“…new systems of business so that people with ethics can both exploit their goods and their gifts while not exploiting the earth [or] exploiting one another. There’s nothing more satisfying than going to a market and meeting the person who picked the strawberries, or it’s their farm that the strawberries came from, and giving them a fair value in exchange for what they’re giving you. That’s at the root of the human interaction: fair trade. Everybody likes to run around on their phones, including me, but we don’t always want to hear who’s sweating somewhere in some non-air-conditioned factory to create those things so that they can keep the prices down. I think humankind is going to have to evolve into systems that are more transparent. . . . I’d like to know if what I’m eating or consuming is somehow hurting or exploiting someone in another part of the planet. . . . Which means the death of the old system which rewarded people for taking advantage of one another.”
-Billy Corgan
We agree – and hope you’ll keep these words in mind as you think about your shopping, not only today – Black Friday – but throughout this holiday season. (And if you’d like to hear from another Billy – this one a Reverend – about shopping during the holiday season, we commend to you this fun documentary.)
Happy Black Friday, all!