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Freedom to Buy

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  • I would therefore argue that the corporations promising to boycott states like North Carolina for their traditionalist politics are not so much for LGBT rights as they areagainst arbitrarily restricting lifestyle options, since such limitations are deemed inconsistent with a society comprised of consumer-based self-expression.

Well, duh. Absolutely nothing should stand in the way of a consumer choosing what to consume. The freedom to purchase anything one wants has substituted any other vision of freedom. The idea of gender being fluid would not exist if it weren’t helping to improve sales.

4 responses to “Freedom to Buy”

  1. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    The idea of gender being fluid would not exist if it weren’t helping to improve sales.
    You could say the same about being gender locked, with equal truth.

    Men are this and women are that so you buy this but not that if you’re a woman and vice versa if you’re a man.

    In a capitalist society, freedom is measured by access to capitalism and the free market. I feel like this is very old analysis. I’ve heard people say that the US passed various Civil Rights Acts not because we all decided to be better people but to spite communists and because the need to limit access to capitalism superseded the need to have greater numbers of participants who participated more thoroughly in capitalism. Remember in the US and Canada women didn’t have the right to own bank accounts in their own names until fairly recently. Or credit cards.

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    1. Shakti Avatar
      Shakti

      the need to limit access to capitalismwassuperseded the need to have greater numbers of participants who participated more thoroughly in

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    2. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      It’s absolutely true that feminism and the civil rights movements would not happen if capital found them to be inconvenient. It’s crucial to remember that and not dilute these movements to the point where there’s nothing but consumerism. For instance, when a politician in Texas filibustered an anti-abortion bill, on the next day every feminist website was about the urgent need to buy the same sneakers she wore as a sign of solidarity with her. Even though she doesn’t sell them and gets no profit! It’s insane!

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  2. The Dark Avenger Avatar
    The Dark Avenger

    “You’ve come a long way, baby!”

    http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/01/the-death-of-the-cool-feminist-smoker/283273/

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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