After careful consideration, I have decided that the 24 Hour Economic Blackout is bullshit. [View all]

[PeaceWave]

I wanted to like the idea. Hell, I myself proposed something similar not long after the election. That said, this thing was extremely poorly thought out. And, I have two primary reasons for saying this...

(1) To begin with, several stores that sell essentials (i.e., food) offer deep discounts only on Fridays. For instance, Albertsons/Safeway, with its 2,300 stores, has all of its best grocery deals only on Fridays. And, trust me, when I say these are good deals. I consider myself an extremely shrewd shopper and I estimate that I routinely save 30-40% on my bill whenever I shop at Safeway on a Friday as opposed to any other day of the week. And, I'm not alone in targeting the day of the week when I shop for groceries. Every worker at Safeway with whom I've spoken has told me that the store gets twice as many customers on Friday. So, this Economic Blackout is not only asking me to miss out on these deals, but to likely also return to the same store the following day and pay 30-40% more for the same items - Which would have the counter-intuitive effect of only enriching the store that much more. You really want to ask people who are already living on tight margins to go this route? Seriously, someone didn't think this thing out all the way through.

(2) Sale prices aside, saying you're going to protest food prices by not buying food for one arbitrary day actually makes absolutely no economic sense - Since you're simply going to make up for what you didn't buy that one day by purchasing more some other day. The economic impact on the grocery chain is zero. Now, if you really want to hurt their bottom line, get your fucking hands dirty. By that, I mean GROW SOMETHING. I say this as a gardener. Planting season is nearly upon us. Every spring, my own family plants tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, snap peas (my personal favorite), melons, etc. This is addition to the stone fruit trees we harvest every summer. It doesn't take a big piece of property to produce your own produce. And, even if you have no property at all, there are community gardens and gardening collectives you can join, contribute to and benefit from. The environment will love you. Your body will thank you.

So, in summation, pick another day of the week and I can get on board with a 24 Economic Blackout. But, even then, symbolic gestures are no match for real action and real physical effort. It's a sign of the times that too many people now confuse inaction (mostly conducted behind a computer screen and splattered across social media) for real world effect. The most effective "protestors" I know are gardeners. They wield power not with guns, but with shovels and spades. Something to chew on this Thursday.