'Buy Nothing Day as Advent Activism Against the Demon Mammon'

A 34-year-old Wal-mart worker was trampled to death. A young woman miscarried in the same frenzy. Two folks were shot in the Toys-R-Us. Fights broke out in stores around the country as people stepped on each other to save $40 on a plasma TV.
Some of the media stories simply looked in horror on the crowds, calling them “savages” and such things. But there are much deeper questions we must ask. We must ask questions of class, race, inequality, and the dynamics that create killing stampedes at Wal-marts. And certainly greed may look different inside the Neiman Marcus, but that does not mean it is any less dangerous or evil.
Suddenly the theatrics don’t seem like hyperbole –- the documentaries on the “affluenza epidemic” are not so far-fetched. The antics of theological stuntsters like Rev. Billy preaching about the “Shopocalypse” and casting demons out of Wal-marts don’t seems so over-the-top. It does seem we are up against a demon … Mammon.

Read Shane Claiborne's full article here.

Advent Conspiracy

Just watched this. Someone (probably Dave or Marcus?) posted it on the Seeds website.

Reflections from Laneway Labyrinth

This is some of the stuff people talked about while we debreifed the Laneway Labyrinth walk over supper on Thursday night:

• Contrast between what's going on out the front of places (shops, hotels, restaurants, bars) and what's going on out the back. Often when we visit these places we don't think about who's working out the back, or the kind of conditions they're working in.
• The immense amount of stuff we throw out. We import all this stuff, often produced by people who don't have enough to eat, and then we chuck a lot of it out anyway!
• A sense that God is not just in the nice, safe, well-lit places that our society celebrates, but also in the dark, dirty places where our society hides it's less attractive aspects.
• We don't have to go far to encounter God. God is right here.
  

'Happiness is in your choices'

I've been reading Colossians Remixed, a book that attempts to interpret Paul's letter to the church of Colossae in it's original context, and in the context of postmodernity and the global economy.
Early on in the book the authors write about how postmodernity and globalisation work together despite seeming incompatible, because both see people primarily as 'units of consumption for whom choice is the defining characteristic.' (p32)
I came across this advertisment the other day, and I think it demonstrates this idea quite well:

In rememberance

A few weeks back the Nike store closed down. I took some pictures of Tomsy mourning at the site where the store once was:

Apparently they didn't actually make any profit from the store's sales - but the shop was mostly for advertising.

Coke and water

I've just done a post on Advoc8 about Coke's water use. Click here to read it.

Coke's Christmas promises

Have done a post at advoc8 about Coca-Cola's Christmas advertising campaign. Click here to read it.

Dumpster diving

Saturday night I went dumpster diving with Barry, Ash, Ross and Pete. Barry, Ash and Ross do it all the time, and get pretty much everything they eat from dumpster diving. They basically took us on a tour of the inner northern suburbs, in the van that they live in. Barry was saying it was like being in Bangladesh, because the sky was grey from the bushfires, but the sun was so bright and hot.

The bin at the first place we went to was full of cases of pancake mix. I didn't really want any, because if I was going to make pancakes I'd prefer make them myself out of normal ingredients, rather than using a mixture that's full of preservatives and artificial flavours and stuff, but the guys insisted that I had to take some.
There wasn't any food in the next dumpster we went to, but there were an awful lot of books. I grabbed a heap of hardcover books with Korean writing on them, because I use hardcover books for making journals and sketchbooks to give to people. Also got a paperback copy of Catch 22.
Next we went to a bakery. There was a whole dumpster full of stale bread.

At the next surpermarket we went to, the dumpsters were locked, but they're pretty experienced at opening dumpsters, so we get a whole heap of lamb cutlets, lamb chops, beef steaks and kangaroo, as well as some capsicums and really big bag of pizza bread. While we were getting stuff out of the dumpster a guy and a girl came up to us because they were looking for food as well, so we said that we'd take it back to the van and divide it with them.

We all went to another supermarket across the road and it was unbeliveable how much good food they'd thrown out there. There was a watermelon, three jackfruit, heaps of potatoes, eggplant... We had to put it all in a shopping trolley.

After that we took all the stuff back to the house of the people we met, and divided up what we'd gotten, and ate the watermelon and a sponge cake with them and their housemates. We hung around there for a fair while talking about the ethics of consumption, and when we left one of them gave us a big bag of organic lemons from his mum's lemon tree.
When I got back home with my share of the food, I actually chucked a fair bit of it out again. The others had insisted that I take a whole heap of the pizza bread, and hadn't really gotten that I wouldn't be able to eat it because it's so oily and would make me feel sick. So I had to chuck that out. There was so basil, which still had roots, so I planted that in the herb garden. And there were three capsicums and ten potatoes, which I washed, and will probably cook tomorrow. And there's a loaf of sourdough bread, which I've been using.
I admire that freegans are using a whole heap of stuff that would otherwise be wasted, but I'm not sure that freeganism offers much of a long-term solution to the problem of how much food gets wasted. I think it's good that people are choosing to try and participate as little as they can in the corrupt economy (corrupt because if something isn't sold it's disposed of), but by living off the waste people are still dependant of that corruption. I think it'd probably be better for people to be using freegan tactics, but also growing their own food or consuming responsibly (eg. local and organic products).
But that's just what I reckon. What about you?

Isolate yourself

Saw this on the way back from the market this morning. Reminded me of a discussion I was involved in recently, where someone was talking about her brother being given a portable DVD player for Christmas, and how that encouraged him to spend less time with other people.
It's going pretty crazy in the city now, because it's getting close to Christmas. There's fake stars everywhere. (You often can't see the real ones around here at night, because of air and light pollution.)

Noticed that some of the Christmas advertising is encouraging isolation too:

This evening I started reading Paul's letter to the Philippians. This bit particularly stood out to me:

Brethren, together follow my example and observe those who live after the pattern we have set for you.
For there are many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, who walk (live) as enemies of the cross of Christ (the Anointed One).
They are doomed and their fate is eternal misery (perdition); their god is their stomach (their appetites, their sensuality) and they glory in their shame, siding with earthly things and being of their party.
(Philippians 3:17-19)

Was thinking about how easy it is for us to live simply to consume (whether it's food or music or drugs or whatever), particularly in a culture that values sensation so much, and where all that matters is the surface.

Brunswick and back

Went out to this exhibition opening in Brunswick this evening. Got Tomsy to take this on the tram. (The tram was quite crowded, and I wasn't in a good position to take a picture.)

I didn't find the exhibition all that interesting, so I didn't stay that long. Walked home along Sydney Road, and saw this:

Seemed like something out of Blade Runner or some other cyberpunk film. I've been quite amazed recently at the lengths people are going to to in order to try and get us to buy their rubbish. I suppose car companies would be pretty desperate to sell stuff, seeing as less and less people are going to be able to afford to drive, as all the oil runs out...
Also saw this:

Portents in the heavens

Was down in Centreway this afternoon taking some photos, which I'm thinking I might use for a drawing or painting or installation piece.

The Melbourne Central code

See any resemblance? Nathan reckons they don't resemble each other because there's less disciples in the Melbourne Central version. I don't reckon that matters because the composition is pretty much the same and everything. Now I just have to work out how the Illuminati or Freemasons or whoever fit in...

Dumb poverty

As winter sets in, this poor woman has no clothes to wear because she has spent all her money on jewellery.

Coke evangelism and other train station stuff

All the bins at Flinders Street Station have been replaced with transparent ones, so it's easier to see if someone's put a bomb in them or whatever:


When I was at the same station on Saturday, I noticed that Coke had a stage set up where they were giving away free drinks. They were actually yelling out slogans through a megaphone.

Some of us around here have been talking a bit about how similar the new Coke campaign (Why can't relationships come with a gap year? Why can't we have a big money job with zero responsibilities?) is to the offers the devil makes to Jesus during his forty days in the desert.

The devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.'
Jesus answered, 'It is written: "Man does not live on bread alone."'
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.'
Jesus answered, 'It is written: "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only."'
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 'If you are the Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down from here. For it is written:

'"He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."'

Jesus answered, 'It says: "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."'
(Luke 4:3-12)

Coke and the devil both seem to be offering no limits, without any consequences.
I also wonder whether the only thing the new Coke contains that is actually good for someone's body is water, seeing as it contains no sugar.

Took this while I was waiting at Burnley, for the Glen Waverly train, so I could go and get my wallet, which was handed in at The Glen:


And when I got to Glen Waverly I noticed these on the train platform:

Green & Gold Slurpee controversy

As you may or may not know, there is a Commonwealth Games Act (which I've found impossible to access online), which prohibits people from carrying certain items at Commonwealth Games venues, including skateboards, unauthorised recording equipment and voice amplification devices.
Something you may be more likely to know, (considering how hot it was in Melbourne today) is that 7 Eleven are giving 15c from every Green & Gold Slurpee they sell to our Commonwealth Games heroes.

However, 7 Eleven are also encouraging their customers to breach the Commonwealth Games Act by turning their Slurpee cups into megaphones, in order to 'cheer on our Aussies'!

Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lent is the forty days before Easter Sunday (not counting the Sundays), which is traditionally a time for 'reflection, repentance and resolve to live differently.' (That's from Mark's Lenten Reflections 06)
Been thinking a lot recently about how we can look after the God's creation, which we depend on, and are part of. So I'm going to try and go without meat for Lent, largely because it takes so much land to produce meat. Not only do livestock take up the land they live on, they also take up the land needed to grow their food. I'm also going to go without alcohol, but I don't want to be obsessive about either.

Who's the addict?

One question we asked a few times this week at Urban Seed was, 'Who's the addict?'
Twenty-five percent of Melbourne's heroin use takes place in the laneway behind Collins Street Baptist Church. At the same time, near the front entrance, someone is spending thousands of dollars on a shirt or tie. However, these two addictions are seen very differently.
This led to talking about how our addictions to consumption effect other people (like the people who make our clothes or grow our coffee) and the idea of getting addicted to good things, like prayer or reading scripture or recycling. Marcus told us about this guy who got off heroin by getting addicted to Catholicism.
At lunch yesterday I talked to a guy who's been off heroin for seven months, with the help of more socially acceptable drugs: alcohol and marijuana. He's hoping to eventually get down to just tobacco, and then give that up too.

Shopping for community?

On the weekend I heard someone suggest that people might spend so much time in shopping centres and malls because they want to be around other people and thus feel like they are part of a community. (I think it was from Trav's CD of Erwin McManus' Brisbane seminar, on the way back from Cobden.) I remember that when I lived in Melbourne I used to go to Knox City a lot when I was feeling lonely, to be around other people, even though I ususally didn't know any of them.

How amusment

Sean has started a blog, which is quite good. Gareth and Alt Tab (as in my housemate) have also started blogs, which are quite good, but I hadn't explicitly mentioned yet. Gareth's blog is the only decent blog on MSN Spaces, and probably justifies it's existence.

Another thing I find dangerously amusing is Hydro Lite Mineral Water™. However, I do not find Hydro Lite Mineral Water™ particularly amusing because of its falvour or wetness, or even because it is particularly Lite. It's not even because each unit contains 1.4 servings. (That's right, you can use it to serve 1.4 people.)
However, it is the packaging that sets this mineral water apart from other mineral waters. It doesn't exactly come in a bottle. It doesn't exactly come in a can either. It comes in this thing that is not quite sure whether to be a bottle or a can. It is mostly like a bottle, except with the neck cut off and the top of an aluminium can stuck on the end, and that my friends (not to alienate any non-firends who may be reading) is why I choose Hydro Lite Mineral Water™.
You can get it at Coles. If you live in Melbourne, Canberra or Sydney, you can even buy it online.