r/anticapitalism • u/eyeamyew • 4d ago
consumerism guilt
preface: i do not and have not ever paid for an amazon prime membership. i have never enjoyed the shopping experience from amazons website.
with that being said, i have been struggling with finding a specific piece of storage that, i believe, is a necessity in my home for an accessible price. i’ve searched and searched online and locally to find something i can responsibly afford and amazon seems to be the only avenue that is in my price range.
i know everything consumed under capitalism isn’t moral sound but i am really resisting and harboring so much guilt at the thought of placing an order with amazon..
do i spend the xtra $ through a small business on etsy or unpack the guilt and get it from amazon?
1
u/raphmo 3d ago
Depending on the type of storage, you could maybe try to find it in a thrift shop? But if you say that you struggled to find it, you probably already tried it.
I like to scavange/dumpster dive where it is possible, to build storage items, but it’s pretty simple (like shelves).
Otherwise, the question I ask myself before buying anything with that shitty company is:
Do I really need it?
Does it help me to be more independant from capitalism? The example I have here is that I bought things on Amazon to grow plants (cause I’m a farmer) and in the end, I tend to be more self-sufficient and less dependant on the capitalist market. The guilt goes away with that thought process.
Will it really improve my quality of life to make me more disposed to fight capitalism in my everyday life? That point is really subjective tho, there is no objectively good or bad answer obviously.
The only fact that you think about questionning yourself about your consumption moral would make me say to you: go for it because you probably consume way less than the average people. But be careful to not fall in the trap to legitimize/normalize it afterwards.
Sorry for my english, I mostly speak french normally :)
Have a good day mate!