Buying Instead of Being

Queries

• How often do I buy things because my needs for love, friendship, celebration, job satisfaction, personal recognition, or cultural identity are not being met?
  How often have I bought someone something instead of showing my friendship or love more directly?
  Are 'gifts' in my family or group things that we do, things that we are, things that we make, or things that we buy?
• Of the things that I own, which help me or my family or group to be more active, self-reliant, and involved with each other and others?
• Are my freedom of choice and my political and social values restricted by businesses and other institutions whose survival is dependent on high and growing levels of consumption?
  How?
• To what extent are possessions and social status an important part of my self-image and that of my family?
  Are our feelings of self-worth based on the things we have and the 'quality' of the neighborhood we live in or on who we are as human beings?
  What educational, media, and social messages do we get which reinforce tendencies to evaluate ourselves and others in terms of possessions rather than of personal qualities?
  How could we change these messages?
• Which of my children’s demands and expectations are shaped by advertising?
• How much of what I spend on consumer goods goes for nonfunctional packaging, needless repairs, needless decoration, advertising, corporate lobbying, market research?
  Do these contribute anything to quality or use value?
• Is my present job dependent on continued growth of a high-consumption economy?

What You Can Do

• List the goods and services on which your current way of life depends.
  Of these, which were not in general use 75 years ago? 100 years ago?
  What advantages do they provide?
  What added costs?
• Which of the goods and services on which you rely for comfort and survival depend on centralized sources of fuel, energy, water, transportation, or supply which are beyond your direct control?
  Could you in fact survive if these sources suddenly failed?
  What changes would you have to make?
  What alternatives are available?
  What alternatives ought to be available?
  Does our dependence on such sources help limit our freedom in relation to major political, social, and economic institutions?
• For a period of two weeks pay close attention to the advertising to which you are exposed.
  What is it telling you about what you are as a human being?
  How does it seek to influence your goals and desires?
  Those of your children?
  What kinds of threats and promises does advertising use?
  Do these reflect reality or not?
  Record and discuss some ads that are especially striking for one reason or another.
  Analyze the influences and messages associated with our patterns of consumption and those of other segments of our society.
• Find some popular magazines from Third World countries and discuss the extent to which American consumption patterns are put forth as something to be aspired to in poor parts of the world
• List all your possessions which you would have to own in order to live without great discomfort and inconvenience.
  What proportion are they of your total possessions?
  How do you define 'great discomfort and inconvenience'?
  Try living without some of the non- essentials for a period and sharing same of the others with neighbors and friends.
  You may discover that most of your real needs can be met at relatively little cost.
• Try saying 'no' the next few times you are asked to solve any kind of a problem by making a purchase of goods that do not seem absolutely essential to you.
  What are the alternatives?
• List the things you own which help you be more active, self-reliant, creative, and convivial.
  List those which promote passivity, dependence, and alienation, or have a strong tendency in that direction.
  Which de pend on how they are used?
  What are the differences between them?
  How do you use things in the second category?
  What might be some alternative ways of using them or sharing their use?
• Get together with others and try to find out the investment and loan policy of a bank, pension fund, or insurance company of which you are a client.
  To what extent is it loaning your money to military contractors, exploitative multinational corporations, or companies operating in countries with racist or oppressive military regimes ?
• Discuss (with your family, living group, friends, or simple living seminar)
  how you might go about de- consumerizing your own life.
  List three suggestions for simplifying your life and try them out for a month.
  Afterward, evaluate the experience and, if appropriate, add a few more suggestions to your list.

THE ETHICAL CONSUMER - and try Googling "Fair Trade" don't forget the quotes
Some Questions About lifestyle.......Food.......Clothes

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URL -http://www.users.on.net/~arachne/buying.html