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Your purchasing decisions are one of the more significant ways you impact the world and it makes sense people want to be cognizant of how they are effecting oth

Your purchasing decisions are one of the more significant ways you impact the world and it makes sense people want to be cognizant of how they are effecting other people. Though I recognize depending on people's mental health it can be stressful to think about and if you can't then it's okay, one of my friends in particular was worrying about what she was buying to the point where it was a significant source of stress in her life and that wasn't good (though therapy for her general anxiety helped a ton so she's now concientious about what she buys while not stressing over it. It took her a while to get there though).

s1artibartfast 2y ago
It makes sense if consumerism is your only connection to human society. It is a form of trained helplessness to fixate perpetually on consumption. If someone wants to do good in the world, go out and do it. help someone for real. I think it is lack of real connection that leads people to navel gaze about the third order consequences of their clothes or software. I think this substack [1] summed it up perfectly: >I was 16 when I realized I had to kill myself. I was in a Denny’s with my friends, looking at an empty glass of Diet Coke. The glass was produced by taking the raw resources of a foreign country, exploiting its workers in horrible factories, and sent to me to drink out of. And I didn’t really have any other option for getting liquid from a nearby water source into my body, it had to travel through moral atrocity along the way. It wasn’t just one glass, of course. It was everything. It was the shoes I was wearing (shoes were a big deal in those days) and the flooring I walked on and the food I ate. The only moral act was to kill oneself, and failure to do that meant you accept your role as a vicious monster. (The depression helped, but maybe the depression/guilt causality was reversed.) https://deathisbad.substack.com/p/does-the-omelas-kid-have-an-obligation https://deathisbad.substack.com/p/does-the-omelas-kid-have-a...
- Karrot_Kream 2y ago
  IMO you're pretty right on this front. A lot of the folks I see most concerned about consumption are the folks who have the hardest time engaging offline. I suspect a lot of these folks feel anxiety in interacting with a physical community and find consumption to be one of their main connections to the world around them.
_DeadFred_ 2y ago
No, they are one of the laziest, most do nothing ways. Right now in your community are tons of organizations looking for people to actually help. I've restored nesting habitat for endangered birds. And I just happened to be able the beach when volunteers came around. That did more than stressing over what I bought ever did, and it was just hanging out at the beach. There are orgs for driving people to medical appointments. That can be an amazing impact on someone's life and on yourself (more than buying the right ketchup). Make yourself financially strong so that you can help others. Sacrificing your money to make a point is wasted virtue signaling. I mainly see people who shop correct/rescue animals as the most minimal helpers who want to feel they are helping. There is an old woman dieing crying in your town right now because she's overwhelmed and doesn't know how to get to an appointment she needs. An no one cares. But if I buy the right ketchup, that matters? If I drive 2 hours to save a dog (while the old woman dies crying and alone, unable to get to the doctor, a 15 minute trip) I'm a good person?

s1artibartfast 2y ago

It makes sense if consumerism is your only connection to human society. It is a form of trained helplessness to fixate perpetually on consumption. If someone wants to do good in the world, go out and do it. help someone for real. I think it is lack of real connection that leads people to navel gaze about the third order consequences of their clothes or software. I think this substack [1] summed it up perfectly: >I was 16 when I realized I had to kill myself. I was in a Denny’s with my friends, looking at an empty glass of Diet Coke. The glass was produced by taking the raw resources of a foreign country, exploiting its workers in horrible factories, and sent to me to drink out of. And I didn’t really have any other option for getting liquid from a nearby water source into my body, it had to travel through moral atrocity along the way. It wasn’t just one glass, of course. It was everything. It was the shoes I was wearing (shoes were a big deal in those days) and the flooring I walked on and the food I ate. The only moral act was to kill oneself, and failure to do that meant you accept your role as a vicious monster. (The depression helped, but maybe the depression/guilt causality was reversed.) https://deathisbad.substack.com/p/does-the-omelas-kid-have-an-obligation https://deathisbad.substack.com/p/does-the-omelas-kid-have-a...

Karrot_Kream 2y ago
IMO you're pretty right on this front. A lot of the folks I see most concerned about consumption are the folks who have the hardest time engaging offline. I suspect a lot of these folks feel anxiety in interacting with a physical community and find consumption to be one of their main connections to the world around them.

_DeadFred_ 2y ago

No, they are one of the laziest, most do nothing ways. Right now in your community are tons of organizations looking for people to actually help. I've restored nesting habitat for endangered birds. And I just happened to be able the beach when volunteers came around. That did more than stressing over what I bought ever did, and it was just hanging out at the beach. There are orgs for driving people to medical appointments. That can be an amazing impact on someone's life and on yourself (more than buying the right ketchup). Make yourself financially strong so that you can help others. Sacrificing your money to make a point is wasted virtue signaling. I mainly see people who shop correct/rescue animals as the most minimal helpers who want to feel they are helping. There is an old woman dieing crying in your town right now because she's overwhelmed and doesn't know how to get to an appointment she needs. An no one cares. But if I buy the right ketchup, that matters? If I drive 2 hours to save a dog (while the old woman dies crying and alone, unable to get to the doctor, a 15 minute trip) I'm a good person?