I first learned of Reverend Billy Talen and his Church of Stop Shopping in 2007, when my wife and I saw the docu-argumenta-comedy What Would Jesus Buy?
Holy cow—the whole movie is on YouTube:
Reverend Billy‘s anti-consumerist message is gleefully Christian, and in this year of pandemic, it can save lives. Just as the last place you should be this week on Thursday is crowded into a house with forty gobbling, unmasked people you haven’t seen since the olden times before coronavirus, the last place you should be this week on Friday is packed into Best Buy or The Gap buying stuff you don’t need.
I’d suggest staying home Friday and shopping online, but Reverend Billy is dedicating his 19th annual Black Friday protest to protesting Amazon’s covid-imperiling workplace practices.
Consumerism is as bad for us as conronavirus. We need scientists to come up with vaccines for coronavirus, but we can cure ourselves of consumerism. Support Reverend Billy. Support humanity. Support the true holiday spirit. Stay home this Thursday and Friday. Put the money you budgeted to spend Friday in your kids’ college account, in your emergency fund, or in someone else’s emergency fund.
Buy less, give more: the message made sense in 2007; it makes even more sense in 2020.
Ahhhh, such GOOD sense! Throw a few bucks ($$$) into a food bank at the same time for those not eating as well as you, too. Thanks for a good Thanksgiving message-so much more on point than our governor’s message!
I’m reminded of how in my family, we get the grand kids lots of toys over the years for Christmas, most of them purchased between Black Friday and Christmas. They play with them for only a day or two, and then they end up inside a toy box or, worse, broken. Not to mention shoppers getting violent with each other when the latest video game console or that “must have” doll is in short supply. The media also likes to hype the latest toys and clothing trends through repeated commercials on children’s TV networks and prime time shows, leading to the resulting shopping craze. It’s hard to change kids habits if all they want to watch on TV is Spongebob or Teen Titans Go which are filled with said toy ads.
If I go Black Friday shopping on a good year, I instead focus on the bizarre electronic gadgets that flood Menards and Dollar General. Everything from crappy Apple Watch clones to shameless bootleg knockoffs of Nintendo game consoles, I’ve seen a lot of crazy, cheaply produced electronic junk that Black Friday can bring.