© theother press e¢ Opinions

November 26, 2003

 

Right Hook

Crt A Celebration of Leftist Guilt

 

J.J. McCullough
OP Columnist

_ |Buy Nothing Day is the

x > quintessential example of a
: Ud | non-event. Uncelebrated by
the majority, and ignored by most others,
November 28 is a day that is only impor-

 

tant to a small fringe minority. It’s a pseu-
do holiday spawned by Adbusters maga-
zine, that oddly contradictory $15 publi-
cation that advocates anti-capitalism from

“its glossy pages and advertisements. It’s a
far-left magazine that is anti-Bush, anti-
corporate, anti-car, anti-fur, anti-meat,
and anti-just about anything else you can
think of.

I checked out the Adbusters’ website. I
thought it was pretty interesting that this
supposedly anti-consumerist publication
actually is hocking far more calendars,
postcards, T-shirts, stickers, books, and
videos, than any conservative website I’ve
ever seen. But all hypocrisy aside, the
Adbuster people promise noble things
from Buy Nothing Day. By “protesting
consumerism” we are paving the way for a
“revolution in human consciousness” by
promoting “consumer awareness and sim-
ple living.”

The site also encouraged participants to
“get creative” in celebrating the holiday.
There were photos of past Buy Nothing
Days with people in elaborate costumes,
people hanging big, colourful banners,
people giving each other beautifully
wrapped empty boxes, and people man-
ning chic “Nothing Stores”...it all looked
very expensive to me, but let’s not go
there.

Though the Adbusters people try to por-
tray Buy Nothing Day as a sort of jolly,

 

http://www. filibustercartoons.com

 

all-inclusive, fun event, anyone who is
even remotely familiar with the magazine
and its aims knows the day is nothing of
the sort. Buy Nothing Day is simply a day
in which snobby, middle-class, left-
wingers can pretend to care about the
third-world while simultaneously portray-
ing themselves as “victims” of our capital-
ist society.

To those who don’t know the true moti-
vations behind it, the day appears to have
some good points.
After all, in our mod-
ern society it is hard
not to be periodically
annoyed, repelled, or
even disgusted by the
excesses to which
some people choose
to indulge them-
selves. People in our
society _—_ routinely
waste money on
needless _ trinkets,
overeat to the point
of shortening their
own lives, and hoard gluttonously while
rarely sharing with those who have less.
True as all this might be, my reaction is
still the same—so what?

In our society, we are free to make deci-
sions. A person who has money is free to
spend it however he wants. If he is a
moron, and chooses to blow his cash on
fatty foods and Nike shoes, that is his
choice. This is personal freedom, and the
cornerstone of the capitalist society. The
individual dictates his wants and needs,
and can find goods and services to satisfy

Ses Page 10 e http://www.otherpress.ca

those wants and needs readily available.
Anti-capitalists hate personal freedom
because when individuals are given the
power to make their own decisions, they
inevitably make the “wrong” ones. This is
why the great socialist societies of the
world are always so totalitarian in nature.
People’s lives have to be micromanaged
down to the smallest detail in order for
them to follow the socialist line exactly,
for it only takes one small error or ques-

Anti-capitalists hate personal
freedom because when
individuals are given the
power to make their own
decisions, they inevitably
make the “wrong” ones.

tion for the whole system to fall apart.
Really ambitious leftists may see Buy
Nothing Day as a one day fantasy in
which to live out their socialist dreams,
and eat their own home-grown vegetables
while avoiding shopping malls and dream-
ing about the glorious Communist future,
where every day will be “Buy Nothing
Day” (indeed, the website even praises
such an idea, and profiles a California
community that is trying to implement a
year-round Buy Nothing Day).

To others, the day is simply one in

which successful leftists can indulge in
their own guilt, and try to feel bad for liv-
ing in such a prosperous country and
reaping the numerous fruits of capitalism.
The left views success as a bad thing, and
being rich is the worst thing of all. That’s
why the richest people in our society are
always taxed so heavily when leftist gov-
ernments are in power. People who are
successful on their own merits should be
punished, and made to pay for their role
in screwing up the goal of a socialist soci-
ety where there is no economic mobility.
Often the very existence of “success” itself
is questioned by the left. Despite the exis-
tence of millions of counter-examples, the
left still likes to prattle on that people are
only rich because their parents were rich,
or because they are a certain race, or come
from a certain social background. Buy
Nothing Day is thus an event in which
rich leftists can voluntarily subject them-
selves to “punishment” for being success-
ful in their own lives, and having the
power to purchase nice things for them-
selves.

Personally, I am very thankful to live in
a country that offers me such tremendous
choices in my day-to-day life. I cherish my
freedom to spend, buy, and sell whatever I
want. I can make choices for myself, and
because I try to be an informed consumer,
I can spend my paycheque on products
that I want and need, while simultaneous-
ly avoiding products that are unnecessary
or harmful. The brilliance of the capitalist
system is something to celebrate, not
protest. It is a shame that the left can’t see
that.

Cartoon by J.J. McCullough