AZILENIRE

Occupy this holiday season: supporting independent retailers has never been so important.

The Occupy Movement, although agreeably sometimes vague in its literal demands, has successfully demanded, and succeeded in receiving, one important and potentially pivotal thing: attention. People are paying attention, no matter their knowledge or care for finance; no matter their respective financial situations. The movement has become so noticed that large banks have finally pulled back fees imposed on debit card users. The movement has become so public that lawmakers are now pushing to pass laws that will enable bank customers to more easily switch to a new bank should they find a bank they feel meets their needs better. The movement spawned Bank Transfer Day, which was November 5th, and as the holidays approach us, the movement has created an awareness among consumers of the corrupt financial system at play in the U.S.A.—an awareness that was not this acutely present before.

The holidays mean something different for everyone. But whether they conjure up images of home-cooked expanses of food or crackling fires within you is of little concern for the Giant Corporations that depend on and plan for this time of the year. These corporations have devised so many mechanisms to be sure they continually out-sell their previous year holiday sales that escaping the lure requires absolute intention.

You are a part of a market and your market has been researched. And with privacy settings awry all over the internet, I swear to you, you have been researched. Your tastes have been identified, developed, and pseudo-satiated by Giant Corporations and, no matter the law, these entities are nothing other than a machine; operating purely by formula and persevering because of the inherent inertia present in any machine this large and productive: it will keep moving at this point, on its own, unless it breaks or becomes obsolete.

The machine churns out products year-round, relying on our consumption of the products in order to finance next year’s products. These products are made by the masses, usually in factories overseas, oftentimes in China. They are made cheaply and their making doesn’t actually support our economy.

(sup·port)

1. To bear the weight of, especially from below.2. To hold in position so as to keep from falling, sinking, or slipping.3. To be capable of bearing; withstand: “His flaw’d heart … too weak the conflict to support” (Shakespeare).4. To keep from weakening or failing; strengthen: The letter supported him in his grief.5. To provide for or maintain, by supplying with money or necessities.6. To furnish corroborating evidence for: New facts supported her story.)

It supports the Very Rich at these Giant Corporations and, if anyone’s economy is being bettered by the making of this, let’s just be frank, junk, it’s China (or whichever other country benefiting from these jobs while our unemployment rate is nothing short of embarrassing)—not the U.S.A. These products are made with toxins, carried out of stores in plastics that will harm wildlife and take decades to disappear, and they don’t last. In fact, the Giant Corporations are counting on these products to not last.

Meanwhile, artists go unsupported and struggle to find a market of their own, a market comprised of buyers aware of how the system works, against how the system works, and interested in supporting the Little Guy in order to, among many other reasons, change how the system works. Meanwhile, once-valued items from days of old remain buried beneath the piles of thrown-out Giant Corporation junk. And then, of course, those items from days of old are transferred to and buried in our very own earth. You know, the earth we later build communities on; the earth we later do our gardening on, convinced that our own “organic” backyard produce is one of the healthiest kinds of produce we can obtain, blindly believing that our drinking water is safe. And although many of us know (when we think of it) what is lying beneath in so many communities in the states across the U.S.A., we go on ignoring this pattern while our planet is, quite literally, being stuffed with garbage. The problem with most of this garbage? It was garbage to begin with; it was garbage when it was first made. It was garbage when a Guy Playing It Safe took a job at a Safe Giant Corporation and pinpointed for executives precisely how cheaply the garbage could be made and just how soon it could feasibly be replaced in the market with more garbage.

The Occupy Movement or, at least, many members of it, have made a request of Americans for this holiday season that should not go unnoticed: buy from independent retailers. Buy from artists. Buy from vintage collectors, thrift stores, flea markets, and antique stores. The Movement has already strayed far from the trajectory many would have set for it back when it started. The Movement’s demands, vague as they are, have already crumbled unfair customer treatment in some respects and if we stick by The Movement, it will gain strength, it will prevail, and our beautiful country will become something much more like what our Founding Fathers intended (although it is important to remember that our Founding Fathers’ ideals were far from perfect and even further from relevant; it is their free and hard-working spirit, though, that we should still salute).

Each person who chooses to Buy Smarter this holiday season will leave a dent on the faces of Giant Corporations. And although the dent may only be the size of a pebble, a tidal wave of dents the size of a pebble can stall any machine’s gears, no matter the size of the machine. We are blessed with the most magnificent resource this year as we search for alternative retailers—the internet.

Etsy.com is an ingenious tool for supporting artists and vintage collectors alike. Ebay.com, old as it is, is still an excellent resource for buying used as is Amazon.com. Lesser-known musicians might sell their tracks in the iTunes store, but check out their websites—they just might sell those tracks themselves and, in that case, that musician, if unsigned, will make double the profit when you purchase directly from them vs. iTunes. Are websites like Ebay, Etsy, and Amazon Big Businesses who profit from transactions and web traffic? Of course they are. But these sites are also tools that most certainly can be used for the greater good (of supporting the independent retailers who sell on these sites) of Holiday Shopping—especially if the alternative for your shopping this year involves stores in the mall, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, or any other cookie-cut retailer, any other member of The Machine.

Even stores many individuals have come to forgive as a tradeoff for their appeal should be avoided if you’d like to participate in this holiday movement effectively. Whole Foods, American Apparel (American Apparel is, what I would call, a “better” Big Business than many others, but even so, could an independent retailer bring you the same satisfaction?), Urban Outfitters… I believe you can spend your dollars better. If you want to give your sister handmade organic soap for Christmas this year—buy it from an independent artist. To use Etsy illustratively, a shopper can find organic products, like soap (as good of quality or better than what you’ll find at Whole Foods), Handmade-in-the-U.S.A. comfortable and stylish apparel basics (as good of quality of better than what you’ll find at American Apparel), and actual vintage, stylish clothes (not replicas from Urban Outfitters), all on Etsy. My goal is not to damn these stores, or all Big Business stores, in writing this. My goal is not to discredit or dismiss the embedded conveniences of these stores. My goal is not to pretend that these retailers don’t offer subjective value for their customers. My goal is to emphasize the importance of recognizing your own power as a consumer.

You have the power to assist in a worldwide movement that is not only demanding change, but a movement that has all eyes focused on it and thus, is beginning to impact the minds of those watching and decision-making. Do not undervalue yourself; do not undervalue the gravity of your purchasing decisions. Every single cent deterred from the Giant Corporations this season (and maybe even for good) will become another cent of a reason for the U.S.A. we cherish to become something more like what it should have been from the start: a place where everyone has a chance, where every voice is heard, and, if you ask me, a place where corporations are not treated as people, but as machines, and independent artisans and retailers are valued, not undermined.

Do your part this holiday season. Take the extra time to utilize your creativity and resourcefulness when gift-shopping. Not only will you make a statement with your dollars, potentially make change, and support a business that is actually depending on your support, but you’ll inevitably come up with significantly more unique gifts that your loved ones will, I am betting, appreciate more than the Prepackaged Made in China Body Lotion Set from Walmart.

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