Anti-Consumerism

Aside from being an anti-capitalist, I'm also an anti-consumerist. People seem to be quite confused about what this entails, or maybe I just live with idiots. It's probably a bit of both, but anyway, I'm going to try and explain why I act the way I do.

What's anti-consumerism? A word I hope I didn't make up, for a start. In a nutshell, I'm against greedily consuming resources I don't actually need.

Why are you an anti-consumerist? Because I don't like taking up resources I don't need when they would be better off in someone else's hands. Because we live in an exploitative capitalist system where pretty much every product is the fruit of somebody else's exploitation, and I for one don't want to exploit people. Because consumerism is not a particularly sustainable practice and I want to reduce the damage I'm doing to this planet.

So does that make you a tree-hugging hippie communist? Maybe. In any case, I don't like hurting people and I don't like screwing over our planet for financial gain.

Do you want to tell me what to do with my hard-earned money? Short answer: no. Long answer: I oppose consumerism, which is different from telling you what to do with your money, because one deals with my take on a facet of capitalist society and the other deals with my take on your finances. So still no.

Do you hate books/clothes/CDs/trips to the opera? No. I hate the fact that, since we live in a capitalist world, pretty much all consumerism is rooted in exploitation of people and the planet. It's not necessarily the products I have a problem with (unless they're, for example, nuclear weapons, which I oppose since they're used to hurt people, essentially), it's the way they're made.

But you buy stuff! Yes, because I'm not self-sufficient! If I could, I would gladly grow my own food, spin my own cloth, and share the fruits of my labour with others! However, I can't do so and I'd prefer not to steal, so I'm stuck with buying food, clothes and other necessities - in other words, with consuming. Until such time as I can make my own clothes and grow my own food, I'll have to consume - but consume as little as I possibly can. If I must be a hypocrite, I'll be as little of a hypocrite as I possibly can be.

You're crazy! So not wanting to exploit others and damage the planet in the name of shiny shiny things is crazy? Besides, that's not a question.