In Reply to: Why don't you just not eat there? posted by Parker Matthews on May 24, 1996 at 19:28:32:
: Hello, I just saw your site.: ...why don't you just not eat there?
Getting to the root of this argument is fundamental to a critique
of consumerist capitalism. The idea that changing your patterns of
consumption can act as a sort of consumerist vote is a seductive one,
and if it were true then today's power structures - with large corporations
holding more power and money than very many governments - might be a
little more sympathetic to the views of those people who take the trouble
to think about relevant issues.However, the media presence of these
corporations, and their vast advertising budgets (and if you really
believe that advertising does not influence what people buy, then why do
the really BIG corporations spend so much on it - they must
have a reason which makes it worth their outlay) means that most
people do not take the time to think through issues which do require
a fairly committed search for information if you are going to get a balanced
picture. McSpotlight can help to correct this situation.'Why don't you just not eat there?' - I don't. But the argument is
more fundamental than that. It's not that I don't like the
food. It's that I don't like the power that they wield without
consideration for those it affects. Power without responsibility
needs to be challenged - that's why anyone ever came up with a 'right'
of freedom of speech in the first place.Well. Did that make any sense to anyone except me?
Eric
None.