Want Nothing Day

As the sun sets, another Black Friday concludes as does its perverse cousin, Buy Nothing Day, an anti-consumerism group.

What's strange about Buy Nothing Day is that activists gather outside stores and in shopping districts. The protest is directed at a group the vast majority of whom are buying things for others. If the goal is to assuage consumerism, their actions would merely shift the buying from the gift-giver to the gift-receiver. If they really wanted to be effective they would target those that accept gifts and do not give them. Cut consumerism off at the source.

Thus Buy Nothing Day protests should focus on the "purely greedy," the infants, toddlers, and kids who ask for, and often demand, mass-produced consumer products. Do not blame the shoppers who are merely following their wishes, and, arguably being the least selfish and contributory to "over-consumption." Protests should be outside Santa, not Sears.