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50 Insightful And Funny Takes On Anti-Consumption, As Shared On This Online Community
When U.S. soldiers returned home after World War II, they found a country quite different from the one they had left. Wartime production had helped pull America's economy out of the depression, and during the late '40s, young adults saw a remarkable rise in their spending power. Jobs were plentiful, wages were higher, and people were eager to spend. Between 1945 and 1949, Americans bought 20 million refrigerators, 21.4 million cars, and 5.5 million stoves, a trend that continued well into the 1950s. The massive growth of suburban populations meant an even bigger demand for automobiles. Families of all income brackets were buying televisions.
Historian Elaine Tyler May thinks that the federal government and the American people saw the new consumerism as a way to de-emphasize class differences while stressing traditional gender roles. Things that defined "the good life" were within their economic reach, so working-class people could achieve the upward mobility they craved.
And we haven't stopped filling our inner void with sparkling things ever since. As Kerryn Higgs, the author of Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet said, the capitalist system depends on never-ending growth and it would simply fail if people were content with what they have. Over the course of the 20th century, capitalism preserved its momentum by molding the ordinary person into a consumer with an unquenchable thirst for its "wonderful stuff."
And the subreddit r/AntiConsumption illustrates this notion beautifully. Its 294K members criticize, question, and discuss everything consumerism-related, and provide clear-cut examples of how the system degenerated. What I like about this online community is that it isn't ringing alarm bells, declaring the end of times. Instead, it invites us to take a step back and look at the reality we have created for ourselves.
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Thought This Belonged Here… It Drives Me Nuts How There Is Such A Purchase-Culture Around Fitness And Health
Useless Stuff Indeed
To learn more about r/AntiConsumption, we contacted its moderator, u/NihiloZerowe. "There is a broad range of subject matter that gets discussed in the subreddit," they told Bored Panda. "You often see posts from people who are sick of litter, who are discontent with the dominant economic order, and who dislike excess packaging. There are a fair number of vegans in the sub and many subscribers are concerned about global warming and ecological degradation. Occasionally, someone will promote some sort of boycott or protest. I'd say the sub definitely leans left, but I don't ban people who want to argue about some sort of idealistic capitalist ecotopia. One thing that makes the sub stand out from other similar subs is that we don't have much tolerance for green consumerism. Trying to market your 'eco-groovy' new product in r/AntiConsumption will probably not help your sales very much."
u/NihiloZerowe also tries to avoid moderating the subreddit with a heavy hand. They believe that "even seemingly inane posts can spur discussion, bring in new subscribers, and lead people to other posts discussing more substantial topics." To be honest, I can't remember a Reddit community this big and active with just one person looking after it. But it looks like u/NihiloZerowe is doing one hell of a job.
"Some people don't like memes but if those memes drive traffic... Then I see that as a positive. To the extent that the content gets a bit monotonous (e.g., MY USB STICK CAME IN A BOX THAT COULD HOLD A BUICK!). I encourage people to post the content that they'd prefer to see discussed. If you don't like something in the sub then downvote it, mark it as read, and move on. Or maybe explain why you don't like something. I really like to see debate and discussion in the sub and try not to stand in the way of that. As long as the posted content isn't overtly bigoted or an advertisement in disguise, I'll usually let it stay up so that subscribers can vote and respond to it as they see fit."
Great To See Out Society As A Whole, Progressing
In other countries you can get arrested when getting stuff out of Supermarkt dumbsters.
There Are So Few Spaces Like This Left
So sad but true, I remember community centers that has activities for free, now you gotta pay for certain things
Put The Small Biz Before Big Biz
I absolutely agree but I have one huge concern: If I buy five things on line from five different web sites it means I’ve given my credit card info to five different people I have probably never dealt with before.
In a way, economic anthropologist, author, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Dr. Jason Hickel, agrees with the subreddit. According to him, the great challenge of the 21st century is learning to consume less. "In recent years, scientists have published estimates of the world's total consumption of material stuff, including everything from fish to livestock, minerals to metals, forests to fossil fuels. It comes to more than 80 billion tons of stuff per year. A sustainable level of consumption is about 50 billion tons per year, scientists believe. We are overshooting the mark by 60%," Hickel explained.
"This means we are eating away at the web of life on which we all depend for our survival. This might sound impossibly abstract, but we can see the consequences around us. Fish stocks are collapsing. Pollinators are dying off. Agricultural topsoils are turning to dust. Huge swathes of coastal ocean have become dead zones."
Remember Kids, “Vegan Wool” Is Plastic. And When It Breaks, It’s Decomposition Will Not Be Friendly
They are not wrong. I largely buy second hand, and almost only leather, these things have had a whole life before me, and will have a whole other one after.
My Work Is Required To Have Paper Charts And Maps, But They Expire Every Couple Months. I Take The Expired Charts And Use Them As Wrapping Paper
Old Bag New Life So My Mom Spent The Day Removing The Old Straps From Her Swimming Bag And Replaced Them With What She Had At Home: Some Old Cargo Straps. I Think The Colors Work Really Great With Each Other! Please Give Her A Thumbs Up!
From everything they've seen on the sub, u/NihiloZero expects that society will consume less in the not-so-distant future. But with that being said, the moderator doesn't think it'll be caused by some sort of positive cultural shift.
"Rather, I believe that resource scarcity, environmental degradation, and political instability around the world will break down the modern system of consumerism as we know it. I believe the hiccups in the supply chain that we're seeing right now as a result of the pandemic are small potatoes compared to what's coming. It would be nice if we could make a smooth transition to smaller self-sufficient and sustainable communities, and I won't try to stop you if that's what you're trying for, but I really don't expect such a transition to be smooth, if it ever happens at all," they explained their thoughts.
What Up Water Homies
But sadly a lot of people don't have access to healthy tapwater for various reasons, ranging from incompetent authorities not able to set up a functioning water supply system to incompetent authorities wilfully poisoning their citizens with lead.
Our Economy Thrives Off Insecurities
Just Came Across This And I Just Wanted To Share It
u/NihiloZero said the community of the subreddit "can be a bit holier-than-thou sometimes."
"You see a fair bit of gatekeeping and fingers pointed at those who are deemed to be conspicuous consumers. The anti-capitalists don't like the capitalists. The vegans don't like animal eaters. The pedestrians don't like the filthy motorists. We probably get a relatively high number of luddites commenting in the sub. Related to all the "anti-" positions... we also get a fair number of trolls who like to push the buttons of the true believers. But, really, I think the sub is mostly comprised of people who are sick of the violence, destruction, and waste in the modern world. Sometimes we can laugh about it, sometimes we can't. Sometimes we're serious and sometimes we're not," the moderator explained.
🙄
Me Everytime There Is A Discussion About Straws
Living In The 20's
Since /r/AntiConsumption is about to hit 300,000 subscribers, u/NihiloZero wanted to use the opportunity and encourage everyone who enjoys its content to become a member.
"Please don't let me dissuade you from working on sustainable projects or promoting them in the sub," they added. "We've got a lot of subscribers who are into that sort of thing and would likely give you feedback. Some of it might be positive, and some of it might be negative, but you're likely to get feedback either way!"
Found On Fb
My Sister’s Gender Reveal “Party”. Her Doctor Wrote The Baby’s Gender On A Piece Of Paper. At The End Of The Day The Whole Family Joined A Video Call Where She Unfolded The Paper! That Was It!
This
To Keep Prices High
Consumption Is Most Ravenous At The Top Of Society, Consuming Small-Businesses Too
This "Low Plastic" Pen Is A Perfect Metaphor For Environmentalism Under Capitalism
Not Perfect Anti Consumption, But I Used Black Takeout Containers And Old Greeting Cards To Give Out Homemade Cookies This Year
We Need A Different Economy
Restaurant Ask Customers To Stop Wasting Buffet Food
Not Sure What They're Expecting
the space between no ads and paying your artists well while keeping the app free is very small... i dunno how i feel about this because the reason why spotify and youtube are basically free is ads, and the reason why premium paid versions exist is so the artists are still paid
The problem is that artists shouldn't be paid from ads by a company that makes more than them, they should be paid by their fans through buying their art and direct sponsorship.
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The interesting side-effect of music streaming is getting to hear music you would never have heard otherwise. If the radio were the only option I would have a very hard time hearing anything completely new, even in the Chicago market. All the proper record stores where you can go and preview albums are long gone.
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How about YouTube ads randomly in the middle of videos over 10 minutes long? If they were placed in natural breaks in the content I wouldn’t be so pissed off, but they will cut away in the middle of a monologue, action, sentence, or word! And, NO, I am NOT going to buy your premium service just to avoid that.
Here's a solution: buy your f**king music, directly from the artist when that's an option.
Ok then you can just pay for your music instead of listening to someone talk for 15 seconds...
Then buy your music and make your own playlists on your device and stop renting your music from Spotify.
what's the matter? did everyone thow away their CDs? Paying for 'radio' is ludicrous !
I don't use music apps (I have a play list), but in other areas of my life there is no question that I adhere to this rule.
I get stupid ads on my Kindle when I'm playing my games. I don't really care about the ads for other games, but why do I need to see car ads, motor home ads, clothing ads, etc.?
Y'know what I will put up with ads for music. Just not in the middle of the damn song. That's just rude.
Watching peacock last night, I got a quick, 2 second 'ad' at the beginning on one of my shows from AllState that said, "enjoy an ad free show on us". I then proceeded to watch my show without any interruptions, and here I am promoting AllState because it was genius.
or, pay a fee to the music playlist peeps and see no ads. Yet the playlist peeps still make money off of the advertisers who purchase ad time to target the people listenin with ads...Guess what? The music playlist peeps are making all the money from listeners who do not want ads and the advertisers who hope 10% of what they invest will return in sales. Hmmmmm and the musicians are not getting any of that, only the music playlist peeps. Unless you find a muscian who owns a music playlist app. STOP CONSUMING-START SAVING-BUY LONG LASTING! Records, discs, personal stereos, listen to RADIO!
Funny. All these people complaining about ads interrupting their video watching/music playing bliss while at the same time vehemently posting somewhere about how EVERYONE DESERVES TO BE PAID A DECENT WAGE!. I guess the people behind making those videos and songs aren't considered to be people to them?
Ads between are fine though tiresome... Ads interrupting my content (YT midroll I'm looking at you) should end and the person who created them... I hate you.
I once listened to the SAME FRICKING MCDONALDS AD FOR SIX ADS IN A ROW. I DONT EVEN LIKE MCDONALDS. I just wanted my music
I wouldn't mind spotify ads if they advertised bands that I might actually like. like 97% of the music I listen to is metal, and I get ads for pop and rap artists. Sometimes I get ads for Sabaton, often while I'm already listening to sabaton.....
I don't know, I see a lot of people wearing Nikes and the newest clothing trends
Not quite sure how that is relevant to this. I've personally never heard an ad for Nike while listening to a playlist.
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Funny thing is whenever I tried to upvote this it just opened page with Mc Donald commercial. I still didn't manage to upvote.
Happens to me every once and a while too... I refresh the page and the problem is gone.
Load More Replies... Except that you will buy it. The ad isn't there to make you like the product, just to make you remember it. When you're at the supermarket and you're confronted with 20 brands of toothpaste that are pretty much identical, which do you buy? The one you've heard of. Doesn't matter if you've heard of it because your dentist said it's great or because of some annoying jingle.
Did You Know That You Can Rewear Clothes? This Changes Everything
The True Cost Of Stuff
I hate Black Friday, and how religious holidays has become commercialized , yes the day after thanksgiving is Black Friday, the start of the holiday season ( Xmas for me) I know that Black Friday isn’t a religious holiday, didn’t mention that
Makes Sense
What A Beautiful Billboard
It's a joy you can experience yourself, without any cost! You can buy my e-book here!!!
You Are Enough
Problem Solved
I don’t mind trucks because I take the bus and don’t own a car. Does that count?
Croatian Company Made Their Toilet Paper Package With A Cool Dual Purpose
knowing Croatian plumbing the bag is for putting used toilet paper into
Some Decent Tips I Think
My Sister Asked Me To Buy These 2 Products For Her Birthday. This Is The Packaging For 10 Ml Of Product
This Really Hit Home For Me To See Today!
Permanent Permaculture
Gardens are a lot of upkeep. A lot of people don’t have time for them. Plus there’s the issue of finding something that will grow where you live.
Great Idea Stolen From Facebook
Bernie Showing Us All The Way
Just Ewww
Less Ads More Content Follow
Brands Aren't Your Friends
It Do Be Like That
You Know When You Can't Figure Out If Something Is Satire?
Sometimes That's Hard To Forget With All The Advertisements For Sustainable Clothing Brands
Women's clothing is less quality than man's. In my experience, my shirts get ripped and overstretched in less than a year. Boyfriend has the same damn s**t without any tiny holes in since like 2015 (the cost was the same)
This Would Be Very Depressing
“Hello? Yes, I’ve changed my mind, and I’d like to take the blue pill please.”
Bruh
I See This Every Year. Over 60,000 New iPhone & Samsung Cases Are Dumped Because They Won’t Fit The New Models
Right
And that leotard will be up her butt crack and wedged in her hooha fast than you can say downward dog, how uncomfortable and impractical. I hate the consumerism that sits behind climate change, and how so few see that this is adding to the problem.
Plastic Straws And Sandwich Cutters Aren’t The Devil
Absolutely Disgusting
Note: this post originally had 78 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
I've come to the conclusion that I must be some weird subspecies of human. I'm (hopefully) about to get a better paying job and I was thinking just yesterday that I should buy myself something nice out of my first paycheck. But for the life of me, I can't think of a single 'thing' I want or need.
Well you bought this self-congratulatory post, and that's something.
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Consumerism depends on peer pressure. Fighting it isn’t about congratulating yourself for not buying stuff you don’t need: it’s about accepting others who show up with stuff that could be nicer.
There is also those who tear down perfectly fine houses to build their "dream" house or because they have nothing better to do with their time and money
One sad thing about COVID lockdowns are that people are buying more stuff online… and that this stuff mainly comes from multinational giants (like Amazon) whereas charity/second hand shops can’t operate until restrictions are lifted :-(
People need to teach their children about spending, manipulation consumerism, fads which are really wasteful.
One thing I learned about this article is people care way to much was a person does with there OWN money
the point of the article has gone way over your head hasn't it
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I feel guilty of buying useless items.. Although I don't throw it away but it just lies unused in my wardrobes.
Honestly I have no idea where this obsession to spend come from. I'm still very much the same as I was decades ago when I was a poor kid growing up. Hell I don't even have a spare business suit.
Generation X are the only ones who see through most of this BS.
Load More Replies... Currently spending money on garden stuff, mostly 2nd hand, and saving for a hand made musical instrument
I've come to the conclusion that I must be some weird subspecies of human. I'm (hopefully) about to get a better paying job and I was thinking just yesterday that I should buy myself something nice out of my first paycheck. But for the life of me, I can't think of a single 'thing' I want or need.
Well you bought this self-congratulatory post, and that's something.
Load More Replies... Consumerism depends on peer pressure. Fighting it isn’t about congratulating yourself for not buying stuff you don’t need: it’s about accepting others who show up with stuff that could be nicer.
There is also those who tear down perfectly fine houses to build their "dream" house or because they have nothing better to do with their time and money
One sad thing about COVID lockdowns are that people are buying more stuff online… and that this stuff mainly comes from multinational giants (like Amazon) whereas charity/second hand shops can’t operate until restrictions are lifted :-(
People need to teach their children about spending, manipulation consumerism, fads which are really wasteful.
One thing I learned about this article is people care way to much was a person does with there OWN money
the point of the article has gone way over your head hasn't it
Load More Replies... I feel guilty of buying useless items.. Although I don't throw it away but it just lies unused in my wardrobes.
Honestly I have no idea where this obsession to spend come from. I'm still very much the same as I was decades ago when I was a poor kid growing up. Hell I don't even have a spare business suit.
Generation X are the only ones who see through most of this BS.
Load More Replies... Currently spending money on garden stuff, mostly 2nd hand, and saving for a hand made musical instrument
