The Anti-Consumeurism Movement

* Producers receive a fair price - a living wage. For commodities, farmers receive a stable, minimum price.
(...)
*Working conditions are healthy and safe
*Equal employment opportunities are provided for all
*All aspects of trade and production are open to public accountability

Basically, to hold third-world countries accountable to first-world standard. This might be a way for us to feel smug about how nice we are to force the poor of the world to incur even more costs, but all we're doing is hindering their progress.

The ultimate goal of fair trade is explicitly anti-progress : to give producers "a way to maintain their traditional lifestyles with dignity". There is no clearer way to say that one is against progress, against technology, against prosperity.

Of course, the funniest point in all this, is that anti-consumption organizations tend to be hypocritical. I have to give this to Adbusters, they don't sell "Buy Nothing Day" t-shirts. They do, however, sell shoes with no brand on them, to fight against capitalism.

Ironically, they are offering a product that fulfills a demand, using private property to buy and sell, which is what capitalism is all about. Capitalism is not about brands, it's about people being free to fulfill their material values. Whether they like it or not, Adbusters is fighting for capitalism.

And one must be reminded that Adbusters, as well as all other such organizations on the Internet, bought domain names and presumably web site designs.

All people, however fanatical they may be in their zeal to disparage and to fight capitalism, implicitly pay homage to it by passionately clamoring for the products it turns out.
Luwdig Von Mises

To the anti-capitalist propagandists I can only say : buy something today, if you want to buy something. Don't buy something today, if you don't want to buy something. And don't let anyone pressure you to do otherwise. That's the capitalist way.

What is your opinion on the subject ? If you have questions you'd like to see featured here, email me. Don't hesitate to post on the message board - go back to the main page and scroll below the articles list, or if no thread on the subject you want is available yet, see the link below called "Start a discussion on this article". Happy thinking !

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