Celebrities are pushing Blackout Friday, telling people not to shop at places like Target or Amazon. But it's unclear what Blackout Friday actually stands for – and its creator is a "Mindfulness Coach" who wants to abolish income taxes and the federal government.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/business/economic-blackout-february-28/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/business/economic-blackout-february-28/index.html
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Not commenting on the rest of what’s being said here, but just a point of clarification that The People’s Union USA and the mindfulness guy are one and the same.
My friend and I are getting bagels at our tiny local place since those aren’t included, and I hope other folks think of them before chain store bagels.
This is a very small collective action that those *out* of power can take, and not offered in place of bigger action, but rather as a step towards it.
Would you support a nation-wide movement to resist the coup through the power of astrology?
And since Patton Oswalt didn’t do it in the screenshot, here’s the creator of the artwork:
https://bsky.app/profile/soundsncolor.bsky.social/post/3lj7sryplb22r
While I get that the left doesn’t like any grifting.
You cannot pretend one wellness coach is making this movement.
The guy has weird beliefs. Will not buying anything today hurt? Probably not. But to succeed, a boycott is a sustained (sometimes very long term) action that is coordinated. I don't see what is essentially a holiday doing much. And I am suspicious of dude's motives
We need "get off your ass and do something". This ain't it.
Agree that the whole thing might be imperfect, which means there's room for improvement.
Still not buying shit today.
This isn't even approaching good, much less perfection.
Every one of these companies can easily endure a week of sales declining by, let's face it, a small fraction.
See what happens then.
It seems shady to me that the creator has the same long term goal as Musk and Trump (abolish taxes and end the federal government).
*I say from my work at home job setting the date for a Saturday that I already have off*
However, I think the results of the boycott itself, however unorganized, will prove whether or not its effective or worth having executed. (cont.)
To me, this is just an attempt to make that more widespread for 1 day. (cont.)
Newtonian physics was dreamed up by an alchemy-obsessed eccentric who lost his family fortune in a Ponzi scheme and GPS would flat-out fail if we tried to treat it as absolute truth, doesn’t make it less useful as an idea
Maybe the organizer is the hint that this is not the way to go about this.
That's like saying Unions shouldn't go on strike because ordinary people are hurt by it.
Understanding logistics matters.
Are Amazon drivers typically paid by the job or struggling to get enough hours though?
Who said a thing isn’t often much help though IME
Not everyone can learn or understand relatively simple concepts.
The Tesla boycott I get and support bc the goal is achievable—drive Tesla into the ground and/or sever ties with Elon.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/27/nx-s1-5311972/economic-blackout-february-28-explainer
Solidarity is good.
Undermining consumerism is good.
Who cares where it came from? And a protest isn't bad because it won't immediately and perfectly fix everything.
Why not "yes, and" this baby step toward class solidarity?
Sure, this is an overly generalized economic boycott with lots of exceptions. It's a great way to dip your toes in the direct action pool. If you do it and want
"get back to me when we're k*lling people and I'll perk up" go fight some Nazis instead then mfer, nobody's stopping you
"Let's not buy things on Friday" achieves absolutely nothing. It is more useless than calling your representative.
Also, you mean capitalism. It's about countering capitalism. Or supposed to be.
And this bickering between the leftist and the libs is exactly what I was criticizing about the left in general. Why are we arguing about who's doing boycotting best?
It’s about feeling good in participating in a collective action. The more people feel that, the easier it is to escalate past boycott.
Baby steps are good.
This isn’t a zero sum game. We can do lots of things at the same time. A lot of it is very small and mundane.
What kinds of things are you doing for the people in your neighborhood?
https://thepeoplesunionusa.com/
There is no act of dissent or protest that is too small to matter. There is no act of dissent or protest that is too "unpure" to make a difference.
You're right that it's good people are trying to do something, but I wish folks listened to more experienced organizers who've seen people fall for gifts before.
You worded it better than I ever could.
And I love the idea that small dissent can snowball, but I've seen folks march around carrying signs and then go home with no movement to join afterwards. I want to encourage folks to get involved, just bummed that it's this thing
And who cares where it started? Luigi Mangiones politics are weird too and yet…
When white people relearn what community is that's when they'll be able to organize without needing it to be one big gesture or whatever this post is.
I had $1.37 yesterday. Today my SSDI got deposited early (it's usually the 3rd). I need food. I ain't buying it.
We will do more of these and they will be longer. You don't like it, don't take part, but you shouldn't poop on it.
Being contrarian isn’t a virtue.
That is not Al Sharpton’s goal and to imply so is disingenuous at best.
For the rest, if you’re reading, check out the BDS Movement. They coordinate several boycotts & divestment movements. https://bdsmovement.net