Shopping is not a lifestyle.
Debt is dangerous for the poor.
Frenzied consumption is not OK.
Shopping malls are not leisure destinations.
Amazon is primarily and always will be the largest river in the world.
So I'd like to propose that we tell a different story today: Let's buy nothing we dont need this #BlackFriday. Let's walk somewhere instead of driving today.
Let's not 'shop til we drop'. Let's stay home and listen to our oldest, uncoolest records.
Let's play cards instead of computer games. Let's accidentally 'forget' our cell phones. Let's invest the precious time we might otherwise have spent shopping, simply writing a letter on actual paper with an actual pen to someone we actually love.
The Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich said that if you want to truly change a society, you must tell an alternative story. Well we have a better story.
This is the perfect day to simplify. Go low. Go slow. Go small.
Why not pay off a little of your credit card this #BlackFriday?
Why not give money to someone with less than you this #BlackFriday?
Why not bake a cake for a neighbour this #BlackFriday?
Why not take a garment to a thrift store this #BlackFriday?
Let's defy greed with a little gratitude - with militant contentment - today. Let's tell a better, kinder, freer, less frenzied story today. Let's dispel the darkness of a day like #BlackFriday with the real lights of Christmas.
Here endeth my rant.