For Australian readers who may not know what “Black Friday” is, it is the Friday following Thanksgiving in the US. On that day, shops offer huge discount sales, and American shoppers go nuts….. This piece is reblogged from http://notbuyinganything.blogspot.com.au/ but I thought of Australian Christmas shopping when I read it…..
Enjoy.
Black Friday (Blue Pill) vs Buy Nothing Day (Red Pill)
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| Blue Pill enjoy shopping and blissful ignorance. Red Pill stop shopping, start living, be free. |
The Shoppingtrix
NBAeus: Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to Not Buying Anything. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Neo: Consumerism.
NBAeus: Yes. Consumerism is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work… when you go to church… when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
NBAeus: That you are more than a worker drone and consumer, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into wage slavery, consumer debt, and an endless shopping cycle. Into lifestyles that are excessive, unsustainable, and unlikely to bring happiness. The truth is out there, but it is your choice whether to accept it or not.
The Choice
Take the blue pill and you take the easy way out. You will ignore harsh realities and live in blissful ignorance.
You brave the elements and traffic jams to do your Black Friday shopping with thousands of other frantic bargain hunters. You continue consuming and do not notice that you are not happy. Ecological limits, notions of our fair share of the Earth’s resources, and moderation don’t exist for you. You desire more.
You will observe Buy Nothing Day and spend the day doing things that actually make you happy. You awake to the fact that the thing wrong with the world is conspicuous consumption and greed. You see the individuals and institutions that are destroying life and freedom, and you develop ways to distance yourself from them. You desire simplicity.
Go with the red pill and you prefer the truth, no matter how gritty and painful it may be, because you know it is the way to freedom.
An ancient Zen philosopher said something that relates to what happens if we choose the red pill. The philosopher talked about how he did not do what other people do, did not have what other people have, and did not think the way other people think.
He was talking about how he was different from those who choose the blue pill.
“Do not think the red pill is easy” the free-thinking philosopher warned, “because to take it is to walk through a pit of fire.” I have found this to be true in my own life, and I have the burn marks on the soles of my feet to show for it.
It is hard going against the grain, but the rewards for doing so are ample and worthwhile. Don’t listen to advertisers that are blue pill pushers. Listen to your soul. Answer its pleas and choose the red pill.
NBAeus: This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
You take the red pill – you continue to visit Not Buying Anything and I show you how joyous simplicity can be.
Damn the Matrix 