I so feel your pain. I fight that exact same issue.

The links I'll list here may help. They inspire me, although not enough to
always keep me in the right mind.

http://www.massmind.org/techref/other/incompetence.htm How we ALL cause
violence through our incompetence.

http://www.massmind.org/techref/other/guilt.htm What we can do to reduce our
guilt

http://www.massmind.org/techref/ecommerce/xmas.htm Who stole Christmas? A
Rant. (no it isn't religious)

http://www.massmind.org/techref/other/ads.htm A new meaning for the word
"Advertisement" REALLY POWERFULL

http://www.massmind.org/techref/other/spins.htm The art of the spin 

http://www.massmind.org/techref/other/homefarms.htm How to stop feeding the
monster and start feeding ourselves.

http://www.themeatrix.com/ and
http://www.storewars.org A safe glance and what you are eating and why.
Believe me, the truth hurts. Don't take the red pill unless you are ready to
do something about it 'cause you will never eat eggs or chicken from the
super market again.

When I'm about to buy something I don't need, I try to either plant a fruit
tree, install something for my own sustainability (so far: wood stove,
hardwood floor, double pane windows, solar power system, chickens, fruit
trees, garden, whole house fan) or, if all else fails, I send the money to
these people instead.
http://www.heifer.org/ 

If I bid on something in eBay, I place one bid for the most I would be
willing to pay. My Outlook is setup with a rule that deletes all the outbid
notices so I never see them. If I get it, great, if I don't, great.

I subscribe to free cycle. My filter only shows me the items that are
wanted, or specific things that I need that are offered. E.g. firewood, we
need a kitchen stove, things like that.

I have really strong spam filtering and a hard fast rule that I will never
EVER buy anything I see spamvertised. Yeah, ok, I've broken that rule, but
not very often.

I would love to hear other ideas on how to be sustainable, reduce
consumerism, increase permaculture and live with a small footprint and no
guilt or violence through incompetence.

---
James Newton, massmind.org Knowledge Archiver 
james@massmind.org 1-619-652-0593 fax:1-208-279-8767 
All the engineering secrets worth knowing:
http://techref.massmind.org What do YOU know?


> -----Original Message-----
> From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu 
> [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of John Nall
> Sent: 2005 Aug 27, Sat 05:20
> To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
> Subject: [OT] Consumerism wins in the final analysis
> 
> I thought that I was immune to buying things that I don't 
> need, and thus had won my own personal battle against 
> consumerism (which I define as buying something you do not 
> need).  But I bought a Belkin WAP the other day, it didn't 
> work correctly, and I called their technical support to try 
> and iron out the problem.  After about a 20-minute 
> conversation, the tech rep came to the conclusion that it was 
> a faulty unit and agreed to ship me a new one.  So far, so 
> good.  But then I  got an email from Belkin asking me to fill 
> out a survey form on the quality of the technical support 
> that I got.  Fine.  I did.  I gave the tech rep high marks 
> (mostly because she agreed with me that the unit was not 
> functioning properly).  The next day I received another 
> email, thanking me for participating in the survey, and 
> giving me a "coupon number" 
> which would entitle me to a 50% discount if I bought 
> something on-line from Belkin by August 26th.  Sounded good, 
> except that I didn't need anything.  But then August 26th 
> rolled around, and I began to rationalize . . . after all, 
> the router that I have COULD go bad, and wouldn't it be neat 
> to have one just sitting in the box, ready to plug-and-go?  
> And 50% off!  Finally gave in and ordered a new router.  
> Which I do not need.  Comsumerism wins. :-(
> 
> John
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