While in South Africa I was determined to bring home some good gifts for my family. With the Waterfront Shopping Center just a couple minutes walk away I knew I would have plenty of options. During my first walk through the Waterfront I was amazed to see all the similar stores that I\u2019d find back home. Surely I can\u2019t buy my kids Nike sweatshirts from Cape Town can I? While a lot easier, it seemed as if I\u2019d be selling out by bringing home American name brand gifts from South Africa. I ended up buying my kids flowers from Golden\u2019s shop, and fair trade coffee and tea from the nonprofit places we visited. I felt good about my purchases. I was helping some good individuals and I was buying something they couldn\u2019t get anywhere else.<\/p>\n
I enjoyed the intro to Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter\u2019s book, Rebel Sell<\/em> as they described shared the story of a 2003\u00a0Adbusters<\/em>\u00a0(a magazine dedicated to anti-consumerism) advertisement offering its own brand of shoes. It was a fun read with some shock-value stories and examples. However, as the book went on I continued to notice Heath and Potter highlight corporations and movements and seem to take relationships out of the conversation. I kept thinking of Golden, his son and daughters, and how my counter consumerist mentality steered me from the \u201cnormal\u201d gifts to something different and how that impacts Golden\u2019s family.<\/p>\n I like the movement towards fair trade coffee, non-sweat shop shoes, farmer grown organic vegetables, etc. And I understand Heath and Potter\u2019s point that these counterculture movements have failed to influence the market economy and consumption, but that doesn\u2019t mean these movements are a failure. These movements have had a direct influence on individuals and their lives. Heath & Potter state, \u201cthe idea of a counterculture is ultimately based on a mistake. At best, countercultural rebellion is a pseudo-rebellion: a set of dramatic gestures that are devoid of any progressive political or economic consequences and that detract from the urgent task of building a more just society.[1]<\/a>\u201d Maybe I\u2019m missing the point of this book but not all of us are able to impact the system from the top down. Most of us will be rebels on the ground and that will start with smaller levels of influence in our circles.<\/p>\n Potter and Heath didn\u2019t offer many solutions that resonated with me but they did give me a thought when they said, \u201cUnlike religion, which promised paradise after death, advertising promised paradise right around the next corner: through purchase of a new car, a suburban home or a labor-saving appliance. Consumer goods had become the new opiate\u2026[2]<\/a>\u201d\u00a0Jesus is the biggest rebel I know and the message He was teaching is far greater then receiving \u201cparadise after death.\u201d We need to make sure the message of Jesus is clearly shared. Jesus came to offer the abundant life now. Jesus also instructed believers to live a rebel life and not to conform to the world. It was Jesus that said to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Now that\u2019s a rebellious counterculture life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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