h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sorry, only had time to skim the backlog, but someone (I think it was Sho) wondered about how small businesses feel about BND, and it reminded me of this. Not related, and I only just heard of it last year. I don't know if American Express started it, or if they are simply their biggest promoter, but small businesses have their own "holiday":
http://smallbusinesssaturday.com/

thanks - it was me. I'll check the link later.

Conspicuous consumption defined. Protest/boycott now in first paragraph.

>>> Could I ask just what "conspicuous consumerism" is?

I was trying to riff off the term conspicuous consumption, but I see that fell flat. So I've changed it back.

>>> I've a minds eye picture of a person making sure they are conspicuous as they're about to purchase and then they purchase something conspicuous like say a huge pink elephant, not the guy though who just bought a bvlgari watch for 25 large...that isn't visually conspicuous but it is kind of monetarily conspicuous I guess.

Yes. A huge pink elephant, or a huge monstrous vehicle such as the Humvee. That's right. Conspicuous.

>>> What is an un-commercialised Christmas then, a sort of Dickensian pastiche with some Miracle on 43th Street thrown in (charming as that is)?

I could answer this question two ways:

1) Perhaps it would be the sort of Christmas where a Walmart clerk wasn't trampled to death or people didn't fight over the last toy in the store.

2) You are presenting a straw man argument, and I don't have to answer that in Peer Review.

>>> There is an inherent type of elitism, snobbishness if you will, a class function coming into play, that states that 'I' do Christmas better, I'm a better person than you because I didn't buy any presents, and by connection I've not harmed the environment in fact my hand made present represent an all together greater depth of giving than your store bought, made in China by a huge global corporation present and of course I enjoy the company of family and friends as a result of these activities.

>>> Is this what BND means, as in this article it seems to imply it?

Snobbishness is the behavior of someone to reject the people and activities of his own and lower economic classes and show exaggerated respect and mimicry for those of higher economic classes. So until you show me that my 'betters' are doing without, this argument doesn't hold a lot of water.



>>> Is this day of action pointed towards Christmas consumerism only or by default all types of consumerism in this particular genre(birthdays,weddings, kitchen showers, baby showers, graduation balls, house warmings, bar mitzvahs, Easter, Halloween, Valentines day, Guy Fawkes day, Melbourne Cup day, Thanksgiving day and the list can get sillier still)

On Thanksgiving day, a woman will cook for her family, then clean the kitchen, get as many as two hours of sleep before she has to get up, put on her Target uniform and go to work in the middle of the night, so that Target shoppers can be the first to push past her at 12:01 am.

And that list gets sillier still, too because at Walmart the sales start at 9pm on Thanksgiving.

>>> I'd like to read a little bit more about what the critics of BND have to say. Is there an alternative voice that could be quoted to counter Ted Dave or the Rev Billy?

You wouldn't like it much. Most of the criticism is from the left. It is all about how BND activists don't go far enough.

>>> Two sides of an argument are always better placed together or if not at least as links perhaps?

Yes, that's why I linked to the existing Black Friday EGE. Or are you demanding that the author of that entry included equal time for my BND entry?

>>> I'm assuming there are actual critics of this, a spin doctor for the United Shop Assistants Union or the mouth piece for the world wide organisation of Chambers of Commerce.

The best I could find is a Chamber of Commerce rep who said he hadn't noticed a difference.

>>> It's just a bit one sided to my eyes and certainly left of centre if you wish to put it in a political context.

Um, okay. So then it counterbalances the Black Friday A Shopper's Paradise entry that's already in the Guide and h2g2 can float forward on an even keel.

>>> I'm sorry I cant be more enthused about it but in my own case for instance, I rely on a Christmas rush to top up my income so I can actually enjoy my Christmas and the time off. The last thing I want is for one of my customers to ring up and tell me that they are doing their own work this Christmas and my services and goods are not needed.

And I too am sorry if any shopkeeper has tied his economic future to an unsustainable level of consumption in this long, deep recession. However it is not my job to rescue such a shopkeeper from his business model, anymore than it should have been my job to bail out the Wall Street bankers whose rapacious greed created this mess.

>>> Feelgood meets Realpolitik.

Well, that's true enough.

Cheers Keith

You too, and

I agree with buying local and buying quality. Quality lasts a lot longer and is cheaper in the long run. Local supports the community. Fair-trade or union made supports the person who made the goods. And sustainably produced supports us all.

Yep. I wrote an entry on some of those labels - A2960606. Although I need to update it probably.

sprout

Just passing through here


reading and watching


Lanzababy

HN, I'll have a re-read and come back with comments.

I've seen the exchange with Keith and I'd like to add this:
IMO you don't need to balance this article at all with reference to anything else since the title is "Buy Nothing Day - A Holiday From Shopping" so it does what it says on the tin. As it were.

I think you have pretty much covered all the bases about how it started and what it is and in that respect it's done and dusted, now all it needs is some proofreading in the usual PR way where we can argue for pages and pages about comma placement

The conversation with Keith is interesting and what I'd really like to see (as with some of my previous comments, sorry) is this conversation attached to the article when it hits the front page, because that's where they belong, not tucked away here in PR.

for the article. And deffo looking forward to seeing it (and Keith's ideas ) when it hits the FP

The only comma placement we need to argue about in Peer Review is when the meaning is not clear enough to allow the sub-editor to fix it.

Of course Lanzababy knows this, but I just want to make it clear to the rest of you.

Oh, sorry, it was Sho who mentioned comma placement, not Lanzababy.

When you say "the holiday season" in the first sentence, do you specifically mean Christmas? Because for me the holiday season is Summer - most people take their holidays in July and August.

In articles published in November, I know that people mean Christmas by the phrase, but this Entry will be visible at all times of the year.

I actually thought that "the holiday season" was a phrase used to describe the December/January festive period.

Not sure when it started being used as a phrase though.

Maybe I'm behind the times wrt "the holiday season".

Vancouver, BC artist Ted Dave -- this looks odd because for most people there is only one Vancouver, and in addition, most people don't know where BC is. I know there's a Vancouver in Washington State, but if you talk about Vancouver without specifying BC, everybody knows where you mean.

tent revival anti-consumerism -- I don't know what you mean by "tent revival"

just to clarify - what I meant was argue about the comma placement was that we don't actually need to discuss BND here, that's for later and this part is to get the entry right for the guide.

Re: comma placement. I generally place the head of the comma in one of my piercings, and let the tail dangle. Also I'm a fan of the Oxford comma, and not just because they go so well with my tattoos.

Re: the term 'the holiday season'. I wonder if it comes from the practice of saying 'Happy Holidays'? I like saying Happy Holidays because it absolves me of having to remember which set of friends celebrates which holidays.

I usually think of the Vancouver on this side of the border. Going to that other Vancouver involves me trying to find my passport.

Gnomon, I think I found a tiny little gap in the Guide, in the immediate vicinity of 'tent revival'. This usually involves a really large tent, like a circus tent, threats of fire and brimstone, promises of redemption, and the outside possibility of being faith healed.

I think a footnote would be in order for "tent revival".

*And I too am sorry if any shopkeeper has tied his economic future to an unsustainable level of consumption in this long, deep recession. However it is not my job to rescue such a shopkeeper from his business model, anymore than it should have been my job to bail out the Wall Street bankers whose rapacious greed created this mess.*

Well I guess that the fact that I live in a country that has successfully stayed out of recession(so far) and does not have a debt crisis may well have some affect on my outlook but I'd still really hate for a customer to not engage my services because they're engaging in a protest. Is it an anti capitalism thing this BND or is it a kinda jokey feelgood thing?

I can't comment on Thanksgiving(I've never worked out exactly what it is apart from a day to eat turkey, we do that on Christmas day here though) or Walmart or Target as I don't know anything about them apart from them being North American or American.

Is it only women who cook the turkeys then where you come from HN? I do the turkey here at my place and most blokes I know do the turkey as well (if they're having one that is) or chook or pork roast and they certainly don't spend all evening cleaning up as far as I know or for that matter sleep for only two hours and then get up and go to work.

Your not being a bit apocryphal when you mention that are you?

In the end though, it is your entry and as such it explains a bit about what BND stands for and will make yet another interesting guide entry and I'm glad that I can take issue with it yet not hurt it's promotion onto a higher stage

We've a rule in my house that whoever cooks doesn't have to clean up. Doesn't always work, mind you.

We have that rule, too, but one person's definition of cleaned up differs from mine.

For those who still wonder what Buy Nothing Day is meant to stand against, here's an example:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thursday-shopping-20111125,0,757801.story

Page turner thingie: A78788074

>>> Is it an anti capitalism thing this BND or is it a kinda jokey feelgood thing?

Isn't that a matter of opinion?

>>> I can't comment on Thanksgiving(I've never worked out exactly what it is apart from a day to eat turkey, we do that on Christmas day here though) or Walmart or Target as I don't know anything about them apart from them being North American or American.

The clue is in the name.

>>> Is it only women who cook the turkeys then where you come from HN?

1) Completely off-topic for PR.
2) I'm a damned good cook. Men want me, women want to be me. I'm that good.

>>> Your not being a bit apocryphal when you mention that are you?

1) Off-topic for PR
2) No, I'm not. Or did you think the Sam Walton family took the midnight Walmart shift themselves?

Keith, are you taking issue with BND the idea or BND the entry? If it is the entry you are taking issue with, I too am as interested as you in making in Guide-worthy and addressing the topic. If you just want to debate the merits of But Nothing Day itself, I'll be happy to do so after this is in the Guide.



Tent revival footnoted, and I put a link to sprout's entry.