The title may sound weird. I initially wrote it as “fuck over the billionaires”. But it is not only billionaires, but also multi-millionaires and people who think themselves hierarchically superior.
So:
- Are you doing something to fuck over “the powerful”? If so, what?
Since July I’ve been boycotting US companies. I’ve gone as far as setting up my own self-hosted home server for document / bookmark / media storage, which is actually fantastic and I wish I’d done this sooner. All streaming services have been cancelled. I only buy from European brands, and only directly from their own website (no Amazon, etc). This was the first year in a long time where I’ve declined a phone upgrade with my network - I’ll just keep my current phone as long as possible. All my smart home tech is being gradually phased away from Google / Nest and towards Matter / Home Assistant. Windows has been wiped from my PC and I’ve moved to Linux. I cancelled my Adobe subscription in favour of FOSS alternatives. My family and close friends have all switched to Signal (though we did this years ago).
While I still use social media (I make digital art), the only thing I ever post on Facebook/Insta/Threads is my artwork. I don’t post anything personal anymore, because that’s my data.
Despite all these “sacrifices”, I don’t really feel like I’ve lost anything. In fact, things are arguably better now I’m unshackled from US tech giants. I’m saving a ton of money too from all the cancelled subscriptions.
Been boycotting Wetherspoons (a popular chain of pubs in the UK, owned by a Brexit supporting prick) for over a decade now.
Noo, Wetherspoons is Pro-Brexit? That sucks, had no idea. TBF, I’m German and haven’t been in 10 years either, but my Bro studied in London for 2 years back then and I visited him 2-3 times. The Wetherspoon down the road had by far the best prices and great meal deals. Sucks that its owned by a piece of shit
Yeah it’s annoying because the pubs are generally decent for the price and have a varied menu (good for a wide variety of tastes), but Tim Martin actively campaigned for Brexit and even started putting pro Brexit propaganda in the pubs both before and after the referendum.
I haven’t bought anything from Amazon, Costco, Wal-Mart, big box stores for at least 5 years now. I will also never be getting anything from places like Temu.
As well, I try to make almost all my food, shopping, etc choices to benefit something small, or someone local, that needs my money more than things that further drive the Machine in the end.
Costco is one of the rare good guys though.
I put solar panels and battery storage on my house because my local utility is a publicly traded group of thieves. As much of the system as possible has been bought used except for the batteries.
In that, I buy used as much as possible. Fuck buying new, let someone else buy that 1100 dollar phone I’ll buy it on ebay 2 years later for half that.
I deleted my Amazon and am currently de-googling the best I can.
I’m doing what I can, as small an impact as it has. I’ve become much more aware of what I buy, use, and consume. I’ve begun to repair things instead of just buying new replacements, I don’t buy American whenever possible, and I don’t use any AI at all. I’ve completely cut out Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Reddit, any streaming service and any social media except the Fediverse, and of course nothing from Musk.
However, the biggest impact I’ve been able to make has been getting a couple people to re-think what they consume from fascist-enabling big tech companies. Small wins.
I don’t shop if i can help it. I buy used whenever possible and repair things even when the cost is almost the same as replacement. when i do have to shop, i favour small local businesses. i also avoid american goods and services like the plague.
All Linux. No Amazon. Support local. Hosting my own pages, servers and not using online clouds. Changing habits on what sites to use to avoid AWS where possible
I’m trying to build a small business that replaces SSO mass surveillance (think Sign In With Google, LinkedIn, etc) with a privacy respecting alternative where the technology makes it impossible for me, the service operator, to know what the users are signing into.
Well we could all gently suggest to people that are having a crisis in continued existance, first that we want them to remain with us, but if you must go, why not take some trash out with you? If only we could tune in somehow, we could all play the new mario brothers game multiplayer and drop out of politics.
Mostly just leaning hard into ad blocking extensions and apps.
I put bologna on their car so it eats holes in the paint. 😤
aligning my focus back to art, people, listening, empathy, understanding,
(versus the separation they want us to live, and away from the phone that stole so much time from me)
adblocking, barely buying, if buying then second hand, gifting stuff in sharing is caring groups,
praying, staying kind and calm, spending time in nature, staying healthy
Ive started saving and only buy what i need, when needed
Mostly i buy real food, so no processed foods like corn flakes or whatever. So i avoid those asshole companies, like nestle, kelloggs etc
Clothing, here i just buy what i like… but i buy it from good reputable brands, and if possible from local stores (i live in a tiny town but i try!)
As for electronics things are … well impossible. So here i buy less often. I upgraded my pc this summer of 2025, and i replaced one from 2017. I hope my new one can last roughly as long. We will see (i buy somewhat high end when i do buy, because I want it for a long time)
I dont have a car currently
All the savings i can manage based on this, is going towards a house, so i dont have to rent. Though I currently dont rent from a “landlord” but more like a housing association which helps keep costs down. We are quite a bit below the avg rent price currently.
I work for a large non profit owned business, which i like
Fix things and keep them, fix things and sell them on the secondhand market, or fix things owned by friends who have broken things. By applying my technical knowledge to repairing computers, appliances, tools, furniture, plumbing, I’m building my own self-sustainability, I’m enabling others to avoid buying new things and instead spend their money in better ways, I’m networking with people who have skills that I lack, I’m denying the manufacturers the revenue they would get if there wasn’t someone like me to fix their shit, and I’m denying the govt the taxes involved in new purchases and income tax on my secondhand sales, and I’m denying the voracious landfill of its tasty, tasty whitegoods.
I’ve concluded that with personal boycotts, perfect is the enemy of good. Time was I’d decide to boycott someone like Nestle but then fall off the wagon when I had a Smarties craving and then just sort of stop doing the rest of it.
So now I take the approach of trying to look for an alternative, but if I can’t find it then I won’t beat myself up about it, I’ll keep trying tomorrow. It’s not great but it’s better than what I was doing before.
That said, it wasn’t at all difficult to cut all the US grocery brands out of my shopping when Trump started his tariff bullshit, cause it’s all hyper-processed artificially coloured crap to begin with.
Kind of reminds me of a vegan couple I knew in college. They did a speech in class (for public speaking), and one of the points was “Even just cutting meat out one day a week, like with meatless mondays, helps a lot more than you’d expect”
Even cutting back can make a dent
Looking at the average meat consumption is crazy tbh. We buy less between the 2 of us, even if you include the bone/fat/skin as when I do buy it I get the cheapest cuts. Got a small cut of pork shoulder for this week, and that is the entire weeks meat, 4 meals from the pork with the other 3 being vegetarian (cheese/honey so not vegan)
Beekeeper here. For the life of me, I can’t understand why vegans can’t have honey. I understand it is an animal product. But there is no harm to bees when harvesting honey properly.
Same goes for wool. Have you ever seen a sheep that hasn’t been sheared?
I do know vegans that are fine with eating honey, but generally it isn’t considered a vegan food.
Any interesting recipes for the pork shoulder? I took one out of the freezer yesterday that I’m going to be braising today, but also I have another bigger one in the freezer that I should do something with at some point
It needs time to reduce how tough it is, either slow cooking it or let it soak in vinegar (and other things for seasoning) for a long time before cooking. Often go for that if I am going to cook it over a firepit.
This week I will be slow cooking it in a pasta sauce. Skin/fat removed and frozen to use another time, rendering the fat in a saucepan and keep it cooking until the solid bits go crispy, delicious with salt and I keep the fat in a pot in the fridge. I freeze it so that I can render it in batches as its quite a mess to clean up and loves sticking to the pan. I do wonder if a wire mesh to keep it off the base of the pan would help.
