So let’s say you wanna buy some clothes…
As a hip, frugal person with limited funds you want to buy the best quality item, reflecting the most fashion sense, for the best price. But you have morals that prevent you from buy just any old place. So let’s look at the options available to you:
Department Stores: - if you can get past the child/slave labour that most of these chains use to produce their clothes you won’t get past their alliances with immoral segments of society. (Attention: Homophobes do not shop at Wal-Mart!) So I guess that put them out.
Salvation Army or MCC Thrift Store: -Well the stores certainly meet the frugal intentions and they seem to support some fine causes. But a few moral dilemmas start to emerge. Is it right for me to buy clothing that I can easily afford and in essence deny others who are poorer from doing the same? Is it right to only direct my resources to only those organizations that follow my religious or sectarian beliefs? What about quality? Is used clothing really the best possible way I can spend money on clothes?
Wait for a sale at the Gap, Randy River, LeChateau: Okay fine maybe you’ve solved some quality issues here and maybe some of these companies are trying to address global social inequities but are you really ready to support the stores that encouraged teeny boppers to wear handkerchiefs as tops a mere three years ago? I mean this is a case of supporting increasing sexualized and degrading styles, isn’t it?
Value Village – ah yes that bastion of bible college dorm wear. Let’s see. Quality - - uhhh OK. Charitable responsibility – check. Recycling – check. Cool funky smell when you walk into the store – check. Looks pretty good! Oh crap wait a second all the clothes are second hand or left over stock from all these other stores that we have just listed so…
Buy some yarn at Michaels and make your own clothes…well you might get shot!
I’ve decided to go naked.
I don’t know when our focus is on exclusion and avoidance of evil, we miss the opportunity that the power of redemption has. Sometimes they may look similar but often our actions will look very different when we become redeemers instead of accusers…
5 comments:
The yarn at Michaels is probably made by slave labour. The food at the grocery stores is probably steroid "enhanced." I haven't seen too many businesses that live up to "perfect" moral and ethical standards. I am with you Dale, I am going naked, but I think I better move to the wilderness and eat wild locusts and honery as well.
agghh. why bother moving to the wildernes....we are in the wilderness. what would be so different about a naked man walking downtown in any urban centre then what we already see walking around (girls in hankerchiefs). that is, unless they have some sort of forgetful disorder and they forget to put their shirts on in the morning. who knows really. but i will put my vote in for nakedness. somedays i couldn't be bothered to pick out clothes to wear that day. i'm pretty sure its all overrated.
It seems there are so many things that I need to avoid. Aspertame, non-fair trade coffee, American Softwood, gen. modified carrots, and video games. There should be a publication of all of the banned substances, then we could all know all the rules of the religion of socially responsibility.
Our obligation is not to boycott. I myself am not going to put Wal-Mart out of business. But our consumerism does have power. We must communicate with companies that social responsibility is important to us via comment cards, etc. If we all made royal pains of ourselves as customers we're more likely to be heard that as protesters. And reward companies that are doing this with your patronage and comment cards (eg. IKEA or Apple are very responsible companies.....and just plain cool).
well hopefully our aim is not to be obnoxious but i think i get your point. If we are interested in working redemptively in the world we have to engage it somehow. Perhaps comment cards effective - but being naked would make an interesting point too! :) Let's hope it does not come to that for everyone's sake.
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