Even if i saw that i think i would have assumed he was taking the piss but anyway that plan obviously lasted about as long as it took him to get thirsty as his subsequent posts made clear
It’s on the cheese thread. He back tracked to ‘well, maybe a couple early doors’ within the space of about 2 posts like.
You're f*cking bang on in all these posts my man. I was already trying to tune myself out and unplug from the superficial, corporate and consumer driven world and change aspects of my life and habits from certain forms and patterns of behaviour that I knew in myself were just falling into the sphere of being a good little consumer and just another shill, but lockdown has made me fundamentally reassess many things in my life, how I want to live, what's important, what I do and don't need, how much freedom I want, it's honestly like waking up ... I don't think I was that much of a 'McPerson' to begin with but there are things I used to do that I'll likely never return to now
I think it's opened a lot of people's eyes to the castle made of sand that is the consumer based economy. We are constantly drip fed the narrative of buying **** that none of us really need. It's ingrained into shaping who we are, how we value ourselves and how our social status is measured. And all of it is bollocks. When you look around the world something like 3 billion people live on less than $1 per day, that's nearly half of the world's population. The disparity between rich and poor is ****ing obscene, and yet most people in wealthy countries are blind to it all, slavishly following the corporate messages of 'buy buy buy' And where has it got us ? We have a disgustingly disfigured distribution of wealth where the 1% own more than half of the world's wealth and the constant drive to consume more and more has left the planet on the precipice of ecological disaster. We have a bit of a laugh on here at my rock spotting, second hand trainer wearing, Courgette growing, seaweed foraging, hippy ways. But that's me doing things differently. I don't claim to be outside of the system, but I'm actively working to make sure myself and my family are not completely reliant on 'the system' as this all unfolds in the future.
I've never seen you as a hippy. I expect you live in a nice house, in a nice location, driving a nice vehicle, riding a decent bike. You are part of that consumer based economy, I'm not really sure, why you see yourself any different. I used to grow all my own garden fruit and veg, it certainly never made me a hippy, just because I grew courgettes.
Yeah I'm a part of the system, already said as much. And yes I used to live very much the consumer lifestyle when I lived in London and even when I first moved down here. I had a good job and a £40k+ salary and I'd buy **** without really thinking about what sort of impact it was having. All those things you mention, yes I have a nice bike, a decent van and yes I live in a wonderful part of the country, although it's a very modest little house etc. All of my stuff is second hand though, I suppose I take advantage of other's need to consume and buy new things, as they cast their old stuff off for a pittance. But yeah, I'm in the system. I'm trying to make efforts to be more self sufficient and I don't just mean growing veg. But it's a process rather than just deciding to 'drop out' .
I think like lfc said, this lockdown has been an eye opener for a lot of people. In as much as the world still spins even when the factories, ships, airlines etc are all stationary. And I think for a lot of people it's made them re-evaluate what's really important in life; health, food and companionship. They are pretty fundamental tenants of life that we all need. And it was all brought into sharp focus during the lockdown. I honestly think we've got far bigger challenges down the line in terms of climate change. If we thought running out of bog roll and hand sanitiser was a problem, then we are going to have to get ourselves prepared for some pretty massive shifts in our lifestyles if crops fail, food supply chains break, sea levels rise and there is mass migration due to some parts of the world becoming uninhabitable. I'm just trying to get my head around it all and see what I can live without to be honest. I'm involved in a couple of projects down here around future food security on a local level. Partly that is to do with geographical location, because even a small chink in the armour can affect supplies when you live right on the fringes of the country, but partly it's about trying to set up some systems that utilise the wealth of food around us. We're surrounded by agriculture and we've got the sea on both sides, so we have access to great resources. It's just the systems that are set up at the moment send most of it up country or abroad.
I came from a a poor background, so I consider myself very lucky what I have now. One of the arguments I always had against the materialistic world was once the supply chain breaks down, all hell will let loose. We had become a global economy, and that works fine, until things go wrong and you no longer have 'just in time.' I believe the supply chain was nearer to breaking point, then anyone let on, but that's understandable, because as soon has a negative message get's out, panic sets in. ALL countries, need to be more self sufficient, we have got to stop relying on a global economy. In good times you can have it, but you always have to prepare for the worst. I think it's fooking crazy the amount of trade we give to China on every level, we need to start reigning this back in. Nothing personal against China or the Chinese people, but through the economy we ave allowed China to do what they want (Hong Kong) we need to manufacture more of our own goods, and it's an absolute disgrace what has happened to our steel industry. We have to move away from the logic of cheaper is best. In some ways we still encourage a slave trade, by getting products made abroad, where people are paid a pittance as a wage. It's an even bigger insult, when you realise that the banks operate in the same way (operational centres - non customer contact), while reaping in multimillion pound profits.
International trade has given us the lifestyles we've all become accustomed to though, and it's lots of ways its a good thing as it allows all sorts of ideas, science sharing, medicine, arts and culture etc to thrive too. But yes, it's basic manufacturing premise is based on production at the cheapest levels, both for labour and materials. Which results in loads of exploitation of both poor people and the natural world.
