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Consumerist Activism/Ethical consumerism replacing activism

  • 29-03-2019 3:49am
    #1
    s7ryf3925pivug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,007 ✭✭✭


    Consumerist activism means things like boycotting companies for political or ethical reasons. Ethical consumerism is things like buying chocolate that is probably not from cocoa harvested by slaves.

    This sort of stuff expresses our views, but it’s polite and quiet about it. More socially acceptable than kicking up a fuss. It’s the preferred option. Protests are frowned upon when you can express your view just with what you purchase. Popular protests tend to be about things where expression through purchasing isn’t an option, like the water charges or the price of diesel.

    It’s toothless though. If it replaces genuine activism then you can even say it’s bad. There will still be slaves harvesting cocoa regardless whether your chocolate is fair trade or not. It’s not about your identity, it’s about policy.

    Effective activism requires collective action, and it especially needs to seek change at a policy level. The protests against water charges are a recent example of effective activism.


Comments

  • #2
    Hobosan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 582 ✭✭✭Hobosan


    I'm pretty sure everybody knows this already.


  • #3
    s7ryf3925pivug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,007 ✭✭✭s7ryf3925pivug


    Hobosan wrote: »
    I'm pretty sure everybody knows this already.
    Knowing -yeah, realizing - dunno... It would make me late to the party anyway.


  • #4
    Signore Fancy Pants
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭Signore Fancy Pants


    After all that typing, have you got a point to make or have you just landed a job in Wikipedia?


  • #5
    Your Face
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,275 ✭✭✭Your Face


    I insist that my chocolate is made by slaves.
    I'm funny like that.


  • #6
    Annasopra
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 41,158 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    Ok and?

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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  • #7
    Signore Fancy Pants
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭Signore Fancy Pants


    Your Face wrote: »
    I insist that my chocolate is made by slaves.
    I'm funny like that.

    If it's good enough for Willy Wonka, its good enough for me!

    I don't care about slavery and ethical production of products for sale.

    Not because Im a d1ckhead (I am) but you'd be hard pressed to successfully live your life if you truely 100% bought with your conscience.

    I doubt there are many companies which have a 100% clean record and do not exploit someone at some stage during the production or supply chain cycle.

    As a consumer activist or whatever bollox title people want to place on themselves, they cant be selective in what they boycott...unless they boycott every business who isnt 100% clean then they are hypocrites.


  • #8
    super_furry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27,349 ✭✭✭✭super_furry


    Remember that lad who sang that Chocolate Rain song? Wonder what he's up to these days.


  • #9
    Loveinapril
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,348 ✭✭✭Loveinapril


    Dale Doback wrote: »
    After all that typing, have you got a point to make or have you just landed a job in Wikipedia?

    It's like the answer to a Leaving Cert question.


  • #10
    s7ryf3925pivug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,007 ✭✭✭s7ryf3925pivug


    The point is that applying pressure on policy makers is more meaningful than adjusting your personal consumption. The latter is passive and doesn't do much, but there is social pressure to do that in place of the former.

    For example there is a barrister leading an attempt to make ecocide a crime against humanity, which would make it risky for CEOs and politicians to do things that cause massive-scale environmental impact. This would be very meaningful. Adjusting individual consumption to use less resources is less so.


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