As pathetic as it is to see people camping out at Wal-mart to buy products they do not particularly need (indeed, many of them would be better off if they saved the money that they will spend today), one of the results of that behavior is additional economic opportunity for poor countries and poor people.
You could state a case that the net gain from this behavior makes it not worth having, as the social and environmental costs of using natural and human resources to produce unneeded products obfuscates the value of the resultant economic growth, but then you would need to present data and math.
I also think it is ironic that you chose as an example an infrastructure project not built as the result of capitalism.
Growth can probably be too fast - China has some problems in this regard, infrastructure, basic services, environmental concerns, the political system etc. can't quite keep up with the reasonable demands of a rapidly growing new middle class.
The growth rates attainable for the US and Europe, however, are unlikely to be dangerous.
I don't need the internet. Either do you. I also don't need to eat anything other than bean tortillas, but I will. I could probably get through my life wiping with single ply, but I'd rather have double.
If that makes me a bad guy in your eyes, ah well. I'm sure a few of the beers I went out my way to purchase will ease the pain.
You know we can just change certain laws in the patent system to get it fixed right?
You understand that the idea of someone being able to sale their hard work for a living isn't evil right?
Or that maybe just making a true concerted effort of a smaller carbon footprint is enough? We don't need to ban all gas lines, or coal and replace it all with solar wind farms.
Consider this, we are fighting other people's ideals with equally extreme ideals and then wonder why the world doesn't see our brilliance. They think all of torrenting technology is evil because it allows for easier "unauthorized" access of someone else's creative content. It's a tool people. Capitalism isn't bad, overly greedy people are bad, and they just happen to love capitalism.
It's called moderation.
Typical slaughterhouse practices are stressful for workers and lead to damaged product.
Improving worker conditions decreases employee turn over and boosts yield.
It's probably wishful thinking to take this as a signal they're transitioning to become a serious advocacy organization.
If moderation was the natural state of things, we wouldn't have to argue for it.
Move to North Korea, everyday is buy nothing day and best of all, none of that horrid capitalism.
Do you equate spending money with freedom and civil liberties? Is that the only way for you and I to be free, is to buy things?
Also, class mobility seems to be most likely in a society with high economic activity, since there is a lot of demand to be filled and therefore the opportunity to fill it.
Do you have an empirical example of this?
“Today, humanity faces a stark choice: save the planet and ditch capitalism, or save capitalism and ditch the planet.”
There won't be too many startup accelerators or funding rounds when we ditch capitalism, folks. Funny how there was none of this talk on iPhone Launch Day, either...
While I share Adbuster's disgust with the hordes of zombie sheep lining up to consume in excessive quantity things that they do not need, I don't think this has anything to do with Capitalism as an economic philosophy.
The manner in which Capitalism is implemented and followed is just as important as abstract philosophy. Deeds, not words.
seems to be a Reuters photo with this caption:
"AVIANO, Italy (Reuters) - A protestor throws a rock at riot police outside the Aviano Air base in northern Italy Sunday. More than 300 protestors took part in the demonstration against NATO's air strikes on Yugoslavia. Photo by Stefano Rellandini"
Yeah, that's the spirit. Head on over and contribute to the problem [1][2][3]
1. http://robertreich.org/post/36219730368
2. http://www.thenation.com/blog/171389/worker-group-alleges-wa...
3. http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/support-...
Alright, alright, they do have better ideas for a "delay gratification" message. Credit card cut-up (pre-commitment) and zombie walks (exposure) sound like good ideas.
Don't make a day about not doing something negative, make it about doing something positive. Don't turn off your power for a day, spend a day installing better insulation so you need less power.
This article to me makes an important point -- Black Friday has pretty much descended into self-parody -- but couching it as an anti-capitalism argument (instead of an anti-consumerism one) ruins the message for me.
The criticisms that people are positing here are exactly criticisms of the agenda of Adbusters. The whole thing is about keeping their context in mind and objecting to it.
I guess this doesn't count jumping on the odd humble indie bundle.
A more poignant campaign would revolve around convincing people not to buy certain unnecessary things at all, ever.
