this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2026
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I've come to the conclusion that being an ethical consumer is probably impossible. I will however still try. Perfection is the enemy of progress and all that.
"there is no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism"
It's been a known concept in leftist theory for a long while.
While true, many people use that as an excuse to not even try. Even if you can't stop exploitation as just one individual, this doesn't mean you get a pass to make things worse.
Have you seen The Good Place by any chance?
Mike Schur wrote a great companion book to the series called How To Be Perfect that details all of the philosophy he got into while writing the show. Very entry-level stuff and quite accessible while still being an interesting meta-analysis of a few branches of philosophy. Definitely worth a read if you enjoyed The Good Place.
Nope, is it any good?
Depends, if you like moral philosophy it's good, if you don't, it's still good.
That's the right mentality to have there. Do what you can where you can.
I ran into an amazing character creator and animator recently and loved what I saw. I shared it with some friends and they pointed out the person is a complete CHUD. I now blacklist their stuff, as simple viewership of their media gives demand for it.
If you consider it a binary, sure, perfection is impossible. But I would say trying with real effort qualifies as being an ethical consumer.
I find local to be a good ethical area. Though that does come with either knowing people if you're not around stuff. But Im lucky to live in a low cost metro area that has regularly underground music scene for good listening at the direct benefit of the artist