Suddenly, Buy Nothing Day makes sense to mainstream

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/23/BUBETG17L.DTL

KCBS had stories covering Buy Nothing Day

and a book about The Corruption of Consumerism
Benjamin Barber, author of "Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole," on American capitalism.

More media coverage here:
http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/news.php

Suddenly, after An Inconvenient Truth etc., Buy Nothing Day makes sense to the mainstream.

In a weak economy, even questions about its impact, which was ridiculed in the past are less evident. I think it may be time to raise the issue of high market and retailers expectations and what would be a non-damaging and sustainable economy with some stability for average workers: more emphasis on simple, basic, durable goods made relatively locally, of a quality that lasted long enough that a higher price was accepted? Didn't we have at least a partial economy sort of like that 60 or so years ago? I remember when people began to decry "planned obsolescence" in the 1950s, particularly in connection with toys and automobiles.

Regret re lost opportunity to stand up

I was analyzing results for a health survey for an eastern North American regional government. My 2 co-workers and I complained vociferously to the survey manager about a standard procedure that was putting young and/or female survey respondents at risk. If the respondent was not at home or did not have time for the long survey, the questionnaire was left for them to be sealed in an envelope for later pickup by the survey field person. But the survey contained sensitive questions about sexual behavior for all respondents in the household over 15 as I recall. From comments of the field personnel, my co-workers found out some fathers had ripped open the envelopes and read their daughters' answers, leading to "dire" consequences for the girls. The manager brusquely cut off the discussion, citing cost and the need to maintain high levels of response. And none of us even escalated it as far as i know. So we do not know if anything was done (possibly other divisions of it were alerted) or what the impact was of the ill-advised procedure. I was sole support to my wife and 2 teen agers on contract in a tight market and felt the manager would fire me if I pursued it. I had been enthusiastic about the project early on, working through Christmas drafting the report outline, but I already felt disheartened re a conflict with the manager over ensuring that the report would have statistically strong useful content, a problem I had encountered in government before with managers who buried or altered my substantive reports because they wanted risk-free, bland results. None of those cases had direct risks of harm to people.

Because I am outspoken at work in government and corporate jobs, I generally have never, aside of this case, had a serious ethical dilemma because people doing questionable things know from the outset not to put me in the loop, And my career has likely underperformed, partly because of that.

The Aleuts - quiet Columbuses

I learned in U of British Columbia in the 60s from a very conventional anthropology professor whose actions and observations may be considered colonial these days , Wilson Duff, about a simple historical fact that really poses yet another devastating question about the myth that America was discovered by Europeans in the 15th century "AD". He was showing artifacts he had "collected" from an ancient site in the Queen Charlottes. There were small Japanese carvings. Wow, I thought, but he was nonchalant. He said there has always been trade of small goods along the entire Pacific rim via the Aleuts. Say what?

So if I am an enterprising ancient Siberian trader, say in 500 BCE, and i had the money and motivation, without sailing across uncharted waters I could easily accompany my bag of trade goods to Mexico. And who is to say it did not happen? Almost certainly, Japanese and other Asian art was influenced by Native American art and vice-verse.

Nobunaga, 3 strikes and why the Iraq war so deadly now?

A speculation as to why the Iraq war has become so deadly:

A Japanese TV drama(dorama) told the story of how Nobunaga, the brilliant, ruthless leader who broke down the Japanese code of chivalry which had prevented anyone from uniting Japan operated. A nobleman received the honorary title "jar breaker" for single handedly running into the courtyard of a castle under siege and breaking the water jar holding the only precious water for the castle. When his story was presented to Nobunaga, he was unimpressed, and humiliated the nobleman by asking the low born but fierce warrior Hideyoshi why breaking the water jar was a mistake. "The castle's eventual fall was assured . Breaking the water jar merely made the defenders fight with more reckless ferocity, causing unnecessary losses for our troops."

Three strikes laws attempt to make the streets safer at enormous human and financial cost, swelling the prison population. While many believe they protect the public, the laws may make police work more hazardous by increasing the number of suspected criminals desperate not to be caught.

The pervasive and accurate perception by Iraqi insurgents that they may be tortured or rendered to unknown, uncontrolled centres where powerful, effective techniques, developed over the last half century by US psychologists, will break them down, may make them fight far more desperately and increase the suicidal ferocity factor, even among fighters not technically suicide bombers. Wouldn't any insurgent rather die than be captured alive under the circumstances?

Now is the time to demonstrate and make waves

If you demonstrated in 2003, if you did not, the opportunity to have an impact now is greater than ever. Politicians and the media have stuck their necks out a bit. They need coaxing encouragement and continued committed visible passion against the direction of the Bush adminstration that they can point to so they can listen a bit less to the legions of pro-war lobbyists enticing them to do less, not to make waves to ensure steady donations to their campaigns and war related jobs for their constituents.

When Nixon resigned, war opposers, even though on the brink of citory on the military industrial complex, population control, the environment and a whole range of fronts instead heaved a sigh of relief, got jobs, got married let up. 4 years later the Reagan revolution was in full swing.

Demonstrate this weekend in Washington, or in labour supported local demonstrations elsewhere write letters get active in your own way, don't get establishment jobs, don't have more kids yet and let the politicians and media and the powerful interests for war and against the planet pushing them not to rock the boat know we are not the pushovers we were back in the mid 70s and they are facing a determined opposition in for the long haul.