wikipedia/cargo_cult
this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
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A one day boycott is about as effective at sending some kind of message as taking off a condom after the first thrust is at preventing a pregnancy.
Americans are seemingly incapable of doing anything other than virtue signalling online.
I say this as an American.
I moved over from corporate tech work to take a pay cut to do tech work at a non profit helping the homeless, to actually, literally do praxis.
No one, none of my friends, none of my family, nobody seemed to understand why I believed that ones actions should align with ones beliefs.
Americans are largely performative, self-obsessed narcissists.
I am beyond disgusted with this country.
I spent a decade telling people what is currently occuring is not only possible, but becoming increasingly inevitable.
90% of people told me I was mentally ill.
10% said yes they agree, but what can you do?
Fine. Fuck it.
There is nothing we can do I guess, as doing something would involve actual planning, risk and sacrifice, and we're all a bunch of either vapid preening esoteric socialites, or murderously stupid death cultists.
Beam me up Scotty, no signs of intelligent life here.
No one, none of my friends, none of my family, nobody seemed to understand why I believed that ones actions should align with ones beliefs.
When I was in high school, I wanted pursue college to do clean energy or agricultural research. Nobody who was in a position to help me fix my education track wanted to talk about anything but careers and income. I've just been watching everything get worse and they've just been enjoying their popcorn and circuses since then.
Here's the thing: resistance movements don't happen overnight except in the most extreme of circumstances, and since our transfer of power was (technically) peaceful, people aren't feeling the kind of hurt that would drive them to protest just yet.
So, people who are wise enough to see what's coming have to start small. Start with a small protest, then work your way up. Boycotts like this one are good for getting people to do something to start off. It might not do a whole lot at first, but they'll start to add up as more and more people become aware of the movement.
Eventually, more drastic action can be taken, but getting people together and proving that they have the numbers to make a difference is vital, and unless a catastrophe happens, that process takes time.
Cool.
I've been doing such things, going to protests, volunteering for various advocacy/aid groups, helping to organize them, switched my entire career path etc., for nearly two decades...
...and what it looks like to me is... 80 to 90% of people treat what I do as an annoying ad they skip, as if me actually doing this in the real world, is indistinguishable from meaningless virtue signalling, and 10% of people are like you, coming in here and making a comment like that... for two decades.
I've been radicalized since getting simultaneous degrees in Econ and Poli Sci during the 07/08 financial crash, and since, have been doing everything I can to avert/mitigate this entirely predictable future we have now arrived at.
When was the last time you did something that actually had a positive effect on society?
At this point, I agree with Sergio Leone:
When I was young, I believed in three things: Marxism, the redemptive power of cinema, and dynamite.
Now I just believe in dynamite.
People march in the street, they get ignored, they protest and get ignored. Nobody in power even cares about protests.
Literally nothing will happen until a mob starts "unelecting" this administration. So who is it going to be? Who is going to throw their life away for a bunch of strangers who don't give a fuck about them? Who will throw their life away for a country or society that doesn't give a fuck about them?
You realize you're asking for Jesus Christ here
Luigi did it.
No he didn't, the killer got away.
"There are no heroes left in man"
As an old Canadian socialist with the lumps to prove it, I agree. There is so much performance, and so little action. I spend time on reddit, trying to get keyboard warriors to understand that posting an opinion will not magically cause the fascist Administration to collapse and get a lot of "The media refuses to cover us!" bullpuckey. There are thousands of newsrooms in the USA that are not owned by billionaire tech bros or MAGA devotees (see, for example https://www.trustworthymedia.org/ › list-of-independent-media ) and most social media is still wide open to pictures and facts about your actions. If you are acting, let the independent media -- most but not all of whom are progressive, check first -- know and post your pictures (faces blurred if need be) and stories everywhere you can reach people.
Meantime, buy Canadian, buy local, or don't buy at all, at least it's something!
Your link is lib media, it is exactly them who will keep them in line and sell real progressives out.
If not blatantly collaborate with the regime.
Scratch a liberal....
I don't buy anything on most days normally. Days isn't going to do anything and stop telling yourself it will.
Stop it entirely or as much as you possibly can. Never order from Amazon again. Where you do need to buy stuff buy as little as possible. Stop visiting pubs and restaurants. If your goal is to damage the US economy. Avoid as much as you possibly can that goes towards it.
My favorite restaurant is not a chain, I'm a regular there, and they have a once a month special on one of these days. I would rather support them on one of these days than buy nothing.
To be fair any excuse to eat there is good. Greek food is awesome.
Most likely they are buying most of their products from Sysco Corporation. Small businesses are still not immune to large corporations. The could of course also be simply buying from a local Costco Business Center. The issue is that large corp owns and controls everything. It's already too late but do what you can. Doing something is better than nothing.
Doing something may be worse than morning if it drains the resources and sates the fervour of those who should be doing something real
The problem I've found with the "Buy nothing days" is that it's not really encouraging buying less. With the possible exception of a few in the moment things, it's really just pushing purchasing to the day before or the day after. Someone seeing economic data for that specific day might notice something, but even just factor in the day before and the day after and it's not going to make much of a difference. It didn't cost the corpos anything, so they won't even notice.
I keep saying exactly this. It needs to be longer than a week and it can't be things like groceries or you're basically asking people to starve. And so many people who are supposedly fighting for the less well off don't seem to get "living paycheck to paycheck" and the idea that working 5 days a week and taking care of yourself/kids means that when you shop is largely dictated by factors out of your control. Its got "oh, just make your coffee at home to save up for a new house" or "blame the average person for climate change and not the massively polluting corporations" vibes.
Making it longer doesn't help.
You need to boycott specific products (with ready altenratives) and have specific demands.
No, making it longer would help if your only goal is to crash the economy thinking that a tantrum will solve the core problem and not just lead to a bunch of bandaid appeasements.
For the record I'm agreeing with you. We need more directed action and more specific demands. These demands need to be things that have a clear roadmap to being implemented as well, not just "I want X". Cool. Nifty. How do you expect X to be implemented in today's world? What will the steps look like?
I am more than happy with wanting America to face a recession. I will avoid American products as much as possble.
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Even groceries you could change what you buy though. Air fried beans costs fuck all. I was going to suggest egg fried rice as that is cheap in the UK but you might struggle with the eggs in the US. Could just fry rice and add some veg though.
You have very strong "avocado toast" vibes fyi. You seem to think that the problem is what we're eating as if we have enough money to be buying luxury foods in the first place. I'm already eating the cheapest, calorie dense food I can. If I could eat a nutrient paste gruel every day with 100% nutrients that was dirt cheap, I would.
Isn't avocado toast supposed to be really expensive though? I budget around £15/week each on food.
Exactly my point. You're acting like I'm already eating luxury foods and not only what I can afford. Telling people who are already struggling "hey, rice and beans are cheap!" is the most overdone advice and shows how oblivious you are to the actual issue. You think I'm over here eating steak every night and complaining it's expensive? Hell no. I'm eating cheap shit and barely affording that.
how_much_does_a_banana_cost_michael.gif
Huh, Thursday and Saturday are a bit more popular now and Friday dropped off. Should adjust shift patterns a bit.
By reducing our labor spend on these spend nothing days and not increasing our labor spends on these days surrounding them, we’ve increased our profits!
A lot of it also boils down to people's inability to not buy highly processed food. Staple foods (potatoes, rice, flour) are relatively cheap, but turning them into complete meals take time and skill. So, takeout and fast food turns from a once-a-while into almost everyday.
People actually eat fast food daily? No wonder Americans are so fat
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If you completely trust everyone in your coalition it is not a coalition.
Man this is something I struggle with outside of politics too
Look at what the right is doing. They go after targets with disproportionate force to force change. "Don't buy anything" is easy for a day and hard for long. "Refuse to purchase anheiser Busch products because they caved to bigots" is less difficult and leaves a message.
I grew up in a protest to save my neighborhood from being demolished for a highway.
What the news reported was the protests in front of city hall to finally convince them to move the highway.
What you didn't see was the incredible legwork getting dozens of local businesses to support us. Getting bake sales in schools to fund billboards. Doing social disobedience by blocking traffic and having people arrested. Disrupting city hall over and over and over. This was my life for months.
And it finally worked.
Martin Luther Kings peaceful protests were only half the equation to Malcom X arming black communities. You need to speak softly and carry a big stick.
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imho the chapter on "Tactics" in Alinski's Rules for Radicals provides a lot of ideas on how to avoid performative activism.
From the description
First published in 1971, Rules for Radicals is Saul Alinsky's impassioned counsel to young radicals on how to effect constructive social change and know the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one. […] Alinsky was able to combine, both in his person and his writing, the intensity of political engagement with an absolute insistence on rational political discourse and adherence to the American democratic tradition.
In today's social climate with today's regard for rational discourse & democratic tradition? Are we doomed?
Alinsky lived in a time of McCarthyism and Nixon and the Southern Strategy. I'm not an expert on the guy, but I don't think he'd say we're doomed.
What is not usually mentioned is the psychological effect protests have on the people attending. The feeling of being one of many who care about an issue gives people hope and energy to keep tring to change it.
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Rule number 1 of protesting is always that if the protest can be suffered or ignored, then it will be.
The key to non-violent protest is that you don't plan on going home afterward. You go, you stay, and you don't leave -- until somebody drags you to the jail, the hospital, or the morgue.
The key to nonviolent protest is that they have to be an alternative to violence - in other words, both sides must be fully aware that either nonviolence works or violence follows.
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