Fair Trade and the Concept of "Voting with our Dollars"

My daily morning ritual includes not only the usual "shower, dress, food," but also the initial checking of Facebook.  This morning, in my feed, I found the picture below.  Part of the text attached to it stated:

Part of the text attached to it stated:

Part of the problem is that we’ve been victims of a campaign of systematic misdirection. Consumer culture and the capitalist mindset have taught us to substitute acts of personal consumption (or enlightenment) for organized political resistance.

The text was over two paragraphs long, and it hit many of the same points we did in class on Tuesday.  While this picture is intentionally hyperbolic (although not really), it does drive home the point of how much "good" we are actually doing when we are choosing to practice consumerism as a substitute for political resistance and change.  We are taught that, as members of a capitalist culture, the most useful thing we can do is to continue to consume.  

~Rachel