I'm not sure what to think about this? - Not One Dime Day

[rosie_one]

I got this e-mail yesterday from a friend... I'm just not sure about it. My intention with this thread is not to argue for or against the war or to get people's political dander up. My question is: is this an effective way to protest a war? What do you guys think?



Not One **** Dime Day - Jan 20, 2005

Since our religious leaders will not speak out against the war in
Iraq, since our political leaders don't have the moral courage to oppose it, Inauguration Day, Thursday, January 20th, 2005 is "Not One **** Dime Day" in America.

On "Not One **** Dime Day" those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending.

During "Not One **** Dime Day" please don't spend money. Not one **** dime for gasoline. Not one **** dime for necessities or for impulse purchases.

Not one **** dime for nothing for 24 hours.

On "Not One **** Dime Day," please boycott Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target...
Please don't go to the mall or the local convenience store. Please don't buy any fast food (or any groceries at all for that matter).

For 24 hours, please do what you can to shut the retail economy down.
The object is simple. Remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it and that it is their responsibility to stop it.

"Not One **** Dime Day" is to remind them, too, that they work for the people of the United States of America, not for the international corporations and K Street lobbyists who represent the corporations and funnel cash into American politics.

"Not One **** Dime Day" is about supporting the troops. Now 1,200
brave young Americans and an estimated 100,000 Iraqis have died. The
politicians owe our troops a plan - a way to come home.

There's no rally to attend. No marching to do. No left or right wing agenda to rant about. On "Not One **** Dime Day" you take action by doing nothing.

You open your mouth by keeping your wallet closed. For 24 hours,
nothing gets spent, not one **** dime, to remind our religious leaders and our politicians of their moral responsibility to end the war in Iraq and give America back to the people.

Please share this email with as many people as possible

[MrsReber]

Kind of weird, I think. There are much better ways to protest, I would think. Besides, it's certainly not very practical and the message won't reach everyone so I can't see how it'd be effective. I'm not sure I see the correlation between not spending a dime and moral responsibility. I'm sure our leaders are aware of the different views on the Iraq situation.

[Angelina]

It sounds a little harebrained to me. How is me not spending any money on that day going to help anyone or show that I am against the war? If only the people who get this email know about it, who else is going to know? Besides the fact that not going to my local mom-&-pop bakery to buy a loaf of bread isn't going to hurt anyone in power. Just mom-&-pop.

Angela

[mbrogier]

I'm with Angelina. I would love to yank some sense into the government, but I don't want to jeopardize any local workers or business owners. Yes, Target is a huge company, but my local target is run by local people just like me. I'm sure Al Quaida would LOVE for our economy to crash. I don't want to jeopardize our economy that is becoming more stable.

I think our efforts would be better spend writing to our congressional leaders and sending care packages to our soldiers. I may not like the fact that they have to be there, but I can still let them know that I care about them.

[blazedog]

I don't see any problems with it as a form of protest.

It's one day of spending -- I go for many days without spending money so what's the big deal.

Since 40% of the population still supports the war in Iraq plenty of people won't participate. Also not everyone who doesn't support the war will participate.

I've read of this being used by other groups to illustrate their numbers and potential economic clout.

[rosie_one]

I thought it strange too. I get the idea that spending $ = power. But, even if you could get enough people to participate on Jan. 20th to significantly impact sales numbers, how will one day's sales reciepts really prove the point they are trying to get across? I can't see that it is an effective threat. Maybe I'm missing something.

Plus, the more that I look at it, the grammar is pretty poor, good ideas do come with poor grammar sometimes, but hmm... "not one darn dime for nothing". Anything, please, not one darn dime for anything.

[Chefzhat]

Blazedog, I'll bet you don't go one day without spending money. If you use your gas, electric, and telephone you've spent money. You just haven't taken it out of your pocket. You'd have to go off the grid in order to completely avoid spending any money.

[rosie_one]

Blazedog, do you have examples of other uses of this strategy? (I don't doubt what you're saying. I'm just curious.) I can imagine it being useful as a direct protest... we think Stuff Mart is evil and is going to ruin our town, so we won't ever shop at Stuff Mart and will convince everyone we know not to shop there. But I'm unsure if it would work in this context.

[jmarie]

Reminds me of the "Don't Buy Gasoline For One Day" email that went around when the prices started going up. :rolleyes:
Joyce

[blazedog]

Rosie -- There are of course the obvious boycotts that were used against the bus system in Montgomery Alabama (I think) during the Civil Rights Movement and the grape boycott of my youth during the unionization efforts. But per your post these are directed against the target of the evil doing so to speak.

It was something I read in passing awhile ago -- I think it was an email sent to me -- urging people who thought a certain way to restrain from buying for one day. I wasn't interested so it didn't register.

I am generally to busy to actually spend money most days so it blipped off my consciousness -- and of course per an earlier post, I can't literally stop consuming even if I boycott spending for a day.

[jellyben]

Originally posted by jmarie
Reminds me of the "Don't Buy Gasoline For One Day" email that went around when the prices started going up. :rolleyes:
Joyce

It reminded me of that too. One fellow on TV at the time commented that to really make an impact on the price of oil, you can't say "I won't buy gas on Tuesday", you have to say "I won't buy gas ever".

I can't imagine this boycott having one smidgeon of impact on the war.

[scout1222]

I don't think this is an effective way to protest. First, me not going to Target today (or any day) doesn't really have much to do with my views on the government. Why should I penalize Target?

But then again, if I'm just not going to Target THAT day (but will go the next) I'm not really penalizing anyone, since I'll eventually go and spend whatever I was going to.

I think shop outs and gas outs are stupid. I think there are better ways to get complaints and issues addressed. Unless, of course, you are specifically boycotting a company you dislike AS A MATTER OF PRACTICE, and not just for one day. Then you are speaking with your dollars, and that makes sense.

[lindrusso]

Well, I checked to see if Snopes had anything to say on this one and they are still investigating.

This smells like a hoax to me. It will be interesting to see what Snopes finds out.

For all we know, someone with ulterior motives (or no motives at all save for some hijinx) started this email. And now that legitimage news sources have been shown to run with bogus stories from the internet.....anything can gain more "credibility" these days. :rolleyes:

[Chefzhat]

Originally posted by blazedog
I am generally to busy to actually spend money most days so it blipped off my consciousness -- and of course per an earlier post, I can't literally stop consuming even if I boycott spending for a day.

I wasn't actually picking on you per se, just using your post as an example of how this boycott is too vague to be effective.

Specific boycotts (such as the bus boycott) can and are effective ways of protesting.

You know, as I'm typing this - doesn't the word "boycott" look funny? I keep trying to spell it so it looks right to me and it just isn't happening. :)

[hlao23]

Originally posted by rosie_one
Blazedog, do you have examples of other uses of this strategy?

Adbusters www.adbusters.org has pushed a "Buy Nothing Day" every year on the day after Thanksgiving. I think they even run TV spots.

[Robyncz]

I got this e-mail yesterday from a well-meaning friend and promptly deleted it. I really don't get the point. Maybe if you were protesting rampant consumerism, boycotting all retail for a day might make sense. But I really don't see how boycotting retail is a relevant protest of the government or the war.

[Jazzmatazz49]

I delete all emails like that one, I figure they're a bit harebrained. I could see a focused boycott for months at a time, but one day isn't going to amount to much. I can empathize with the frustration of the person who dreamed it up though.

[colleency]

The problem I have with boycotts like this, in addition to what has already been mentioned: people who don't happen to go the store on that day are included in the protest, even if they're not protesting.

[beacooker]

Originally posted by colleency
The problem I have with boycotts like this, in addition to what has already been mentioned: people who don't happen to go the store on that day are included in the protest, even if they're not protesting.

I saw a blurb in a magazine about some cancer organization (or maybe it was a heart organization?) having some kind of 'wear red on Valentine's day' promotion. Seems pretty silly, when lots of people wear red on Valentine's day already.

[rosie_one]

Originally posted by colleency
The problem I have with boycotts like this, in addition to what has already been mentioned: people who don't happen to go the store on that day are included in the protest, even if they're not protesting.

Ha! I didn't think of that. So if you are pro war it becomes "buy something" day in opposition. How goofy is that?

DH and I did have an interesting conversation spinning off of this issue though. It is a bit difficult to not spend ANY money for us. I have to pay the parking meters outside my son's pre-school, for instance. We ran through what we spent that day and between us came up with 9 purchases. All pretty minor, but still. Oy.

[Chefzhat]

Isn't it wierd? It's really hard to be a "non-consumer" for a day.