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| November 29, 2006 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth Trained since birth to look for good deals
By 8:15 in the morning, the human queue at the Tongass Trading Company was as grim a spectacle as a ration line at a concentration camp. The store’s newspaper ad offered Xtratuf boots for $19.99, a thermos and mug set for $6.24, and Levi jeans for $20. You could get a bread maker for thirty bucks. Here in Ketchikan, the small business competes with Walmart. Last summer, a guy wired on patriotic zeal chose the roof of TTC as a billboard surface for the American flag logo. In the newspaper article, the Trading Company’s owner sounded bemused by the idea, as if he looked up from his cash register for a moment to say, “A flag on the roof? Sure, why not?” The all-in-one store, downtown alongside the cruise ship dock, sells everything from hardware to sporting goods to gifts for the tourists. Like everywhere else, they sell lots of stuff from China. As I rode my bike on a crisp morning last week to check out the sale, I remembered it was Buy Nothing Day. Started in Vancouver, B.C. at least a decade ago, the anti-consumerism holiday coincides with the busiest shopping day of the year. I’ve always celebrated it in special ways. I remember making free crafts on Buy Nothing Day at the old Q Cafe in Anchorage many years back and putting up flyers around town that showed a pyramid giving patrons a threatening, evil eye. Friday, I squeezed my way through the lines and packed aisles. The “Holiday Kick-Off Sale” offered free flashlights, fleece blankets and socks for the first 150 customers in different departments. I heard a woman screaming to a clerk that he forgot to put a key chain light into her bag. “Buy Nothing Day is good idea,” I thought as I stood in long line holding a pair of $20 Levis. The consumer boycott will have a negligible economic impact. Besides, what does it really mean to say “consume less” to people trained since birth to look for a good deal?” I got my free dress socks. A woman in line asked me loudly, “Is that all you’re getting? You must really need those pants to wait in line this long!” At home, I heard my brother had called and chastised my wife for allowing me out with the credit card on, of all days, Buy Nothing Day. I know there’s a good argument for informing the masses that endless consumerism is destroying the planet and that we need to generate some collective consciousness about why bartering is better than buying. When we were kicked out of the Dimond Center Mall in Anchorage a few Buy Nothing Day’s ago, we generated some media coverage about the inherent conflict between freedom of speech and freedom of market. But people will always want to buy. They will always have an unquenchable appetite for a bargain. Kids will always equate Santa with plastic toys, made-in-China technology and cookies. He is, after all, a very obese man. Maybe it’s better to go where people already are. I’ve always thought how someone could make a zillion dollars with a Buy America discount store … everything in the store, made in the good-ole USA, at bargain basement prices. Pay the workers well, make it a non-profit and fight a visible campaign against the corporate empire. Or, better yet, start a “The Community’s Store” with lots of free, reused stuff. Some smart alecks will call it “The Commie Store,” but they’ll still go to get cheap gear. And, during Buy Nothing Day, they can give away free socks. Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist, and is the winner of the Alaska Press Club's 2006 'Best Columnist' award. He resides in an undisclosed location in rural Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. 'Red Alert' appears on insurgent49.com every Wednesday. |
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November 21, 2006 November 10, 2006 November 3, 2006 October 27, 2006 October 20, 2006 October 13, 2006 October 6, 2006 September 29, 2006 September 22, 2006 September 15, 2006 September 8, 2006 September 1, 2006 August 25, 2006 August 18, 2006 August 11, 2006 August 4, 2006 July 28, 2006 July 21, 2006 July 14, 2006 June 30, 2006 June 23, 2006 June 16, 2006 June 9, 2006 June 2, 2006 May 26, 2006 May 12, 2006 May 5, 2006 April 28, 2006 April 21, 2006 April 14, 2006 April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 17, 2006 March 3, 2006 February 24, 2006 February 17, 2006 February 10, 2006 February 3, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 13, 2006 January 6, 2006 December 30, 2005 December 23, 2005 December 16, 2005 December 10, 2005 December 2, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 11, 2005 November 4, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 29, 2005 April 21, 2005 |
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Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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