Rev Billy vs. the Market: a sane man in a world of omnipotent fantasies

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of anti-consumerism activist William Talen, aka Reverend Billy, who founded the Church of Stop Shopping. Rev Billy's radical critique of the worship of markets and money complements his creation of a vibrant Earth-loving community. The case is reviewed in light of Nietzsche's vision of 'the madman in the marketplace'. The analysis suggests that the dream of an infinitely expanding world market is a fantasy of omnipotence that acts as maladaptive defence against feelings of powerlessness. This fantasy of market omnipotence is in practice endangering human existence. Rev Billy teaches us to rediscover our reverence for the Earth, and set ecological sustainability as our supreme goal (rather than financial growth).

Organizing in the Anthropocene

“…Of course, the most pervasive and intrusive cultural framing of Earth–human relations is evident in corporate advertising, marketing and public relations which portray consumer-capitalism, technologies and innovation taming uncertainty to ensure human well-being (see, for example, Garland et al, 2013). Here, ‘a future world of underwater tidal energy farms, jet planes with birds’ wings and trains that move in unison with swaying trees’ (Wright and Nyberg, 2015: 151) is presented as an omnipotent fantasy to justify the continuation of current economic logics and silence more critical and challenging accounts (Freund, 2015). This serves four linked purposes: to spread confusion and cynicism concerning environmental critique, to absorb and defang the threat that alternative Earth-centric cultures pose to globalizing capitalism, to make profit and to legitimize the prevailing economic and financial system.…”

“…Here, 'a future world of underwater tidal energy farms, jet planes with birds' wings and trains that move in unison with swaying trees' (Wright and Nyberg, 2015: 151) is presented as an omnipotent fantasy to justify the continuation of current economic logics and silence more critical and challenging accounts (Freund, 2015). This serves four linked purposes: to spread confusion and cynicism concerning environmental critique, to absorb and defang the threat that alternative Earth-centric cultures pose to globalizing capitalism, to make profit and to legitimize the prevailing economic and financial system.…”

Moral avoidance for people and planet: anti-consumption drivers

“…An individual is alienated if they fail to accept the doctrine of consumption ( Johnson, 1973). Indeed, Freund (2015) suggested that overconsumption is a reaction to powerlessness: as a result a desire for omnipotence occurs, as mankind convinces itself that it owns the planet and can somehow save itself by more growth. These arguments suggest that consumers who practice anti-consumption should also experience feelings of marketplace alienation.…”

Expanding Research Horizons: use of online interviews in Consumer Culture Theory

“…The case studies, on the other hand, present works that use only online interviews (Level 1) to perform data collection (Freund, 2015;Goulart Sztejnberg & Giovanardi, 2017;Oakes et al, 2014;Tan & Xu, 2020;Viswanathan & Sreekumar, 2019) and as a complement to traditional interviews (Level 2) to optimize the execution of the investigation (Kostakis et al, 2015;Persson & Klintman, 2021;Turunen & Pöyry, 2019). These works point out that the technique is a facilitator in the scope of minimizing the displacement to carry out the various meetings necessary for the various interviews to be carried out.…”