…without a cause (or effect, thus far)
24 01 2009
http://www.ribbonwithoutacause.com/
So, as I plan this as more of a discussion than an article in it’s self, lets “gan down to business”…
I am in need of suggestions from this collective stupor for:
a) Something to do
b) A good reason to do it
Now, before you bunch of miscreants deliberately misinterpret my request, let me give you some idea of what I’m talking about and where this idea has come from.
After experiencing the strange hollow fulfilment of my very own foot-and-ball team snatching victory from the jaws of defeat by a more lowly band of bladder chasers, me and my co-horts watched one Mr Dave Gorman attempt to travel “unchained” across them there United States of America. This involved him trying to get from one coast to the other only giving money to “Mom and Pop” businesses and nothing to “The Man” (i.e. chain hotels, restaurants, petrol stations).
In the wake of the show we went on to discuss ideas for things we could do in the same vain as Mr Gorman. Whilst talking about possible quests I recalled something I had done this summer;
Before the Olympic Games of 2008 I decided that I was (and am) so opposed to the human rights record of The People’s Republic of China that I would refuse to watch any coverage of the Beijing Games. I see hosting this event as a reward to a nation and it didn’t appear to me that The PRC had done enough to deserve this honour, not to mention they’d even reneged on agreements made as conditional to holding said event. The IOC may have been willing to overlook this for the massive marketing opportunity, I was not.
Those who know me will realise what a task this would be normally, with me being such a colossal sports fan, but I thought “Surely that is the point. If it were easy it would be a less valuable statement”. Little did I realise that Team GB would do so well and that coverage would reach saturation point after the first couple of days, at times I just had to switch the TV and radio off and sit alone in silence as it seemed to pervade every show on every medium and even conversation in the nation.
My underestimation of this initial undertaking lead me to add another (to become mammoth) task to it. As I saw that these games were going ahead as (and chiefly because of) a massive marketing opportunity in the most populous nation in the world, I would subvert this in two ways. Firstly, I would never buy anything that had the 2008 Olympics logo on it and, secondly, I for the duration of the actual games I would not purchase anything from a company that was an official sponsor.
The long and the short of it is that, even though this task was hard, it felt worthwhile and challenging. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t document it or have anyway to publicise it (to get more people involved and/or make a noticeable impact). Now I don’t think that I can necessarily do that now, I am only one man and this is only one little site in the big sea of the interwebs, but I think it’s worth a try, if only for the personal challenge and things this might teach me/us.
So, there you go. Lets knock some ideas around, after a week or so I hope we’ll have something that’s doable and worth doing. Then we’ll lay down the task with all the rules and reasons and get it a-rolling.
13 Comments to …without a cause (or effect, thus far)
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Avoid KFC for ever! KFC’s suppliers treats chickens really badly – birds are so crippled that they can’t even walk, live birds are forced into tanks of scalding-hot water while completely conscious and able to feel pain, and in West Virginia, slaughterhouse workers kill birds by slamming them against the wall and stomping on them See http://action.peta.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=5&ea.campaign.id=1547
Ok, no KFC4Ever is now on my list…
So, during conversation with Gazz it was suggested that a month without Caffeine (in any form) could be an idea. Although Gazz did say I would be “on my own” with it.
Still doing the brain-wracking thing about worthy quests, but thought you might like to know that you can follow Dave Gorman on Twitter: http:\\www.twitter.com/dave_gorman
Avoiding something you don’t consume is neither a statement nor a challenge. I avoid KFC because it just plain tastes bad. Pizza would be better from the boycotting perspective, but I’m not aware of any unethical treatment of mozzarella or battery farming of tomatoes.
Here’s one:
What about clothing? What if the challenge is to buy only clothing that you *know* is responsibly manufactured, where workers are paid fairly and treated decently?
It’s harder than simply avoiding something you could do without – since clothing is something that everybody *has* to buy at some point – so we must do our research. And research is good because then we can publish our findings, pointing out which manufacturers are to be avoided and which ones are “StuporCollider Friendly” or whatever. (The point here being that I don’t want to read about how you avoided McD’s for the hundredth time. Instead I think there’s scope here for meatier articles.)
@mbooth -
Fair point, for the record I adore KFC but have, of late, found it less tastey as I’m thinking of all the wrongness it contains.
I completely agree regs it needing to be something dificult too. As I think I illustrated with my Olympics boycot, me being a HUGE sports fan, it really did hurt at times, but that’s surely the point.
Also, good point on the “publishing” side (damn I wish I could pick holes in your reasoning instead of praising your logic Mr Booth), doing something that is outside my current sphere of knowledge would lead to discovery, ergo something to inform about.
So, yes, all good points. Clothing is a good idea, problem is it’s not like I have to buy clothes very often, but that might be a good thing as it gives time for research too.
So I guess that’s a completely definate “I’m toying with the idea”. We have till the end of the week (well Sunday) to come up with ideas and I this is both a good idea and good points to think about…
PS, I’m not just automatically limit myself to one thing, I will decide (and be influenced collectively I’m sure) depending on the merit of each idea.
One more thought occurs to address the problem of not buying clothes often:
With the clothing, maybe you could challenge yourself to buy one full responsibly manufactured outfit for yourself or G-Bot (shoes socks pants trouser shirt coat hat — go nuts) and document the process. This gives you both an end goal to aim for and the personal satisfaction of voting with your wallet. ;-)
Ah, a very interesting idea. I like that. This could be a good way to get started. Going through each piece of clothing idividually, limiting myself to one piece from any specific supplier (meaning I can’t just find one campany and buy everything for there). I could do both a smart (for work) and casual (for rocking parties plus lols). Doing a male and female outfit would also be good, not sure G’Narr would wear anything I bought her (especially if it’s made of hemp:o) but a good expansion…
Now please say something silly so I can critise you and your ideas please :o)
..but serious, good one. I’m warming to this idea…
Rules thus far would be:
-Ethically sourced clothes.
-Male & Female outfits and/or Smart and Casual.
-One piece of clothing from each source.
Yes, no more than one item per supplier is a good idea. Also:
Bonus points if you find an outfit made entirely of cheese.
I’m liking the idea of Ado buying my clothes :-)
On my drive home today I was thinking of our little problem and came up with two ideas:
1 Why just stop at clothes? Why not make sure all the food items (are you sensing a theme here?) we buy are from ethical supplies i.e. freedom foods, fair trade etc.
2. How about we cut down the amount of money we spend every week/month and then the rest that we’d have saved can be donated to a charity or good cause.This has the advantage of being difficult (something you seem to thrive on) as we have to consider every purchase we make and also research good causes to decide which is the most deserving of our hard saved cash.
Ahh I misunderstood what you meant on the phone Mr Cooper, you’re not looking for ideas for a trip, but for a way to stick it to the “man”.
I’m not really sure at this point, I will think, but it has to be something tough, and something you tell people about, donating to charity isn’t hard, and it’s something everyone with some spare money should do, nor is it unusual enough, even in large quantities, to make people think about their own lifestyle, which is the positive aspect of Dave Gorman’s America Unchained.
It’s a noble thought, I will see if I can come up with some suggestions.
Anyone bought any clothes recently? Or did this thread (!) die a quiet death?
I bought some new boxers, although I couldn’t find fairtrade ones in ‘husky’ sizes.