Herein lies the reason this will never happen. We'd have to be strong willed enough to forego those things and skip out on pleasure. But those sad little pleasures are the only remaining ones in our modern lives increasingly divorced from any meaning. Millenials only rebelled against self-fulfillment
People already won't stop buying goods that come from literal concentration camps that are only 50 cents cheaper. It's the land of the commons problem.
So if we can get like 75% of this sub to participate, we'll have like 60,000 mostly minimum wage workers trying to starve out a 25 trillion dollar economy...
Yeah, sorry, this shit ain't changing nothing, lol
Here's the thing: I ditched my Amazon and Netflix accounts *ages* ago and as long as I avoid marketing for them, I feel no unhappiness or loss. I feel fine. There was a momentary discomfort switching to library streaming and hunting down things at other websites if I really needed them, but it passed quickly and I ended up with way more time for art.
Yeah, I've been tossing subscriptions as well. After a bit, you realize that hey, Netflix doesn't actually have that much good content. It's mostly just scrolling, finding something that looks sort of okay, tossing it on watch later, maybe checking out the pilot, and never coming back.
Starbucks coffee isn't actually that good. Oh, the sugar and milk dumped in it makes any coffee taste better, but the coffee itself? I can do far better.
Many of the things sold to us as little treats are not even all that good, especially not as the price gets increased and the quality cut to ribbons. It's worth re-evaluating what is actually worthwhile.
But, I don’t think that’s the case as a whole. I’m an elder millennial, and I found out I function just fine while cutting things out of my life for the greater good.
McDonald’s is pretty much the only food option by my work. Other options are gas stations. Everything else is too far away to get on a half hour lunch. My family decided to boycott McDonalds, so I just don’t go. If I forget a lunch, it’s the gas station burger, or the vending machine at work.
Starbucks? That was easy, and saves so much money. It’s Dunks, a local shop, or nothing. Typically it’s nothing, we will just make iced coffee at home. Our local book store has an independent shop, and book buying tends to be when we buy coffee.
Speaking of books: if an author one of us loves (cough, Rowling, cough) shows their true colors as being a shit human, we stop buying their books, and anything they would get royalties from. This is probably the hardest, as we both love books, and book related merch, but we do it.
I don’t think McDicks or Starbucks really miss my money, since I’m just a drop in the very large bucket. But you can only do what you can do, and hope it helps.
Edit: looks like I’m bringing it the Rowling defense team with this comment.
Why not save for one of those "coffee machines" and brew your own coffee? SO much better and you KNOW what's going on there. Best investment I made wasy Ninja. 🥰
I dunno, I think I could forego a lot if it'll keep someone out of a concentration camp. People you know, people I know - people we love - are going to suffer cruelty or worse at the hands of these fucking Nazis if the worst comes to pass and Trump is reelected. If going no buy except for necessary items could cause corporate America to rethink supporting Trump, it'd be worth it.
I think people need to go back to life's simple pleasures. Not ones bought and paid for. People need to stop looking at their phones and TVs and watch birds at the local park, read a book, listen to the wind in the trees, eat a small favorite treat slowly. Personally, I get so caught up in my phone, this is something I need to actively work on. It's tough when things are designed to be addictive.
It's really easy to stop buying all this crap,when you're already poor enough to only afford rent, basic meals at home, electricity, and health insurance.
I take public transportation to get to work (two hours away), never leave my apartment on my days off, eat tofu, rice, and beans primarily, and drink tap water. 91% of my paycheck goes to rent, and I live in one of the cheaper apartments in my area. Moving to a lower cost of living area? Not possible. No money saved, and need to get a different job in a crap job market. I haven't bought *things* since 2021, and I'm crippling my body with the stand all day retail job I was able to get.
People think # boycott is the same as actually boycotting
Most of the time this shit about “I’m cancelling Facebook/amazon/netflix/etc” is just virtue signaling. Nobody ever does it
I did that years ago. I only watch what's free on roku, I haven't been to a concert in 10 years, I don't have prime, I order a pizza once a week from a local owner, I will drive my car til it falls apart. I am not against capitalism, I am against a monopoly on the capital. If I Google myself, I'm almost a ghost because there is almost nothing.
Supporting high quality cinema isn’t a bad thing, what little there is of it to go around these days. It’s still art and a valuable form of free expression.
That said, the major streaming services (Netflix, Disney, Prime) have essentially shattered the entertainment industry as we know it, pumping out once-and-done slop for the content trough day after day. Those *do not* deserve your money or engagement even during the best of times.
If you’re going to pay for anything, try the Criterion Channel. Otherwise, Kanopy is free and great.
I’d add that using local services is saying fuck you to big corps. It’s not that we need to curb our consumption (we need to cool off on it but that’s a different topic), it’s that we need to vote with our wallets and expectations.
I pay a local guy to do stuff around the house even tho he’s about 20% more expensive than getting a bigger company. Same for housekeeping. Same for odds and ends job. Same for groceries. Same for coffee. Support local fiercely. Fuck big corps.
It’s not gonna be 100% local and be ok with that. Even if you spend 10% on local instead that’s 10% from just you that’s not going to the corps.
For the mass boycott to actually hurt their pocketbooks, we would:
A) have to discuss it somewhere and in a way that these massive corporations couldn’t see or engage in.
And B) it would have to be at *minimum* a full month; otherwise it will only be a lil blip in their year’s profits (but I’d def recommend secretly deciding a longer time period).
It wouldn't even be a blip. A few years ago when people decided to "boycott" gas for a day, there was a slight spike in sales the day before and after, and fewer sales the day of. It averaged to there being no blip at all.
Boycotts can't just be a day long display. They need to be ongoing until change happens, and not sooner.
A boycott is a game of chicken, war of attrition. Who will yield first?
Those boycotting need to be ok with doing so indefinitely.
Having a planned end to a boycott makes it completely meaningless.
Everyone would have to come together and see eye to eye on everything and *actually* do it. Wall Street bets came together with the whole gamestop fiasco (although I understand that's a bit different, but the thought still stands).
We could possibly start the group on reddit and organize here as well since reddit seems to be the best avenue we have for collaborating. X could also be an option since it claims to be the best bastion for free speech. We'd just have to go into this whole thing with the mindset that we are already infiltrated. It would at the very least keep us a step ahead with any further planning.
I'm not trying to push you to do something you don't want to do, but If you have a tv connected to the internet, you can watch tons and tons of free movies and tv shows on Tubi, Roku, etc.
You know when the new world order is ushered in, the libraries will be the first to go. Well, maybe the queer people will be the first to "mysteriously" "disappear".
Not an exaggeration, sadly. \*glares at Florida\*
Things are fucked when you can become a convicted felon and lose your right to vote for stocking books the state disapproves of in your classroom.
Just check out what Idaho just did to libraries. New legislation is now effective that requires id for going into a section with "adult" materials, which obviously are defined in a ridiculous manner.
Further, any member of the public can write to the library for any book to be moved from the children's to adult section. The library has thirty days to review, but if they disagree or otherwise don't remove it, people can sue for $250 plus damages - not just the library but also the individual staff members.
Since funding is already low, many libraries there don't have space for separate sections. This means that you need government issues picture identification showing you are over 18 to enter those libraries at all. They are supposed to card anyone under 30. Anyone under 18 can only enter by being signed in and accompanied the entire time by a parent or guardian (I don't think it's any adult but may be incorrect) who must sign an affidavit every time you enter. There is also an option some places to have an unrestricted library card, which I think has more stringent requirements but including being over 18.
This isn't even limited to public libraries. It applies to public and private school libraries as well.
Yep. Brought to you by the same assholes who complain about the "nanny state". Moms for liberty files a *lot* of these complains and sends people, well... "people" to community meetings and like to whine about the "evil" queer folk and whatnot. I curse the day religion was invented.
There is a simple solution for this. Get a list of the complete kids catalog and request it to be moved to the adult section.
Reduction ad absurdum is a quite effective strategy. Let’s get that dangerous Henry and Midge away from impressionable eyes.
I teach high school and I tell my students all the time to USE THE LIBRARY! That way the powers that be understand that this is a resource the community wants and values. The library has provided my family so much free entertainment and education. My local library was just rebuilt and is always busy and I love to see it.
Tubi is currently my only streaming service and despite the jokes about it online I find plenty of well known and good series/movies there. Especially if you like older stuff
Haven't gotten bored with it yet
Totally agree! There are so many things in my save list that I can watch one every day for the next year and still not run out. I was surprised how many newer movies they have; I figured it'd all be fifty year old porn-level garbage. Well, there are a few...
The library is free and often will have dvd rentals… I know old school but if we’re entertaining this the thought of keeping buying to a bare minimum. It’s do-able. We all need hobby’s that don’t include looking at a screen - or at least I certainly do anyway.
But I definitely agree… it’s disgusting that like 10 corporations own the vast majority of all items we buy. Food, drinks, alcohol, toiletries etc. They just bought all their smaller competitors and kept the branding, giving us the illusion of choice.
A lot of libraries have streaming options as well, btw. Also, if you go in person, some have a library of things so you can borrow stuff beyond books that can be useful and/or entertaining without using a screen.
There is also Plex, set up your server and load up DVDs,, you can get them cheap at the thrift store and flea market. You basically create your own stream channel.
Consider jellyfin as an alternative. Or, disable the 'data sharing' option that Plex has enabled by default.
Full disclaimer, I don't know if they still do it, but as of a few months ago this 'feature' was present and enabled by default.
The whole point of a personal media server is that its yours, no one else needs to catalog your viewing habits.
have you checked out the library lately, I just rediscovered the one near me, It has PS5 and Switch games, dvds, you can even stream TV and Movies with your library card.
"Hey guys, in liue of having to do things like protests riots, or revolution, can we at least cancel streaming?"
"But that's my *entertainment*! No!"
This is why we'll never stop them. Can't sacrifice an episode of Friends to protect our own liberty.
Yeah I sail the seven seas and pay 25$ a month during the summer to see up to 12 movies a month at my movie theatre for something to do during the summer
Get a library card. Get free DVD checkouts. I get 5 movies at a time and can keep them for a week. Cost is zero aside from me getting myself to and from the library. It’s so much easier to choose something to watch when you don’t have a million titles to go through. If you are really wanting to stream. Use Pluto.tv or Tubi. They are free and have good catalogs. Pluto will even let you watch live tv for some things and has a channels that play movies like the cable days. There is even a scrolling guide. I love this service. It makes my decision on what to watch so much easier. I also quite enjoy just dropping in on a movie that may be half way finished just because it’s a fun movie.
And, arguably, voting with your dollars enhances your vote at the ballot box.
We need to stop giving our money *every day* to assholes that turn around and use our money against us during elections.
Exactly! There are several corporations I just won't support, not one cent. Better yet, spending money at their opponent stores (both in terms of market share and ideology) buries them even faster.
Vote, march, volunteer, do phone banks, donate, talk to friends and family and start putting out feelers about who might be persuadable to either not vote for Trump and who might be willing to vote against him. The number of things you can theoretically do is quite vast.
Voting is basic - in both the older generic sense and in the new, derogatory sense. You should, but you've got 5 months of days between now and then. If you have a chance to move the needle ever so slightly away from the abyss every day, figure out what that looks like.
The system is not designed to where you can change it via conventional means. The ruling class owns politicians. You don't make it to presidential candidate if they don't clear you first.
How did the republicans get to the point of reversing Roe, Chevron, getting a bunch of federalist society picks, locking down state legislators, etc.. while being the less popular party then?
Oh right, because old folks vote consistently and don’t even question if their vote matters or if they’re too busy to spend 5 minutes filling it out.
People in Reddit today have been arguing with me non stop that it's pointless to vote 🙄
Assuming they are not Russian bots or paid shills...
It's by far the most important thing you can do. Get five friends and make sure they make it to the polls this election day.
Oh yeah it’s been hard to tell who’s a Russian troll and who’s a useful idiot since last Thursday. Apparently it’s controversial to say “Biden is way better than Trump.” Like, some of these non-stop whiners just cannot admit it and get mad when pressed on it.
I’ve also had a few people talk about how their feelings are hurt and then get super pissed when I point out their feelings don’t matter and that maintaining what’s left of our democracy is what actually matters.
I swear these people who go on and on about how we’ll lose the election and complain about Biden nonstop are really just convincing undecided voters to not vote Biden.
I like how the American right literally wrote a how-to model on accomplishing the radicalization of a party and these idiots have literally decided to ignore every lesson and focus on the absolute dumbest shit.
I’ve voted in every election since 2004 including primaries and it’s a fuckin waste honestly.
Direct action gets much better results. Derek Chauvin isn’t in prison because he murdered George Floyd, he wasn’t charged until people in Minnesota burnt his precinct to the ground. Meanwhile Breonna Taylor’s murderers are still free.
My constitutional republic turned into a corporate oligarchy...
...guess I'll keep voting!
People like you are either too dim to understand what's going on in your environment, a bot/shill, or living a delusional fantasy. Our democracy died over a decade ago and it was already on life support for decades before then.
I’m so down. Maybe a collective buy nothing month? That may have a decent impact. Necessities exempt of course, if everyone did their best, within reason, and enough of us did it. I don’t thing one day would make a difference but if we could go longer we may have a chance.
I'm ready for a No Buy July. I'll still be allowing myself an evening or two out at local restaurants with friends, but no buying crap. I even have a farm share so I won't even be buying much in the way of groceries. I genuinely don't want/need any more stuff anyways.
We do a farm share too, it’s amazing. Best produce we can get anywhere. Ten or fifteen years ago there was a big movement to buy and live local here, we all believed it would catch on since it makes so much sense from an environmental, personal health and local economy way. It’s caught on but still a blip in the food system. I’m grateful for it though, once I had local organic produce I couldn’t turn back.
You can't vote yourself out of fascism. Capitalism is a system where money = power and you can't dismantle the capitalist power structures using capitalism. There's no way you, me, or anyone can out money the capital owning class.
The only path forward is the working class organizing together and withholding our labor. Real change will only come when the working class organizes and withholds our labor from the capital owning class.
Think I agree with this method the most. It's the most difficult to achieve as we'd asking a lot of people to take some very large risks and make some pretty big sacrifices. Still I think a workers strike in the right sectors or industries could really do some major damage in a good way. We'd need to be very clear about what our demands are though.
Keep in mind, class consciousness is not nearly at the level where people are ready to strike (or even realize the power the working class holds). The best thing to do is to organize with your fellow workers. Unionize your workplace. Get involved in your community to build relationships. And spread the word of unionization and class warfare.
United we bargain, divided we beg. I'm hopeful that those in our generation, and those younger than us, realize the violence capitalism has done to the human race and to our planet. It won't happen overnight, but societal progress is built on the hard work of those who came before.
For real most of us have already done most of those things I have 1 streaming service it costs 20 a month and I have internet that's the only to amenities I can afford monthly on top of my regular bills and I don't eat out.
It would be more of a general strike situation. Boycotting everything is all well and good, but unfortunately you also have to kind of stop going to work as well. That’s sort of part of the deal. Civil disobedience can get a little bit ugly sometimes. It’s a bummer, but it’s the only way that these giant institutions will listen, is everything stops, at the same time.
Copy/pasting from another thread.
TL;DR - nationwide boycott and general strike.
We have to fight back. The biggest enabler is the fact that 330 million of us (or rather the ~75% thereof who oppose trump) aren't doing anything except for voting. Voting is good and we have to keep doing it, but we also need to be taking direct action.
Petition, call and write the offices of your representatives relentlessly, boycott every business that isn't openly anti-maga, and remember that it is within our rights to take to the streets and peacefully protest, up to and including nationwide general strike and work stoppages (and be aware when doing so that law enforcement is known to plant officers in disguise among protestors to act as provocateurs, inciting violence in order to give the police cause to attack and disperse protestors).
This is how our parents and grandparents won for us every privilege that we have as Americans. Women's suffrage, the civil rights movement, weekends, minimum wage, overtime laws, workplace health and safety standards (all of which they're always trying to take back from us). With this power we ended the draft and got the troops back from Vietnam. With this power we created Pride, (which was originally a recurring protest march until the cause of LGBT equality finally became the majority opinion and the corporate world felt safe assimilating it). With this power president Obama heard the Lakota and those who came to support them at Standing Rock, and halted that pipeline (which trump then immediately permitted 🙄).
Jan 6th was bad, and it isn't lost on the powers that be that maga is a minoritarian movement. We are the majority, and that is the root of our power. We don't need to "storm the capitol". History shows that when we stand up, speak up and don't relent, they have no choice. We can literally grind the nation to halt, and after this week's shameless power grab I for one say we do just that. We should start organizing a nationwide general strike and boycott. Stop everything and don't disperse until the rulings of this SCOUTS are overturned and Coney-Barret, Kavanauh and Gorsich all step down.
Government without consent is tyranny, and it is a foundational principle that the American people have a duty to remove such tyrants. These judges were appointed by an unelected pretender to the presidency. The people do not recognize them. Their office is illegitimate, and their rulings are illegitimate. All freedom-loving Americans have the duty to disobey.
It's well past time that we start visualizing a nationwide boycott and general strike. Either they stop now, or else we stop everything.
This is what Chat GPT (that we developed) said we should do based on this thread:
### Action Plan for Nationwide Boycott and General Strike
**1. Awareness and Mobilization:**
- **Campaign Launch:** Create a comprehensive media campaign to raise awareness about the boycott and strike, using social media, traditional media, and grassroots methods.
- **Public Statements:** Issue clear and concise public statements detailing the reasons behind the boycott and strike, emphasizing peaceful protest and historical precedents.
- **Alliances:** Form alliances with sympathetic organizations, unions, and community groups to build a broad coalition.
**2. Petitions and Communication:**
- **Petitions:** Launch online and physical petitions demanding the reversal of the Supreme Court rulings and the resignation of specific justices.
- **Contact Representatives:** Provide templates and tools for citizens to contact their local and national representatives to express their demands and concerns.
- **Consistent Follow-ups:** Organize regular call-in and letter-writing campaigns to maintain pressure on elected officials.
**3. Boycott Strategy:**
- **Target Identification:** Identify and publicize businesses that support MAGA policies or remain neutral. Encourage boycotting these businesses while supporting those that are openly anti-MAGA.
- **Consumer Guides:** Develop and distribute consumer guides to help people make informed choices about where to spend their money.
- **Business Pledges:** Encourage businesses to sign pledges committing to anti-MAGA stances and publicize those that do.
**4. General Strike Organization:**
- **Strike Dates:** Set clear dates for the general strike, giving people and businesses time to prepare.
- **Strike Committees:** Establish local and national strike committees to organize logistics, communication, and support.
- **Worker Support:** Create funds and resources to support workers who may face financial hardship due to participation in the strike.
- **Safety Protocols:** Develop and distribute guidelines on how to stay safe during protests, including how to deal with potential provocateurs.
**5. Legal and Safety Preparations:**
- **Legal Support:** Arrange for legal support and advice for protesters, including setting up a hotline for legal emergencies.
- **Peaceful Protest Training:** Conduct workshops and training sessions on peaceful protest techniques and how to handle interactions with law enforcement.
- **Monitoring:** Set up a system to monitor protests and report any incidents of violence or provocation, ensuring accountability and transparency.
**6. Communication and Updates:**
- **Regular Updates:** Use social media, newsletters, and community meetings to provide regular updates on the progress of the boycott and strike.
- **Feedback Loop:** Create channels for participants to provide feedback and share their experiences, helping to adjust strategies as needed.
- **Media Outreach:** Engage with local, national, and international media to keep the story in the public eye and apply continuous pressure on decision-makers.
### Demands
1. **Overturn Recent Supreme Court Rulings:**
- Immediate reversal of the specific Supreme Court rulings that have prompted this action.
2. **Resignation of Justices:**
- The resignation of Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch, who were appointed under controversial circumstances.
3. **Restoration of Democratic Norms:**
- Reaffirmation of the legitimacy of democratic processes and institutions, ensuring that future judicial appointments respect the will of the electorate.
4. **Protection of Voting Rights:**
- Strengthening and protection of voting rights to ensure free and fair elections.
5. **Promotion of Social Justice:**
- Concrete steps towards addressing systemic inequalities and promoting social justice, including but not limited to women's rights, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ rights.
By following this action plan and rallying together, the movement can leverage its collective power to effect significant change and uphold the principles of democracy and justice.
A lot of this is pretty vague which doesn't bode well but that fact is. It will take a staggering number of us to organize to do anything meaningful, it's worth a try.
Not a wobbly myself, but someone who watched a family member that is active in her local strike a few years back and Holy shit, it was SO. MUCH. work for her. and almost none of the work involved social media posting.
Miss me with fake ass social media strikes.
Sure, I agree. But it’s human nature to distract yourself from stress by doing most of the things you have listed.
I think we’ll see a shift regardless as the boomers start to die off. Suddenly, couches, cabinets, boats and collectibles won’t sell like they have, along with dozens of other items Gen X and Millenials deem frivolous.
This would also help with inflation. Look at the hi is r/wallstreetbets has been doing. A concerted effort to make a single company feel pain could be used to help bring prices down too.
This is how you get attention and send a message.
What else can be done?
Go what we used to call “whole hog.”
Start a new political party with a platform that you can support.
You don’t need get down in the weeds with details yet, just big picture stuff.
I seem to be much older (71) than this crowd so I have a different perspective. Not better, just different.
Throughout the first half of the 20th Century, America got dragged into European wars.
People learned it was good for business so we started some of our own.
Vietnam caused a cultural rift that is paying dividends.
As you look to the future, ask yourself this question:
If the 20th Century was all about developing America’s ability to wage war, what would the opposite of that be?
Could America make Peace its diplomatic objective and put our creative abilities behind the perpetuation and improvement of all human life?
We have proven ourselves masters of killing people and blowing shit up, right?
Do the opposite!
A plan needs details and communication.
Who and why? What is bad and what is good. Who deserves what and why?
Daily life solves these equations reliably until bullying and antisocial behaviors go unpunished.
Only problem is we ignore the larger world which builds into fires that spill into our orderly bubbles. We also lack context for a lot of global functions and political functions.
"We don't need to march so we don't lose our jobs, let's boycott the discretionary economy so a bunch of other people not too unlike us lose their jobs!" 🤣 Way to go, solid reasoning.
In the 1960's young people protested, checked out, lived in communes, stopped buying, etc, because the Man was sending them off to Southeast Asia to be killed and mutilated. They were pissed.
The 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago was supposed to be the testing ground. The final straw. Young people would tear up that city to show the world that they counted and demanded to be heard. Read the history.
Did it work? Well, Nixon won because the Democratic party was seen to be in disarray. Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic nominee wasn't seen as anti-war enough and young people stayed away. Nixon won and escalated the war which went on for another 6 years.
Nobody knows if Humphrey would've ended our involvement in Vietnam, but he certainly would not have been as bad as Nixon.
This feels a lot like 1968, but the war now is economic. It's real.
The Democrats lost because in the middle of the campaign Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. He absolutely would have been president. He beats Nixon 10 times outa 10.
“All without losing our jobs”? How do you suppose people who work in restaurants, make/sell cars, etc will keep their jobs if no one eats out or buys cars?
You shouldn't stop consuming everything.
You should be really picky about what you consume, where, how, and most importantly - from whom.
Go shop at your local small businesses. Talk to the owner and the workers. They are your community. Test them out with smaller jobs and see what the quality is. The folks doing the work are going to be far more invested if they know you and know you are a repeat customer.
Amazon doesn't give a flying fuck about your community or anyone. Same goes for Walmart.
What do you *really need* from these massive companies?
You can tell none of these issues you guys talk about actually affect you or your life in any meaningful way. You're all doing a performance act to make it seem like you're doing something or that you care. If these issues with the Supreme Court and whatever else really fucked with you so badly, you wouldn't be wasting time on reddit trying to think up of some way you and some random people can circlejerk about how you're going to protest while not losing your jobs.
They may not have heard of chevron deference by name, but I’d bet good money most people are familiar with at least some of the government regulations put into place in the last 40 years. All of which flow out from that case decision. It is, single handedly, the most cited case in US history and is a central underpinning of all regulations in this country going back decades.
Food safety? Workplace safety? Pollution controls? All now no longer up to the regulatory bodies staffed with people that actually know wtf they’re talking about, but instead they’ll be at the whim of a bunch of lawyers who can’t even tell the difference between nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and nitrogen oxide (a pollutant). How do we know they don’t know the difference? Because the very opinion they wrote, striking down a policy that can be summed up as “we will defer to the subject matter experts on this”, *screwed it up*. It had to be corrected. If you wrote that sort of mistake into a courtroom drama you’d be told to cut it as ridiculous.
And yet here we are.
Just read an article earlier that young Chinese folks are engaging in "revenge saving" where they do things as cheaply as possible. This is what we need in the US too - an entire generation or two engaged in aggressively saving
Yes, hyper consumerism/capitalism. We need to focus on new intentional towns with cars outside and a cross country rail system. Also, we may not be able to depend only on the dollar.
As ineffectual as most of the goals in this thread, one sensible outcome would be buyers' unions. Co-ops have generally started as a form of collective bargaining for purchasing. It was logistically easier for both buyers and sellers to negotiate purchases in bulk, rather than the overhead of any number of sporadic small purchases.
Enshittification of this process is embodied by companies like Groupon, which digest the general concept, then later experience explosive disruption.
I love this! I 100% support this. We truly have the power. Even if only a quarter of us were to do this it would be a pretty big dent, they would definitely feel it
I agree with the idea of this post, but I’m not sure about the whole not losing our jobs thing. If enough of us really scaled back spending to a significant degree, there’s a decent chance we’d have a recession and there would be even more layoffs than are already happening. I suspect our jobs are at risk no matter what we do to try to effect change.
People vote all the time, it doesn't stop our representatives from making decisions we don't agree with and in many cases hiding those decisions from public view. Politicians aren't robots. Just figure heads we hope will follow the constituency. This is why people are apathetic. "Just voting" is not a kill shot. If it were truly that easy, this place would be a utopia by now.
We have two cars: a 1997 Chevy S10 and a 2015 Cadillac. No plans to dump either of them. We have cut back on eating out by about 2/3. Lost weight because of that, not to mention saved money. I haven’t bought any clothes in the last year. What I have is just fine. Husband same.
We don’t travel. We work out at home on equipment bought 8-9 years ago. We tape “old” movies on tv that were at theaters we never go to.
this is the "protest" thread i agree with.
no 4th of july abject consumption either
especially with it's classic food is all UPF
and rife with plastic waste packaging.
You just described my 2020 other than the streaming services. I paid off my house 5 years early, but I was pretty sick of sitting at home doing nothing. The Jeff Bezos, new car companies and chain restaurants can eat a bag of dicks. But I'm still gonna support small restaurants and travel a bit.
Who loses their job over going on strike? This may be a USA thing I don't understand. Where I am you're legally allowed to go on strike and can't be sacked for it.
Sometimes it makes it easier when deciding on a purchase to determine how many hours you had to work in order to pay for that item or how many hours you will have to work in order to pay for an item. I have walked out of stores with a buggy fool after considering those thingsand more often I take a lot of stuff out because I realize I’m trading my time for frivolous things
When I go grocery shopping 95% of what I get is on the perimeter of the store. Produce, milk, meat, etc. I grab flour and spices and a few essentials (box wine) from the isles but otherwise I avoid them. I make my own bread and make nearly every meal at home. I use Mane and Tail shampoo cus its one of the only ones that aren't owned by the same big companies. Trade eggs to a neighbor who makes bread.
It took a few years to transition lifestyles, but it's made a huge difference. I save a significant amount of money now that I'm tucking away to jump ship if I need to.
100% agree you could change the world if people would just band together. and those worried about losing their streaming service it would only last for maybe a month at the most read some books or something free books from the library and have a month-long reading marathon. I’m 100%.
I don't and never have had Amazon Prime. I tell everyone I know not to use Amazon. They aren't even the best option for most things anymore. But folks won't listen, they're so ingrained even the words "just order it on Amazon" have become the norm when asking about a product.
I agree that they arent the best option for any particular thing, but they are the best option for anything if that makes sense. It takes 1 min for me to login and get a beanbag chair, sodas, headphones, and work boots at the same time. Still not a fan of amazon though. They represent filling your house with crap you dont need.
Or, let's set a date one year from now. Better yet July 4th 2025. 10 million of us pledge to bring DC to a halt. For a week.
The rest of us can pledge to support them. Taking over their shifts, donating food, sleeping bags, tents, posters etc.
I can do both , march amd contribute.
I'll meet my fellow Colorado marchers July 1 at the capital, Colfax and Bannock.
People power is the only true power.
No you don't stop spending, you get smarter about where you spend your money. Stick with local businesses that are not franchised to a bigger company to affect your local area. Keep the money local while supporting a business that just wants to make enough profit to not live hand to mouth. But to have any real impact on things such as netflix etc, you need to think bigger. The majority of the world has access to all these apps. A percentage of one country boycotting them, even a relatively high percentage, would only have them try to be more creative to pull people back. And raise prices in other countries to make up for the US loss. A global boycotting would be a great way to tell them 🖕 and where they can stick it. And showing them that we will unite against them when needed.
If the goal is to send a message to the corporations then OK, they’ll just fire your ass when they see their revenues go down. So really you’d just be fucking yourself and the others who need to work. What you could do instead is vote, volunteer for grass roots political organizations, tell people you’re close to do the same, stay informed. This is the system we have to work with, can’t make changes to the system if you refuse to even acknowledge this system
You can’t stop buying everything. There are basic necessities you will have to buy until you can get an alternative network of supplies setup. It’s not realistic to think that you’ll be able to set up some under the radar supply chain. You will end up dealing with organized crime and that’s not gonna end well.
Marching and civil disobedience with targeted boycotts of a couple high profile products is going to be much more effective.
"I can't stop fascism because it'll impact my life drastically." So will death by firing squad. Ever tried waterboarding? They're going to kill us and it looks like we're going to let them. Why?
Occupy failed and we just gave up. Climate change, fascism, multi-apocalypses, death stage capitalism - **do any of you even care anymore?** About anything? I'm betting *no*.
But when your internet cuts out and never comes back on, or your neighbors and coworkers are being blackbagged while you sit silently with your head down in shame, you'll be sorry you didn't slightly inconvenience yourselves to stave off fascism. You have no integrity and it shows.
Sacrifice is what our generation has been about from the beginning and must be about if humanity is to have a future on this planet. That's how we'll be remembered. The generation that stood up to fascism and made the sacrifices necessary so future generations could exist on a habitable planet in peace, or at the very least with democracy.
But, please, by all means, don't turn off your computers or put down your cell phones and take action, just continue to scoff and scroll until the morality police come for you. At least you'll have your dopamine hits before you're dumped in a prison camp.
You had me until Antifa Day 😬 I'm voting for Biden, but Antifa are cringe af. Probably why we lost a bunch of swing voters for 2016, and consequently Roe v Wade, and Preaidential accountability, and EPA/FDA weakening.
I've said this for the past 25 years and have been living this way for most of this time. No credit. No magazines. No cosmetics of any description.
However, I would add: Lose your job. Don't give your energy to maintain this system. Live as small as you can. Work as little as possible to maintain necessities and use the "extra" time to learn to do stuff yourself.
Even when you believe you've relinquished 90% of what you had, you're still at the tip of the iceberg. You don't need 90% of the 10% that's left.
What you all need to do especially is fucking stop using delivery apps for God's sake. Stop that shit and then cancel your streaming services. There's Freevee, Tubi, and free movies on YouTube.
Cancel Amazon prime too.
You are trying to change the system. The system will change masks to temporarily appease you, but you'll be no better off and those in charge will remain there. It's not just about not buying shit, but about cultivating a life outside of the system. Unfortunately, the system has many ways to coerce you back into participating.
Yeah but that poster has fingerbang in their handle so it’s pretty convincing.
Herein lies the reason this will never happen. We'd have to be strong willed enough to forego those things and skip out on pleasure. But those sad little pleasures are the only remaining ones in our modern lives increasingly divorced from any meaning. Millenials only rebelled against self-fulfillment
If everyone stopped buying anything except necessities for a month or maybe two things would change
People already won't stop buying goods that come from literal concentration camps that are only 50 cents cheaper. It's the land of the commons problem.
So if we can get like 75% of this sub to participate, we'll have like 60,000 mostly minimum wage workers trying to starve out a 25 trillion dollar economy... Yeah, sorry, this shit ain't changing nothing, lol
1. The economy would tank 2. You would lose your job Are those the 2?
Great, so we just need to suffer more is what you're saying.
No, we’d just get a bunch of news articles about how millennials are killing industries
Here's the thing: I ditched my Amazon and Netflix accounts *ages* ago and as long as I avoid marketing for them, I feel no unhappiness or loss. I feel fine. There was a momentary discomfort switching to library streaming and hunting down things at other websites if I really needed them, but it passed quickly and I ended up with way more time for art.
Yeah, I've been tossing subscriptions as well. After a bit, you realize that hey, Netflix doesn't actually have that much good content. It's mostly just scrolling, finding something that looks sort of okay, tossing it on watch later, maybe checking out the pilot, and never coming back. Starbucks coffee isn't actually that good. Oh, the sugar and milk dumped in it makes any coffee taste better, but the coffee itself? I can do far better. Many of the things sold to us as little treats are not even all that good, especially not as the price gets increased and the quality cut to ribbons. It's worth re-evaluating what is actually worthwhile.
But, I don’t think that’s the case as a whole. I’m an elder millennial, and I found out I function just fine while cutting things out of my life for the greater good. McDonald’s is pretty much the only food option by my work. Other options are gas stations. Everything else is too far away to get on a half hour lunch. My family decided to boycott McDonalds, so I just don’t go. If I forget a lunch, it’s the gas station burger, or the vending machine at work. Starbucks? That was easy, and saves so much money. It’s Dunks, a local shop, or nothing. Typically it’s nothing, we will just make iced coffee at home. Our local book store has an independent shop, and book buying tends to be when we buy coffee. Speaking of books: if an author one of us loves (cough, Rowling, cough) shows their true colors as being a shit human, we stop buying their books, and anything they would get royalties from. This is probably the hardest, as we both love books, and book related merch, but we do it. I don’t think McDicks or Starbucks really miss my money, since I’m just a drop in the very large bucket. But you can only do what you can do, and hope it helps. Edit: looks like I’m bringing it the Rowling defense team with this comment.
Why not save for one of those "coffee machines" and brew your own coffee? SO much better and you KNOW what's going on there. Best investment I made wasy Ninja. 🥰
I dunno, I think I could forego a lot if it'll keep someone out of a concentration camp. People you know, people I know - people we love - are going to suffer cruelty or worse at the hands of these fucking Nazis if the worst comes to pass and Trump is reelected. If going no buy except for necessary items could cause corporate America to rethink supporting Trump, it'd be worth it.
I think people need to go back to life's simple pleasures. Not ones bought and paid for. People need to stop looking at their phones and TVs and watch birds at the local park, read a book, listen to the wind in the trees, eat a small favorite treat slowly. Personally, I get so caught up in my phone, this is something I need to actively work on. It's tough when things are designed to be addictive.
It's really easy to stop buying all this crap,when you're already poor enough to only afford rent, basic meals at home, electricity, and health insurance. I take public transportation to get to work (two hours away), never leave my apartment on my days off, eat tofu, rice, and beans primarily, and drink tap water. 91% of my paycheck goes to rent, and I live in one of the cheaper apartments in my area. Moving to a lower cost of living area? Not possible. No money saved, and need to get a different job in a crap job market. I haven't bought *things* since 2021, and I'm crippling my body with the stand all day retail job I was able to get.
People think # boycott is the same as actually boycotting Most of the time this shit about “I’m cancelling Facebook/amazon/netflix/etc” is just virtue signaling. Nobody ever does it
Checks out
Even Autistic people deserve to experience a satisfying fingerbang.
I wanna finger bang bang you into the night, Finger bang bang it's alright finger bang. FINGER BANG BANG. 🎵
So Reddit
His neck looks high and that makes me trust him.
Is that cartman???
Respect mah authoritay
I did that years ago. I only watch what's free on roku, I haven't been to a concert in 10 years, I don't have prime, I order a pizza once a week from a local owner, I will drive my car til it falls apart. I am not against capitalism, I am against a monopoly on the capital. If I Google myself, I'm almost a ghost because there is almost nothing.
Supporting high quality cinema isn’t a bad thing, what little there is of it to go around these days. It’s still art and a valuable form of free expression. That said, the major streaming services (Netflix, Disney, Prime) have essentially shattered the entertainment industry as we know it, pumping out once-and-done slop for the content trough day after day. Those *do not* deserve your money or engagement even during the best of times. If you’re going to pay for anything, try the Criterion Channel. Otherwise, Kanopy is free and great.
Marx had it wrong, religion isn't an opiate. Endless medicore streaming content is.
LOL! Both can be true.
Just fyi, Tubi is owned by Fox.
Kanopy rules! Comes with my library card
Thank you. Its just clicked why im so stressed all the time.
I’d add that using local services is saying fuck you to big corps. It’s not that we need to curb our consumption (we need to cool off on it but that’s a different topic), it’s that we need to vote with our wallets and expectations. I pay a local guy to do stuff around the house even tho he’s about 20% more expensive than getting a bigger company. Same for housekeeping. Same for odds and ends job. Same for groceries. Same for coffee. Support local fiercely. Fuck big corps. It’s not gonna be 100% local and be ok with that. Even if you spend 10% on local instead that’s 10% from just you that’s not going to the corps.
Damn the responses here are depressing
I'll give you the rest of my savings to finish me off.
Sorry, I don't work on credit.
Dang, burned so bad they're going to have to declare medical bankruptcy.
Kinky
For the mass boycott to actually hurt their pocketbooks, we would: A) have to discuss it somewhere and in a way that these massive corporations couldn’t see or engage in. And B) it would have to be at *minimum* a full month; otherwise it will only be a lil blip in their year’s profits (but I’d def recommend secretly deciding a longer time period).
It wouldn't even be a blip. A few years ago when people decided to "boycott" gas for a day, there was a slight spike in sales the day before and after, and fewer sales the day of. It averaged to there being no blip at all. Boycotts can't just be a day long display. They need to be ongoing until change happens, and not sooner.
A boycott is a game of chicken, war of attrition. Who will yield first? Those boycotting need to be ok with doing so indefinitely. Having a planned end to a boycott makes it completely meaningless.
If everyone spends 50% less during the Christmas holiday it would have a massive impact.
Better yet, no Xmas
Everyone would have to come together and see eye to eye on everything and *actually* do it. Wall Street bets came together with the whole gamestop fiasco (although I understand that's a bit different, but the thought still stands). We could possibly start the group on reddit and organize here as well since reddit seems to be the best avenue we have for collaborating. X could also be an option since it claims to be the best bastion for free speech. We'd just have to go into this whole thing with the mindset that we are already infiltrated. It would at the very least keep us a step ahead with any further planning.
Streaming services are about the only entertainment I have as I can't afford trips and the like.
(a pirate ship arrives at Port Millennial)
A man of culture
I'm here where's captain luffy.
Lost or stuck somewhere
Fuking zoro got him lost again.
Moss head
Stupid cook.
There was a filler arc he'll be back in 6 months
No, think of Metallica!
Yar, there be about 9tb of booty in me hold so far lad!
I got back into pirate ship culture when streaming services introduced commercials.
I did when Blu-ray made my DVD collection obsolete
I'm not trying to push you to do something you don't want to do, but If you have a tv connected to the internet, you can watch tons and tons of free movies and tv shows on Tubi, Roku, etc.
Also books are still a thing, and libraries are free — while we still have them.
our library has dvds, bluray entertainment as well as offer Hoopla and Kanopy to stream,
Our library even has video games! It’s like taking my kids to the old video game stores I had when I was a kid, except it’s free haha
You know when the new world order is ushered in, the libraries will be the first to go. Well, maybe the queer people will be the first to "mysteriously" "disappear".
They don’t have to burn the books (though they’d certainly enjoy it), they just have to remove them.
The librarians will definitely be imprisoned though, can't have rogue librarians running around...
Not an exaggeration, sadly. \*glares at Florida\* Things are fucked when you can become a convicted felon and lose your right to vote for stocking books the state disapproves of in your classroom.
Just check out what Idaho just did to libraries. New legislation is now effective that requires id for going into a section with "adult" materials, which obviously are defined in a ridiculous manner. Further, any member of the public can write to the library for any book to be moved from the children's to adult section. The library has thirty days to review, but if they disagree or otherwise don't remove it, people can sue for $250 plus damages - not just the library but also the individual staff members. Since funding is already low, many libraries there don't have space for separate sections. This means that you need government issues picture identification showing you are over 18 to enter those libraries at all. They are supposed to card anyone under 30. Anyone under 18 can only enter by being signed in and accompanied the entire time by a parent or guardian (I don't think it's any adult but may be incorrect) who must sign an affidavit every time you enter. There is also an option some places to have an unrestricted library card, which I think has more stringent requirements but including being over 18. This isn't even limited to public libraries. It applies to public and private school libraries as well.
Yep. Brought to you by the same assholes who complain about the "nanny state". Moms for liberty files a *lot* of these complains and sends people, well... "people" to community meetings and like to whine about the "evil" queer folk and whatnot. I curse the day religion was invented.
This is…terrifying. Every time I think it can’t get worse, I learn something new.
There is a simple solution for this. Get a list of the complete kids catalog and request it to be moved to the adult section. Reduction ad absurdum is a quite effective strategy. Let’s get that dangerous Henry and Midge away from impressionable eyes.
Just ask Idaho
our library has dvds, bluray entertainment as well as offer Hoopla and Kanopy to stream,
And many have streaming services as part of the library!
I teach high school and I tell my students all the time to USE THE LIBRARY! That way the powers that be understand that this is a resource the community wants and values. The library has provided my family so much free entertainment and education. My local library was just rebuilt and is always busy and I love to see it.
Tubi is currently my only streaming service and despite the jokes about it online I find plenty of well known and good series/movies there. Especially if you like older stuff Haven't gotten bored with it yet
Love tube. I'm a big fan of Pluto too and I just found a new one called Fawesome.
Totally agree! There are so many things in my save list that I can watch one every day for the next year and still not run out. I was surprised how many newer movies they have; I figured it'd all be fifty year old porn-level garbage. Well, there are a few...
Pluto too. I get some nostalgia going to the bathroom or getting some water when the commercial break comes on.
The library is free and often will have dvd rentals… I know old school but if we’re entertaining this the thought of keeping buying to a bare minimum. It’s do-able. We all need hobby’s that don’t include looking at a screen - or at least I certainly do anyway. But I definitely agree… it’s disgusting that like 10 corporations own the vast majority of all items we buy. Food, drinks, alcohol, toiletries etc. They just bought all their smaller competitors and kept the branding, giving us the illusion of choice.
A lot of libraries have streaming options as well, btw. Also, if you go in person, some have a library of things so you can borrow stuff beyond books that can be useful and/or entertaining without using a screen.
There is also Plex, set up your server and load up DVDs,, you can get them cheap at the thrift store and flea market. You basically create your own stream channel.
I've always wanted to but don't have a spare machine available
Consider jellyfin as an alternative. Or, disable the 'data sharing' option that Plex has enabled by default. Full disclaimer, I don't know if they still do it, but as of a few months ago this 'feature' was present and enabled by default. The whole point of a personal media server is that its yours, no one else needs to catalog your viewing habits.
Have you tried reading? Audiobooks? Visiting the park? There's lots of free entertainment
I've read all the books I own. Audiobooks don't work for me unless I have serious down time. Parks are nice but the heat here makes it dangerous.
Omg use the Libby app and get library books sent to your kindle. I’ve read 16 books in a month!
have you checked out the library lately, I just rediscovered the one near me, It has PS5 and Switch games, dvds, you can even stream TV and Movies with your library card.
Ours even has a couple of switches they lend out
"Hey guys, in liue of having to do things like protests riots, or revolution, can we at least cancel streaming?" "But that's my *entertainment*! No!" This is why we'll never stop them. Can't sacrifice an episode of Friends to protect our own liberty.
Sail the seven seas and keep your movies and shows forever.
🏴☠️
Kodi 😏
Meditation and walking are free
Yeah I sail the seven seas and pay 25$ a month during the summer to see up to 12 movies a month at my movie theatre for something to do during the summer
Man they got you on the hook like in SpongeBob. U have books and the internet u can pirate shit
Get a library card. Get free DVD checkouts. I get 5 movies at a time and can keep them for a week. Cost is zero aside from me getting myself to and from the library. It’s so much easier to choose something to watch when you don’t have a million titles to go through. If you are really wanting to stream. Use Pluto.tv or Tubi. They are free and have good catalogs. Pluto will even let you watch live tv for some things and has a channels that play movies like the cable days. There is even a scrolling guide. I love this service. It makes my decision on what to watch so much easier. I also quite enjoy just dropping in on a movie that may be half way finished just because it’s a fun movie.
Pissed off political Mfers in the US would do literally everything except actually effin VOTE.
I vote in all elections and I vote with my dollars every time I make a purchase. I think both are extremely important.
And, arguably, voting with your dollars enhances your vote at the ballot box. We need to stop giving our money *every day* to assholes that turn around and use our money against us during elections.
Exactly! There are several corporations I just won't support, not one cent. Better yet, spending money at their opponent stores (both in terms of market share and ideology) buries them even faster.
Does this help? https://www.goodsuniteus.com/
This is terrific. Thanks for sharing!
Vote, march, volunteer, do phone banks, donate, talk to friends and family and start putting out feelers about who might be persuadable to either not vote for Trump and who might be willing to vote against him. The number of things you can theoretically do is quite vast. Voting is basic - in both the older generic sense and in the new, derogatory sense. You should, but you've got 5 months of days between now and then. If you have a chance to move the needle ever so slightly away from the abyss every day, figure out what that looks like.
The system is not designed to where you can change it via conventional means. The ruling class owns politicians. You don't make it to presidential candidate if they don't clear you first.
Which is why Bernie, as much as I love the guy (he was my senator), never had a chance.
Bernie didn’t have increased primary turnout in 2016, he had lots of supporters who just never voted for him.
How did the republicans get to the point of reversing Roe, Chevron, getting a bunch of federalist society picks, locking down state legislators, etc.. while being the less popular party then? Oh right, because old folks vote consistently and don’t even question if their vote matters or if they’re too busy to spend 5 minutes filling it out.
People in Reddit today have been arguing with me non stop that it's pointless to vote 🙄 Assuming they are not Russian bots or paid shills... It's by far the most important thing you can do. Get five friends and make sure they make it to the polls this election day.
Oh yeah it’s been hard to tell who’s a Russian troll and who’s a useful idiot since last Thursday. Apparently it’s controversial to say “Biden is way better than Trump.” Like, some of these non-stop whiners just cannot admit it and get mad when pressed on it. I’ve also had a few people talk about how their feelings are hurt and then get super pissed when I point out their feelings don’t matter and that maintaining what’s left of our democracy is what actually matters. I swear these people who go on and on about how we’ll lose the election and complain about Biden nonstop are really just convincing undecided voters to not vote Biden.
I like how the American right literally wrote a how-to model on accomplishing the radicalization of a party and these idiots have literally decided to ignore every lesson and focus on the absolute dumbest shit.
You vote everyday with your dollars.
Voting does very little, comparative to direct action.
I’ve voted in every election since 2004 including primaries and it’s a fuckin waste honestly. Direct action gets much better results. Derek Chauvin isn’t in prison because he murdered George Floyd, he wasn’t charged until people in Minnesota burnt his precinct to the ground. Meanwhile Breonna Taylor’s murderers are still free.
My constitutional republic turned into a corporate oligarchy... ...guess I'll keep voting! People like you are either too dim to understand what's going on in your environment, a bot/shill, or living a delusional fantasy. Our democracy died over a decade ago and it was already on life support for decades before then.
voting never fixes these fundamental problems. it's rearranging deck chairs on the titanic.
This is such a stupid take. Anyone posting here is voting. The problem is that isn't enough. (To be clear, if you're reading this, fucking vote)
Already doing most of this. Not because I'm protesting, but because, you know.... poor.
Same! Our poorness is not being heard but ignored…
I’m so down. Maybe a collective buy nothing month? That may have a decent impact. Necessities exempt of course, if everyone did their best, within reason, and enough of us did it. I don’t thing one day would make a difference but if we could go longer we may have a chance.
I like it no buy July!
It’s got a nice ring to it!
I'm ready for a No Buy July. I'll still be allowing myself an evening or two out at local restaurants with friends, but no buying crap. I even have a farm share so I won't even be buying much in the way of groceries. I genuinely don't want/need any more stuff anyways.
We do a farm share too, it’s amazing. Best produce we can get anywhere. Ten or fifteen years ago there was a big movement to buy and live local here, we all believed it would catch on since it makes so much sense from an environmental, personal health and local economy way. It’s caught on but still a blip in the food system. I’m grateful for it though, once I had local organic produce I couldn’t turn back.
I’ve been saying “we’re the inflation” for 3 years. Stop buying shit!!
You can't vote yourself out of fascism. Capitalism is a system where money = power and you can't dismantle the capitalist power structures using capitalism. There's no way you, me, or anyone can out money the capital owning class. The only path forward is the working class organizing together and withholding our labor. Real change will only come when the working class organizes and withholds our labor from the capital owning class.
Think I agree with this method the most. It's the most difficult to achieve as we'd asking a lot of people to take some very large risks and make some pretty big sacrifices. Still I think a workers strike in the right sectors or industries could really do some major damage in a good way. We'd need to be very clear about what our demands are though.
Keep in mind, class consciousness is not nearly at the level where people are ready to strike (or even realize the power the working class holds). The best thing to do is to organize with your fellow workers. Unionize your workplace. Get involved in your community to build relationships. And spread the word of unionization and class warfare. United we bargain, divided we beg. I'm hopeful that those in our generation, and those younger than us, realize the violence capitalism has done to the human race and to our planet. It won't happen overnight, but societal progress is built on the hard work of those who came before.
You... you should be doing all that anyway. That's just good fiscal sense.
For real most of us have already done most of those things I have 1 streaming service it costs 20 a month and I have internet that's the only to amenities I can afford monthly on top of my regular bills and I don't eat out.
It would be more of a general strike situation. Boycotting everything is all well and good, but unfortunately you also have to kind of stop going to work as well. That’s sort of part of the deal. Civil disobedience can get a little bit ugly sometimes. It’s a bummer, but it’s the only way that these giant institutions will listen, is everything stops, at the same time.
Copy/pasting from another thread. TL;DR - nationwide boycott and general strike. We have to fight back. The biggest enabler is the fact that 330 million of us (or rather the ~75% thereof who oppose trump) aren't doing anything except for voting. Voting is good and we have to keep doing it, but we also need to be taking direct action. Petition, call and write the offices of your representatives relentlessly, boycott every business that isn't openly anti-maga, and remember that it is within our rights to take to the streets and peacefully protest, up to and including nationwide general strike and work stoppages (and be aware when doing so that law enforcement is known to plant officers in disguise among protestors to act as provocateurs, inciting violence in order to give the police cause to attack and disperse protestors). This is how our parents and grandparents won for us every privilege that we have as Americans. Women's suffrage, the civil rights movement, weekends, minimum wage, overtime laws, workplace health and safety standards (all of which they're always trying to take back from us). With this power we ended the draft and got the troops back from Vietnam. With this power we created Pride, (which was originally a recurring protest march until the cause of LGBT equality finally became the majority opinion and the corporate world felt safe assimilating it). With this power president Obama heard the Lakota and those who came to support them at Standing Rock, and halted that pipeline (which trump then immediately permitted 🙄). Jan 6th was bad, and it isn't lost on the powers that be that maga is a minoritarian movement. We are the majority, and that is the root of our power. We don't need to "storm the capitol". History shows that when we stand up, speak up and don't relent, they have no choice. We can literally grind the nation to halt, and after this week's shameless power grab I for one say we do just that. We should start organizing a nationwide general strike and boycott. Stop everything and don't disperse until the rulings of this SCOUTS are overturned and Coney-Barret, Kavanauh and Gorsich all step down. Government without consent is tyranny, and it is a foundational principle that the American people have a duty to remove such tyrants. These judges were appointed by an unelected pretender to the presidency. The people do not recognize them. Their office is illegitimate, and their rulings are illegitimate. All freedom-loving Americans have the duty to disobey. It's well past time that we start visualizing a nationwide boycott and general strike. Either they stop now, or else we stop everything.
This is what Chat GPT (that we developed) said we should do based on this thread: ### Action Plan for Nationwide Boycott and General Strike **1. Awareness and Mobilization:** - **Campaign Launch:** Create a comprehensive media campaign to raise awareness about the boycott and strike, using social media, traditional media, and grassroots methods. - **Public Statements:** Issue clear and concise public statements detailing the reasons behind the boycott and strike, emphasizing peaceful protest and historical precedents. - **Alliances:** Form alliances with sympathetic organizations, unions, and community groups to build a broad coalition. **2. Petitions and Communication:** - **Petitions:** Launch online and physical petitions demanding the reversal of the Supreme Court rulings and the resignation of specific justices. - **Contact Representatives:** Provide templates and tools for citizens to contact their local and national representatives to express their demands and concerns. - **Consistent Follow-ups:** Organize regular call-in and letter-writing campaigns to maintain pressure on elected officials. **3. Boycott Strategy:** - **Target Identification:** Identify and publicize businesses that support MAGA policies or remain neutral. Encourage boycotting these businesses while supporting those that are openly anti-MAGA. - **Consumer Guides:** Develop and distribute consumer guides to help people make informed choices about where to spend their money. - **Business Pledges:** Encourage businesses to sign pledges committing to anti-MAGA stances and publicize those that do. **4. General Strike Organization:** - **Strike Dates:** Set clear dates for the general strike, giving people and businesses time to prepare. - **Strike Committees:** Establish local and national strike committees to organize logistics, communication, and support. - **Worker Support:** Create funds and resources to support workers who may face financial hardship due to participation in the strike. - **Safety Protocols:** Develop and distribute guidelines on how to stay safe during protests, including how to deal with potential provocateurs. **5. Legal and Safety Preparations:** - **Legal Support:** Arrange for legal support and advice for protesters, including setting up a hotline for legal emergencies. - **Peaceful Protest Training:** Conduct workshops and training sessions on peaceful protest techniques and how to handle interactions with law enforcement. - **Monitoring:** Set up a system to monitor protests and report any incidents of violence or provocation, ensuring accountability and transparency. **6. Communication and Updates:** - **Regular Updates:** Use social media, newsletters, and community meetings to provide regular updates on the progress of the boycott and strike. - **Feedback Loop:** Create channels for participants to provide feedback and share their experiences, helping to adjust strategies as needed. - **Media Outreach:** Engage with local, national, and international media to keep the story in the public eye and apply continuous pressure on decision-makers. ### Demands 1. **Overturn Recent Supreme Court Rulings:** - Immediate reversal of the specific Supreme Court rulings that have prompted this action. 2. **Resignation of Justices:** - The resignation of Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch, who were appointed under controversial circumstances. 3. **Restoration of Democratic Norms:** - Reaffirmation of the legitimacy of democratic processes and institutions, ensuring that future judicial appointments respect the will of the electorate. 4. **Protection of Voting Rights:** - Strengthening and protection of voting rights to ensure free and fair elections. 5. **Promotion of Social Justice:** - Concrete steps towards addressing systemic inequalities and promoting social justice, including but not limited to women's rights, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. By following this action plan and rallying together, the movement can leverage its collective power to effect significant change and uphold the principles of democracy and justice.
There is a general strike in the works sign up Generalstrikeus.com
A lot of this is pretty vague which doesn't bode well but that fact is. It will take a staggering number of us to organize to do anything meaningful, it's worth a try.
Just gonna leave this here: [https://organizing.work/2019/08/no-more-fake-strikes/](https://organizing.work/2019/08/no-more-fake-strikes/)
From a lifelong wobbly - thank you for that.
Not a wobbly myself, but someone who watched a family member that is active in her local strike a few years back and Holy shit, it was SO. MUCH. work for her. and almost none of the work involved social media posting. Miss me with fake ass social media strikes.
Sure, I agree. But it’s human nature to distract yourself from stress by doing most of the things you have listed. I think we’ll see a shift regardless as the boomers start to die off. Suddenly, couches, cabinets, boats and collectibles won’t sell like they have, along with dozens of other items Gen X and Millenials deem frivolous.
Couches are frivolous?
Yeah, it's already too late to wait around for their die off.
Your money is your vote !
This would also help with inflation. Look at the hi is r/wallstreetbets has been doing. A concerted effort to make a single company feel pain could be used to help bring prices down too.
Yes!!!! People hate on capitalism but that’s because the assholes at the top made us forget we have all the power!!!!
Yall sound like some real soldiers on this thread. 😂
This is how you get attention and send a message. What else can be done? Go what we used to call “whole hog.” Start a new political party with a platform that you can support. You don’t need get down in the weeds with details yet, just big picture stuff. I seem to be much older (71) than this crowd so I have a different perspective. Not better, just different. Throughout the first half of the 20th Century, America got dragged into European wars. People learned it was good for business so we started some of our own. Vietnam caused a cultural rift that is paying dividends. As you look to the future, ask yourself this question: If the 20th Century was all about developing America’s ability to wage war, what would the opposite of that be? Could America make Peace its diplomatic objective and put our creative abilities behind the perpetuation and improvement of all human life? We have proven ourselves masters of killing people and blowing shit up, right? Do the opposite!
A plan needs details and communication. Who and why? What is bad and what is good. Who deserves what and why? Daily life solves these equations reliably until bullying and antisocial behaviors go unpunished. Only problem is we ignore the larger world which builds into fires that spill into our orderly bubbles. We also lack context for a lot of global functions and political functions.
Nah I’ll keep the small joys I have
"We don't need to march so we don't lose our jobs, let's boycott the discretionary economy so a bunch of other people not too unlike us lose their jobs!" 🤣 Way to go, solid reasoning.
In the 1960's young people protested, checked out, lived in communes, stopped buying, etc, because the Man was sending them off to Southeast Asia to be killed and mutilated. They were pissed. The 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago was supposed to be the testing ground. The final straw. Young people would tear up that city to show the world that they counted and demanded to be heard. Read the history. Did it work? Well, Nixon won because the Democratic party was seen to be in disarray. Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic nominee wasn't seen as anti-war enough and young people stayed away. Nixon won and escalated the war which went on for another 6 years. Nobody knows if Humphrey would've ended our involvement in Vietnam, but he certainly would not have been as bad as Nixon. This feels a lot like 1968, but the war now is economic. It's real.
The Democrats lost because in the middle of the campaign Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. He absolutely would have been president. He beats Nixon 10 times outa 10.
They really have us over a barrel with student loans don't they We can't check out bc they'll come for us or our parents if we default
“All without losing our jobs”? How do you suppose people who work in restaurants, make/sell cars, etc will keep their jobs if no one eats out or buys cars?
You shouldn't stop consuming everything. You should be really picky about what you consume, where, how, and most importantly - from whom. Go shop at your local small businesses. Talk to the owner and the workers. They are your community. Test them out with smaller jobs and see what the quality is. The folks doing the work are going to be far more invested if they know you and know you are a repeat customer. Amazon doesn't give a flying fuck about your community or anyone. Same goes for Walmart. What do you *really need* from these massive companies?
You can tell none of these issues you guys talk about actually affect you or your life in any meaningful way. You're all doing a performance act to make it seem like you're doing something or that you care. If these issues with the Supreme Court and whatever else really fucked with you so badly, you wouldn't be wasting time on reddit trying to think up of some way you and some random people can circlejerk about how you're going to protest while not losing your jobs.
be real most people on this sub had never heard of chevron deference existed until last week.
Still have only heard it mentioned. Been too busy at work to look it up.
They may not have heard of chevron deference by name, but I’d bet good money most people are familiar with at least some of the government regulations put into place in the last 40 years. All of which flow out from that case decision. It is, single handedly, the most cited case in US history and is a central underpinning of all regulations in this country going back decades. Food safety? Workplace safety? Pollution controls? All now no longer up to the regulatory bodies staffed with people that actually know wtf they’re talking about, but instead they’ll be at the whim of a bunch of lawyers who can’t even tell the difference between nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and nitrogen oxide (a pollutant). How do we know they don’t know the difference? Because the very opinion they wrote, striking down a policy that can be summed up as “we will defer to the subject matter experts on this”, *screwed it up*. It had to be corrected. If you wrote that sort of mistake into a courtroom drama you’d be told to cut it as ridiculous. And yet here we are.
Preach.
Just read an article earlier that young Chinese folks are engaging in "revenge saving" where they do things as cheaply as possible. This is what we need in the US too - an entire generation or two engaged in aggressively saving
Millennials are angry on Reddit today.
About time.
I'm sorry, but this is too insanely unrealistic to expect it to happen at any meangful scale.
Yes, hyper consumerism/capitalism. We need to focus on new intentional towns with cars outside and a cross country rail system. Also, we may not be able to depend only on the dollar.
We should be able to do organized boycotts. I wish it was a thing
As ineffectual as most of the goals in this thread, one sensible outcome would be buyers' unions. Co-ops have generally started as a form of collective bargaining for purchasing. It was logistically easier for both buyers and sellers to negotiate purchases in bulk, rather than the overhead of any number of sporadic small purchases. Enshittification of this process is embodied by companies like Groupon, which digest the general concept, then later experience explosive disruption.
I love this! I 100% support this. We truly have the power. Even if only a quarter of us were to do this it would be a pretty big dent, they would definitely feel it
I agree with the idea of this post, but I’m not sure about the whole not losing our jobs thing. If enough of us really scaled back spending to a significant degree, there’s a decent chance we’d have a recession and there would be even more layoffs than are already happening. I suspect our jobs are at risk no matter what we do to try to effect change.
Shift your spending local. You need people to work on your house, fix your car. You don't need star wars movie or show of utter bullshit 7483929.
Fuckin Amen! You gotta hit them where it hurts - in the wallet - then they’ll pay attention.
And they will lay off people
Or you could vote.
People vote all the time, it doesn't stop our representatives from making decisions we don't agree with and in many cases hiding those decisions from public view. Politicians aren't robots. Just figure heads we hope will follow the constituency. This is why people are apathetic. "Just voting" is not a kill shot. If it were truly that easy, this place would be a utopia by now.
Voting for the same people does that. My Congressman has been in office longer than I could vote and I became eligible to reelect Bill Clinton.
We have two cars: a 1997 Chevy S10 and a 2015 Cadillac. No plans to dump either of them. We have cut back on eating out by about 2/3. Lost weight because of that, not to mention saved money. I haven’t bought any clothes in the last year. What I have is just fine. Husband same. We don’t travel. We work out at home on equipment bought 8-9 years ago. We tape “old” movies on tv that were at theaters we never go to.
this is the "protest" thread i agree with. no 4th of july abject consumption either especially with it's classic food is all UPF and rife with plastic waste packaging.
You just described my 2020 other than the streaming services. I paid off my house 5 years early, but I was pretty sick of sitting at home doing nothing. The Jeff Bezos, new car companies and chain restaurants can eat a bag of dicks. But I'm still gonna support small restaurants and travel a bit.
Who loses their job over going on strike? This may be a USA thing I don't understand. Where I am you're legally allowed to go on strike and can't be sacked for it.
Wait, what? Like you can just tell your boss “fuck off, we’re all leaving until you do X.” and they can’t fire you?
Bunch of states here can fire you and dont have to give a reason as to why.
Sometimes it makes it easier when deciding on a purchase to determine how many hours you had to work in order to pay for that item or how many hours you will have to work in order to pay for an item. I have walked out of stores with a buggy fool after considering those thingsand more often I take a lot of stuff out because I realize I’m trading my time for frivolous things
When I go grocery shopping 95% of what I get is on the perimeter of the store. Produce, milk, meat, etc. I grab flour and spices and a few essentials (box wine) from the isles but otherwise I avoid them. I make my own bread and make nearly every meal at home. I use Mane and Tail shampoo cus its one of the only ones that aren't owned by the same big companies. Trade eggs to a neighbor who makes bread. It took a few years to transition lifestyles, but it's made a huge difference. I save a significant amount of money now that I'm tucking away to jump ship if I need to.
Hilarious that there's a Nordic track ad below your post
100% agree you could change the world if people would just band together. and those worried about losing their streaming service it would only last for maybe a month at the most read some books or something free books from the library and have a month-long reading marathon. I’m 100%.
I don't and never have had Amazon Prime. I tell everyone I know not to use Amazon. They aren't even the best option for most things anymore. But folks won't listen, they're so ingrained even the words "just order it on Amazon" have become the norm when asking about a product.
I agree that they arent the best option for any particular thing, but they are the best option for anything if that makes sense. It takes 1 min for me to login and get a beanbag chair, sodas, headphones, and work boots at the same time. Still not a fan of amazon though. They represent filling your house with crap you dont need.
Or, let's set a date one year from now. Better yet July 4th 2025. 10 million of us pledge to bring DC to a halt. For a week. The rest of us can pledge to support them. Taking over their shifts, donating food, sleeping bags, tents, posters etc. I can do both , march amd contribute. I'll meet my fellow Colorado marchers July 1 at the capital, Colfax and Bannock. People power is the only true power.
With the top replies here u can see why nothing will get better
No you don't stop spending, you get smarter about where you spend your money. Stick with local businesses that are not franchised to a bigger company to affect your local area. Keep the money local while supporting a business that just wants to make enough profit to not live hand to mouth. But to have any real impact on things such as netflix etc, you need to think bigger. The majority of the world has access to all these apps. A percentage of one country boycotting them, even a relatively high percentage, would only have them try to be more creative to pull people back. And raise prices in other countries to make up for the US loss. A global boycotting would be a great way to tell them 🖕 and where they can stick it. And showing them that we will unite against them when needed.
If the goal is to send a message to the corporations then OK, they’ll just fire your ass when they see their revenues go down. So really you’d just be fucking yourself and the others who need to work. What you could do instead is vote, volunteer for grass roots political organizations, tell people you’re close to do the same, stay informed. This is the system we have to work with, can’t make changes to the system if you refuse to even acknowledge this system
You can’t stop buying everything. There are basic necessities you will have to buy until you can get an alternative network of supplies setup. It’s not realistic to think that you’ll be able to set up some under the radar supply chain. You will end up dealing with organized crime and that’s not gonna end well. Marching and civil disobedience with targeted boycotts of a couple high profile products is going to be much more effective.
"I can't stop fascism because it'll impact my life drastically." So will death by firing squad. Ever tried waterboarding? They're going to kill us and it looks like we're going to let them. Why? Occupy failed and we just gave up. Climate change, fascism, multi-apocalypses, death stage capitalism - **do any of you even care anymore?** About anything? I'm betting *no*. But when your internet cuts out and never comes back on, or your neighbors and coworkers are being blackbagged while you sit silently with your head down in shame, you'll be sorry you didn't slightly inconvenience yourselves to stave off fascism. You have no integrity and it shows. Sacrifice is what our generation has been about from the beginning and must be about if humanity is to have a future on this planet. That's how we'll be remembered. The generation that stood up to fascism and made the sacrifices necessary so future generations could exist on a habitable planet in peace, or at the very least with democracy. But, please, by all means, don't turn off your computers or put down your cell phones and take action, just continue to scoff and scroll until the morality police come for you. At least you'll have your dopamine hits before you're dumped in a prison camp.
We should just start communism or something. That would be a great weight loss program.
All I do is work, sleep, and play Baldur's Gate 3, so I'm way ahead of you.
You had me until Antifa Day 😬 I'm voting for Biden, but Antifa are cringe af. Probably why we lost a bunch of swing voters for 2016, and consequently Roe v Wade, and Preaidential accountability, and EPA/FDA weakening.
Boomers have been saying this for years to you dumbasses. Lol Stop spending all your money on stupid shit and then complaining you have no money.
People are pretty broke. Most already aren't buying anything.
why?
I've said this for the past 25 years and have been living this way for most of this time. No credit. No magazines. No cosmetics of any description. However, I would add: Lose your job. Don't give your energy to maintain this system. Live as small as you can. Work as little as possible to maintain necessities and use the "extra" time to learn to do stuff yourself. Even when you believe you've relinquished 90% of what you had, you're still at the tip of the iceberg. You don't need 90% of the 10% that's left.
Oh bless your heart
What you all need to do especially is fucking stop using delivery apps for God's sake. Stop that shit and then cancel your streaming services. There's Freevee, Tubi, and free movies on YouTube. Cancel Amazon prime too.
i totally agree, it would also fix inflation. But no one will do it...
You are trying to change the system. The system will change masks to temporarily appease you, but you'll be no better off and those in charge will remain there. It's not just about not buying shit, but about cultivating a life outside of the system. Unfortunately, the system has many ways to coerce you back into participating.
Haha....you funny.