Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Here's a better idea
Sure, I'd rather see people shopping at small businesses than Wal Mart, Best Buy, Target, Sears, JC Penny, Hecht's, and all the other huge box stores which have done an awesome job gutting America's economic base by running those small businesses OUT of business with cheap products and low wages. No question.
But beyond giving the middle finger to these bloodsuckers, I wonder why it really matters where we buy Made in China/Malaysia/Pakistan/Vietnam junk the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, or any other day of the year. After all, this ad isn't asking us to buy Made in America products- just the same junk being offered in an different, smaller venue. Does the local hardware store on the corner pay a living wage to it's cashier? Does the ice cream parlor up the street offer the girl who works forty hours a week health insurance? If not, why are they really any better than the Sprawl Marts of the world?
Here's a better idea- on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, STAY HOME AND OFF LINE. Don't shop at all. Sleep in. Play with your kids. Watch DVDs. Take out those old board games. Ask your neighbors over for coffee and leftovers. Go to the park. And leave your wallet in your pocket.
If this crashes the system, the system deserves to be crashed. Especially if that system thinks it can get away with cloying bs like this. Hell, they don't even tell you to use cash rather than credit- just another Buy Buy Buy commercial, wrapped in a flag. Enough already.
I strongly suggest that everyone just stay home the weekend after Thanksgiving. Maybe it will catch on- keep the money out of the economy the next weekend, too. And the weekend after that. And all the way through Christmas. Pop in a "Grinch Who Stole Christmas" DVD to remind yourself and your kids that the holidays DON'T require ribbons and boxes and tags.
Instead of Shopping Small on Small Business Saturday, how about not shopping at all- ANY Saturday? We really COULD make a big impact. Just not the one they are expecting.
We have nothing to lose but our VISA balances.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Is that a gay cowboy?
ReplyDeleteJohn, small business' are the "lifeblood" of america. Thats there way of making it sound very serious without actually making a real point. Go ahead, question this whole "lifeblood" BS and you will be branded un-american.
The other day Michael Reagan told me that public schools no longer taught "patriotism" (that was good news to me) and he insisted that every classroom should have an American flag. I clearly have no idea what it means to be a "real" American, so and I'm too old to learn. Apparently it has something to do with how you decorate your classroom, and where you shop.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am sick to death of this worship of "small businesses." I thought people were the lifeblood of America, not cash registers and credit card machines.
An even better promotion would be to tell people to do their shopping at small businesses the whole Christmas season, not just one day, because *that* will make the kind of impact that sends a message, not just one day. That's not going to faze the box stores. Promote buying American, regardless of where it's sold.
ReplyDeleteBeing a real American means you speak your mind and fight for the right to do what you want, with who you want, when you how, how you why, why you want. You don't let others think for you or tell you how to live your life and the only limits are the ones you set on yourself because you can be whatever you want and go from rags to riches. Going by that definition, there aren't a lot of real Americans in Washington, or at least not a lot who want others to be real Americans.