Remember "The Compact"?

This morning, I was puttering around Medium.com and re-reading a story I wrote a few years ago about those hardy Californians who nearly twenty years ago decided not to buy anything new for one year.

It was a Compact. Like the Mayflower Compact. But it was about refusing to participate in the vicious cycle of Go to work>Make money>Go home and watch TV>Be told you're pathetic because you don't have The New Thing>Go buy The New Thing>Run out of money>REPEAT...

They hosted their group on Yahoo Groups. That entity died in 2019, but because of the email settings in the background, many of the Compacters were still able to communicate by replying to old threads.

I wrote a story back then about how they were faring under the COVID lockdowns: https://medium.com/@jgarlits/a-compact-retrospective-five-women-reassess-whats-truly-important-as-they-hunker-down-during-2efd72eedd2c?sk=a5fb66560ae0d129f14eba1316aae9ca

What I'm wondering this morning is... Are there any former Compacters here on Permies? How are you getting along now, and how has Permaculture shaped your values since the Compact dissolved?

P.S. The squigglies at the end of my link means that it's a "Friend Link" and you'll get to read it for free, without paying for Medium, and I won't make a dime. I just wanted to start an interesting thread.

j

I don't know if any of the people on permies were actual members, but I do recall hearing of the challenge and wondering how people would actually manage. I was never a "compulsive shopper" - in fact I'd be prepared to say that I dislike shopping and only do it under sufferance! I do lots of sewing and mending, but will admit I bought 4 new 100% cotton long sleeve knit shirts as the ones I've been wearing for in the order of 20 years, are getting thin to the point of useless. What I noticed was that not only is it much harder to find 100% cotton, the ones I was able to find are much thinner cotton than the ones I bought 20 years ago - I'm concerned I didn't get "lasts 20 years quality"!

I read the article and particularly agree with this:

“and haven’t been inundated with advertising since having no tv and had not realized just how insidious those ads were when tv was on most of the time ‘in the background’ of life."

People in advertising take courses in psychology and they get paid to convince people that they can't live without something. My son assures me that his generation have been so exposed to that sort of "buy, buy, buy" adverts that they are to the point of actively tuning it out and blowing it off. That may be true of some, but I worry about the rest!

I think the most important take-away is the expressions that the ability to "learn new skills" can fulfill the void of the thrill of shopping. That is definitely something that most if not all Permies seem to have discovered. I can remember a member's surprise when she posted a question thinking that "maybe" she'd get one idea of how to solve it, and ended up with so many viable suggestions that she had to sit down and try and choose which one or ones, she would try.

Hi, I was a member!  I very much miss the group.

I wasn't anything like perfect in buying nothing new, but the conversations were fascinating and insightful, and absolutely helped me minimize purchases.

Jay,

I love your take on this. We used to be a nation (and a world) of producers. It may have only been for our families and loved ones, but we were producers. We took stuff and made it into more useful stuff. Now we are expected to be consumers of things we not only don't need, but often don't even want (a week after we've bought it, the novelty wore off, or whatever).

You are absolutely right, I think, that learning new skills is a great way to combat the psychological effects of advertising bombardment. Even practicing already acquired, useful producer skills.

"You need a Bally's membership!" -- No, I'll get my workout in the garden or when I dig that post-hole.
"Everyone will think you're cool if you drink our beer!" -- No, but I do need to pick those Golding hops and see who has the grains I need for my next 5 gallon batch of ale.

Etc...

Jay Angler wrote:I don't know if any of the people on permies were actual members, but I do recall hearing of the challenge and wondering how people would actually manage. I was never a "compulsive shopper" - in fact I'd be prepared to say that I dislike shopping and only do it under sufferance! I do lots of sewing and mending, but will admit I bought 4 new 100% cotton long sleeve knit shirts as the ones I've been wearing for in the order of 20 years, are getting thin to the point of useless. What I noticed was that not only is it much harder to find 100% cotton, the ones I was able to find are much thinner cotton than the ones I bought 20 years ago - I'm concerned I didn't get "lasts 20 years quality"!

I read the article and particularly agree with this:

“and haven’t been inundated with advertising since having no tv and had not realized just how insidious those ads were when tv was on most of the time ‘in the background’ of life."

People in advertising take courses in psychology and they get paid to convince people that they can't live without something. My son assures me that his generation have been so exposed to that sort of "buy, buy, buy" adverts that they are to the point of actively tuning it out and blowing it off. That may be true of some, but I worry about the rest!

I think the most important take-away is the expressions that the ability to "learn new skills" can fulfill the void of the thrill of shopping. That is definitely something that most if not all Permies seem to have discovered. I can remember a member's surprise when she posted a question thinking that "maybe" she'd get one idea of how to solve it, and ended up with so many viable suggestions that she had to sit down and try and choose which one or ones, she would try.

Morfydd,

Hello! I joined years ago, shortly before Yahoo shut them down, just because someone had tipped me off about their experiment. There were no prizes! Their sheer audacity was stunning, and whether any particular individual was able to keep the Compact perfectly, they got a lot of peoples attention, including mine.

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:Hi, I was a member!  I very much miss the group.

I wasn't anything like perfect in buying nothing new, but the conversations were fascinating and insightful, and absolutely helped me minimize purchases.

Jim Garlits wrote:You are absolutely right, I think, that learning new skills is a great way to combat the psychological effects of advertising bombardment. Even practising already acquired, useful producer skills.

Is it a human trait - or at least in a significant sub-section of humans - that need or crave "new experiences"? I certainly have it. It exercises my brain to do something "new". It doesn't need to be all-caps NEW. Sewing 20 pairs of boxer shorts would get tiresome vs sewing 6 pairs of underwear, 6 A-shirts, and mending 8 pairs of jeans. The "sewing" skills involved aren't that different, but the outcome is still different enough to feel meaningful to me. That doesn't mean I won't settle down and sew Hubby 20 pairs when I'm tired of mending his current ones, because the ones he bought off the web are too thinly made to be worth the embodied energy they represent. It just won't much satisfy my, "I want a new experience" brain.

Our ancestors would find "new" something every time they went into a forest to forage, and they would always need a level of alertness for potential hazards. I don't think you get that from the gym.

So, yes, short answer is agreement:  I really think that learning new skills can combat the effects of advertising bombardment.