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'Consumption' - doin' the right thing.
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GangstaDuck
GangstaDuck
69 posts

'Consumption' - doin' the right thing.
Feb 29, 2008, 18:40
Now, I don't know about anyone else, but for me at least, the very mention of the word 'consumption', or 'consumer' in relation to 'buying stuff' immediately raises all my hackles, sets off various alarm bells in my head, a red mist before my eyes and an almost instantaneous loathing over the very term, and the concept behind it. The term has become almost Synonymous with evil in my mind, and I surely can't be the only one?

I realise, of course, that this has become a programmed response - a knee-jerk reaction, if you will, based upon the notion of enslaved, factory-farmed populations, straining under the corporate yolk, dancing to the tune of fascistic fucks who want us to substitute life for their mass-produced crap.

The reality, of course, is that life is a little more complicated - and that, at some point or other I am going to have to interact with these corporations, and likely make choices based upon which of their products to buy, and which to avoid. We might be the 'destiny angels, duty bound to be risen'; but I sadly find myself struggling to rise from the checkout counter of a supermarket.

If you are able to buy your foodstuffs and other essentials purely from local farmers, and independent producers, or even grow your own - then more power to you. If you 'only buy Fairtrade' then I applaud your compassionate commitment. Whilst I do try my damned hardest to buy my stuff as ethically as possible, personal circumstances make doing so difficult in the extreme.

I live in the middle of a rather unpleasant council estate in a rather deprived area of South Yorkshire, I have no transport at all, am on a very low income, and therefore have two choices when it comes to shopping for groceries et al.

Supermarket - of which I can choose between three: Tesco, Asda or Sainsburys.

The 'mini-mart' on the estate - Often shut and boarded up, a hang-out for scary groups of teenagers who tend to shout abuse and throw bricks at me if I go anywhere near them, and even when open has an extremely limited selection of 'cash and carry' goods, often past their sell-by dates.

Local Market and Farmer's Market - My preferred choice for goods, though the Farmers' Market is expensive in the extreme, which makes buying stuff from there a none-option if I am very low on funds.

Unsurprisingly, I tend to find myself in the supermarket. Not proud of this fact, and it riles me in the extreme that I must rely upon these bastards in order to live - but I really see little alternative right now. Moving is not an option.

So...to finally come to the point, and this is where I could use some advice.

How do you choose what to buy? What's ethical, and what is not?

Sure, I'm going to avoid the obvious traps. I won't be washing down my Big Mac with a Starbucks Coffee anytime soon, whilst reading the NME and taking a Beecham's Powder for my headache.

There are plenty of 'definitive lists of the worst corporate offenders' out there, which is a huge help in allowing me to decide which products to completely boycott. But what about the ones that slip through the net? That innocent-looking carton of stuff, with multi-ingredients from all over the world? How do I know that some of the ingredients from products are not 'cash crops' produced via human or planetary suffering? How do I know that it's not going to contain GM ingredients?

Not everything is so obviously labelled...and...well...labels can lie, or mislead.

I realise that this is likely to be an unanswerable question, but just asking it makes me feel better. What would you do in my situation?

Yes, I feel damned guilty about buying from these supermarket cess-pools, the de-humanising nature of the premises is bad enough, without the certain knowledge, that I am - most likely - buying products that are contributing toward the general fucked-upness of everything, the worst offenders leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake; so as to allow us to keep on consuming, and keep our minds blank and lifeless.

Is there a way out of the trap?

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