Economic Blackout (Feb. 28)

[Nonlinear FC]

My wife is paying more attention to stuff these days... We are trying our best not to spend any money today.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/business ... index.html

[DSafetyGuy]

The shorthand is if you have to buy something today, got to a local, independent business and use cash.

[mister d]

Yup. I don't know that I believe it matters financially since most people will just spend tomorrow, but the more people that do it, the more unified we appear.

[L-Jam3]

Has there been reporting on this in the national media, or is this yet another example of them ignoring the opposition fight as it doesn’t get eyeballs anymore?

[HaulCitgo]

Described locally as stop spending your money on white people day.

That I have heard and bought lunch for staff from a questionable place where the black boss just cussed out a crosseyed white employee in front of my face. Kinda makes you wonder if this is the way. The guy was incompetent though. Rang me up for $30 extra before I called him on it. Black owned places are notoriously overpriced. I get it. You don't have enough capital to do it right but $25 per for a takeout dish fry. Come on.

[mister d]

I'm picturing Dave Henderson yelling at Rich Gedman for overcharging you.

[Steve of phpBB]

The hard part will be avoiding Comcast and Amazon Prime tonight.

[Nonlinear FC]

The hard part will be avoiding Comcast and Amazon Prime tonight.

I mean, if you don't purchase a movie or something, I don't think you should feel bad watching stuff on those platforms. Passive revenue through advertising, if I'm getting your reasoning, seems a bit of a stretch.

[oiler]

I may have lost all hope in humanity, but I honestly think this boycott is a terrible idea. Not just because people are going to go back to their lives tomorrow, but because it allows people to go back to their lives. What's the best case scenario to be had? We show we have the ability for collective action? We don't. We haven't in a long time. Real resistance starts smaller. Much smaller. This is the equivalent of the out of touch dad writing his daughter a check for her birthday. I gotta go now to buy some groceries for my kids to eat tonight

[DSafetyGuy]

I may have lost all hope in humanity, but I honestly think this boycott is a terrible idea. Not just because people are going to go back to their lives tomorrow, but because it allows people to go back to their lives. What's the best case scenario to be had? We show we have the ability for collective action? We don't. We haven't in a long time. Real resistance starts smaller. Much smaller. This is the equivalent of the out of touch dad writing his daughter a check for her birthday. I gotta go now to buy some groceries for my kids to eat tonight

I think it shows that people are willing to act, which is better than the usual state of our world where posting is civil disobedience.

The underlying issue is people need to be led in these situations. There is a lack of leadership and often fracturing among leadership because there won't be agreement on exactly what to do and exactly how to do it. Perfect enemy good.

Look at how the number and size of Tesla protests (Google "Tesla takedown") are increasing. It can be done. It is small. And it moves slowly and takes time. But, something like this, which is an easy thing for most people to do, shows people they can do something. And maybe the next time, they will do something a little bigger requiring a little more effort and sacrifice. But, it was easier because they already know they can do something.

[Steve of phpBB]

I think it shows that people are willing to act, which is better than the usual state of our world where posting is civil disobedience.

My fear is that it will show that only a tiny number of people are willing to act.

[DSafetyGuy]

Guess you're just gonna have to act, then.

[The Sybian]

I think it shows that people are willing to act, which is better than the usual state of our world where posting is civil disobedience.

My fear is that it will show that only a tiny number of people are willing to act.

Not sure how much you can take from the numbers acting, because if it wasn’t for this thread, I wouldn’t have known about it.

[Steve of phpBB]

I think it shows that people are willing to act, which is better than the usual state of our world where posting is civil disobedience.

My fear is that it will show that only a tiny number of people are willing to act.

Not sure how much you can take from the numbers acting, because if it wasn’t for this thread, I wouldn’t have known about it.

I guess I should have been less narrow - my fear is that it will show that only a tiny number of people are going to act. That involves both difficulty reaching people and then those people being willing to do something noticeable.

[P.D.X.]

It’s amazing to me that ppl haven’t left Amazon Prime en masse. Imagine going back a decade and telling them that they’ll be so reliant on getting their internet orders the next day that not giving a billionaire fascism enabler $160 annually would be unthinkable.

[duff]

I think it shows that people are willing to act, which is better than the usual state of our world where posting is civil disobedience.

My fear is that it will show that only a tiny number of people are willing to act.

Not sure how much you can take from the numbers acting, because if it wasn’t for this thread, I wouldn’t have known about it.

I guess I should have been less narrow - my fear is that it will show that only a tiny number of people are going to act. That involves both difficulty reaching people and then those people being willing to do something noticeable.

It starts as a few. Then a few more. And so on. Revolution doesn't happen in one day.

[DSafetyGuy]

Tesla Takedown in Salt Lake City at 10am today. 2312 State Street, Salt Lake City.

Just drive by and honk to show support.

[govmentchedda]

Traded mine in two weeks ago for a Hyundai Ioniq5. Feel pretty good about it.

[L-Jam3]

We should start doing this the 4th Friday of every month. That’ll bring more people in like a wave.

[phxgators]

Traded mine in two weeks ago for a Hyundai Ioniq5. Feel pretty good about it.

Traded mine in for a Volvo C40 last fall. Felt good about it then, better every day now.

[govmentchedda]

Traded mine in two weeks ago for a Hyundai Ioniq5. Feel pretty good about it.

Traded mine in for a Volvo C40 last fall. Felt good about it then, better every day now.

My parents really like their C40.

[sancarlos]

Is the C4 the midsize electric Volvo SUV? I think that’s the one my wife wants.

[govmentchedda]

Is the C4 the midsize electric Volvo SUV? I think that’s the one my wife wants.

Yep.

[Nonlinear FC]

We have the XC60, which I talked about elsewhere. We need more room for when we road trip with the dog.

I love it.

[garyclark]

I may have lost all hope in humanity, but I honestly think this boycott is a terrible idea. Not just because people are going to go back to their lives tomorrow, but because it allows people to go back to their lives. What's the best case scenario to be had? We show we have the ability for collective action? We don't. We haven't in a long time. Real resistance starts smaller. Much smaller. This is the equivalent of the out of touch dad writing his daughter a check for her birthday. I gotta go now to buy some groceries for my kids to eat tonight

I don't think this accomplishes much, but any action is better than none.

More importantly, the entire attack right now is very intentionally and effectively making people feel powerless. That's the gameplan. Make people give up.

Therefore, any action that gives people the feeling that they are doing something to take some control back (even if it's completely ineffective in reality) is a good thing for a lot of people.

[garyclark]

Described locally as stop spending your money on white people day.

That I have heard and bought lunch for staff from a questionable place where the black boss just cussed out a crosseyed white employee in front of my face. Kinda makes you wonder if this is the way. The guy was incompetent though. Rang me up for $30 extra before I called him on it. Black owned places are notoriously overpriced. I get it. You don't have enough capital to do it right but $25 per for a takeout dish fry. Come on.

It's so funny because it's like we live in two totally different worlds.

I find Black-owned places to be underpriced.

And I never heard it referred to as stop spending on white people. In fact, all the local businesses I even heard about this from were white-owned.

I think it's more like stop spending your money on the 5 white guys running the country right now.

[Steve of phpBB]

Tesla Takedown in Salt Lake City at 10am today. 2312 State Street, Salt Lake City.

Just drive by and honk to show support.

Shit. I wish I saw this earlier.

[DSafetyGuy]

If you want to get involved:

Tesla Takedown, promoted by Alex Winter. I'm registered for a local protest on March 14.

50501 (50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement), promoted by Chris Kluwe, who was at a local event yesterday.

[DSafetyGuy]

I think it shows that people are willing to act, which is better than the usual state of our world where posting is civil disobedience.

My fear is that it will show that only a tiny number of people are willing to act.

Not sure how much you can take from the numbers acting, because if it wasn’t for this thread, I wouldn’t have known about it.

I guess I should have been less narrow - my fear is that it will show that only a tiny number of people are going to act. That involves both difficulty reaching people and then those people being willing to do something noticeable.

400+ people at the Tesla Takedown protest at the only dealership in the area yesterday, the first one in the area, including me. I could see people already lined up from over half a mile away when I turned on the street about five minutes before the official start time. At its peak, the police closed an entrance to a shopping center (one of several) for safety reasons due to the line of protestors stretching about one-fifth of a mile. Lots of people driving by with support of honking/waving/thumbs up, etc. I counted 20 people who gave a middle finger salute over the two hours, as well as a couple other advertised opposing opinions.

Before I went, my wife told me she had talked with our daughter about me going. She said she was laughing during the conversation and our daughter asked if she was laughing at me. My wife explained that she was proud of me for going, especially because I was setting aside much of myself to go, specifically that I was willing to go surround myself with a bunch of strangers in spite of the fact that I generally hate people.

Regarding what I bolded: More people will act if you act.

[Steve of phpBB]

I think actions where people physically show up are much more likely to gain traction, at least at this point.

By the way, if you're seeing that Skeet going around about how Target's stock dropped like a rock on Feb 28, be aware that it's bullshit.

Target stock had a huge drop in November when they reported weak earnings. Then it climbed partway back up, but began declining in late January. It basically declined steadily from Jan 27 to last week. The stock actually went up on Feb 28.

FWIW, I'm not saying that this means the boycott didn't do anything. I'm just saying there's no evidence in Target's stock price. I'm very interested to see if Amazon reported any drops in views or sales over the past 7-10 days.

[DSafetyGuy]

I think actions where people physically show up are much more likely to gain traction, at least at this point.

By the way, if you're seeing that Skeet going around about how Target's stock dropped like a rock on Feb 28, be aware that it's bullshit.

Target stock had a huge drop in November when they reported weak earnings. Then it climbed partway back up, but began declining in late January. It basically declined steadily from Jan 27 to last week. The stock actually went up on Feb 28.

FWIW, I'm not saying that this means the boycott didn't do anything. I'm just saying there's no evidence in Target's stock price. I'm very interested to see if Amazon reported any drops in views or sales over the past 7-10 days.

What about the current 40-day Target boycott that is going on? They've had some days of modest stock gains, but have gone through a 10% overall drop in the first two weeks. Is that one doing okay?

[mister d]

They're also 168 to 105 over the last year.

[Steve of phpBB]

I think actions where people physically show up are much more likely to gain traction, at least at this point.

By the way, if you're seeing that Skeet going around about how Target's stock dropped like a rock on Feb 28, be aware that it's bullshit.

Target stock had a huge drop in November when they reported weak earnings. Then it climbed partway back up, but began declining in late January. It basically declined steadily from Jan 27 to last week. The stock actually went up on Feb 28.

FWIW, I'm not saying that this means the boycott didn't do anything. I'm just saying there's no evidence in Target's stock price. I'm very interested to see if Amazon reported any drops in views or sales over the past 7-10 days.

What about the current 40-day Target boycott that is going on? They've had some days of modest stock gains, but have gone through a 10% overall drop in the first two weeks. Is that one doing okay?

No idea. I didn’t even know there was a 40-day Target boycott. When did it start?

[Steve of phpBB]

They're also 168 to 105 over the last year.

Sorry if I’m missing something - what does this mean regarding Feb 28?

[mister d]

It’s an independent factual statement.

[DSafetyGuy]

I think actions where people physically show up are much more likely to gain traction, at least at this point.

By the way, if you're seeing that Skeet going around about how Target's stock dropped like a rock on Feb 28, be aware that it's bullshit.

Target stock had a huge drop in November when they reported weak earnings. Then it climbed partway back up, but began declining in late January. It basically declined steadily from Jan 27 to last week. The stock actually went up on Feb 28.

FWIW, I'm not saying that this means the boycott didn't do anything. I'm just saying there's no evidence in Target's stock price. I'm very interested to see if Amazon reported any drops in views or sales over the past 7-10 days.

What about the current 40-day Target boycott that is going on? They've had some days of modest stock gains, but have gone through a 10% overall drop in the first two weeks. Is that one doing okay?

No idea. I didn’t even know there was a 40-day Target boycott. When did it start?

March 5.

But, this is why I wouldn't discredit any form of protest going on. A one-day protest of a department store chain is easy for an opposing side to goose without even organizing anything. It's Target, a modest amount of their shoppers intentionally taking one day off from shopping there probably doesn't make much difference to the global bottom line and people on the other side can easily decide to go buy things they get there that day instead of waiting until the next convenient trip/when they actually need the items.

40 days is much more noticeable to their bottom line, even if it's not being publicized. There has a lot going on out there, including this particular boycott, and the lack of coverage is another fault of the media, not just the big stuff everyone whines about on social media (New York Times, for example).



Tesla Takedown is currently showing 95 protests on Saturday. I don't know if they will even make their local TV news coverage in bigger cities (there are eight in LA/Orange County), but they are still happening. They're trying to organize an event at every Tesla location in the world on the 29th.



People doing acts of protest are good, even if they are small and imperfect. People who participate in one event are more likely to participate in another. Shitting on them for not being perfect or someone trying to generate future interest with a small lie (which is what really was made about the one-day blackout) is counterproductive to the end goal, which I would describe as slightly more important than a social media post about Target's one-day stock result.

[Steve of phpBB]

People doing acts of protest are good, even if they are small and imperfect. People who participate in one event are more likely to participate in another. Shitting on them for not being perfect or someone trying to generate future interest with a small lie (which is what really was made about the one-day blackout) is counterproductive to the end goal, which I would describe as slightly more important than a social media post about Target's one-day stock result.

I’m sorry, I don’t think you’re understanding my points. You seem to be inferring a lot from the fact that I pointed out a lie. I’ll try to be clearer:

1. I agree with your first two sentences 100%.

2. I haven’t shat on anyone (except whoever did that post I was referencing).

3. I agree the end goal is way more important than any particular social media post.

4. That media post is an outright lie, and based on the number of times it’s appearing in my feed, it has deceived a lot of people.

5. I believe lying is bad. Deceiving people into believing things that aren’t true is bad. We shouldn’t do it and we definitely shouldn’t support it.

6. I’m especially bothered when the liars are deceiving the people who are “on my side,” i.e., oppose MAGA and DOGE and abuse of power.

[P.D.X.]

A one day protest, while better than nothing, is still silly. Like trying to get healthy by just dedicating one day to exercise.

Incidentally just came across the Goods Unite Us app... tracks political donations by brand. Also has a politician tab to suss out where they get donations from but that feature looks a bit wonky rn. Seems overall helpful though.

https://www.goodsuniteus.com

[Steve of phpBB]

A one day protest, while better than nothing, is still silly. Like trying to get healthy by just dedicating one day to exercise.

I think a one-day protest can do some good if it's strong and convincing. That's hard with a boycott of a national retailer because most of the action is invisible. And if people make a lot of noise about a protest and it fizzles, it gives the target of the protest more confidence and comfort to do more bad things.

This is why I like things like the Tesla Takedowns or protest marches. Those are visible, so they can grow in the ways that DSG has explained - people see a protest and decide to join, and once people protest once, they are way more likely to protest again. I was in a bunch of marches and protests in 2017 and 2020. The only reason I'm not doing it now is that I am too fucking discouraged. But I will get there.

[mister d]

A one day protest is more of a warning or threat than something intended to actually tank financials or whatever.