting on you ass at home? As we will be reminded ad nauseam over the next twenty four hours, tomorrow is known as the biggest shopping day of the year. It is also Buy Nothing Day, a day when you can use your free will, break away from the pack, and stay away from malls, department stores and sales. You can refrain from spending part of your life waiting in line to buy that heavily discounted flat screen that you don't need and can't afford. You can stop giving credit card companies your money to fortify the power and control they have over your daily life. Tomorrow could be the day that you start to think for yourself, objectively, and ignore what the media and sale ads tell you. Tomorrow, you can be free.
It should go without saying that, by not shopping tomorrow, you can also help the Occupy movement, without spending the night anywhere, without holding a sign, or participating in a demonstration. Buy Nothing Day, which has been in existence for several years, is part and parcel of what the Occupy movement is about. Freeing ourselves from the power that corporations, banks and big money hold over us. Buying nothing for a day, whether tomorrow or any other day, is empowering, liberating, and as any of my fellow tightwads will tell you, highly addictive. It's how you dig yourself out of that hole. And believe me, even if it takes a long time to do it, once you're out, you'll want to stay out.
As I did last year, for this Buy Nothing Day, I'm including the music of Poly Styrene (RIP) and X-Ray Spex, because for many in my generation, she was the first person who raised our awareness about conspicuous consumerism. (You can read more about her on previous posts here and here.) You also ought to check out The Story of Stuff and The Story of Broke video links below, they're great to share with anyone dubious of the Occupy movement. (Your pep talk free posts will resume tomorrow.)
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Poly Styrene - Black Christmas mp3 at Perfect Porridge
X-Ray Spex - Art-I-Ficial mp3 at Krucoff
X-Ray Spex - More cuts on this post (a few links are dead, but most are good)
The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day mp3 at Naive Harmonies
Buy Nothing Day - The Album - 18 mp3s at Ted Dave
Video:
Poly Styrene - Black Christmas at YouTube
The Story of Stuff at YouTube
The Story of Broke at YouTube
Visit:
#Occupy Christmas page at AdBusters
The Story of Stuff official site
Buy Nothing Day at Wikipedia
International Buy Nothing Day
Occupy Wall St.
Occupy Together
