So my son comes home with an assignment to write an essay supporting "freeganism"

these are people who squat and dumpster dive, etc. They don't participate in consumerism.

When I was a kid we called them bums.

Its for a debate thing, some are for it and some against, so I'm not upset at the assignment, they are making them look at each side. But calling a bum a "freegan" is a joke

I knew one of those once. He moved to Seattle and because a full fledged communist. Little Dougie. He used to wear his girlfriend's yoga pants.

I don't think they necessarily equate, though I could never go that route.

Freegans aren't necessarily unemployed or homeless, nor do they actively seek out donations (at least from the very few that I've run into).

Basically, they are just folks that want to capitalize on all the perfectly good stuff that get's thrown out each and every day (food especially, since enormous amounts of usable food is discarded each day). I doubt you will see Fortune 500 members participating, but inasmuch as I have gotten some serious dumpster diving scores in my life as well as stuff I just found, I can't really throw stones. I'm more finicky in my eating habits but if someone wants to use that stuff more power to them. As long as they aren't trespassing (squatting) or stealing.

As far as defending it in a debate, I had to defend all sorts of dumb ideas when I debated in high school. It's not about believing them, it's about learning how to make a good argument. Defending dumb ideas can make you much much better at defending strong ones.

"Dumpster Divers" in Tucson is one of the reasons I have a Micro Cut shredder.

I don't squat (at least in the living space sense...) and I sure as hell won't eat food out of a dumpster, but other than that, I'm a dedicated dumpster diver. I've scored a LOT of useful stuff out of dumpsters.

But then, about half the time, I come home from the transfer station with more stuff than I left with...

quote:

As far as defending it in a debate, I had to defend all sorts of dumb ideas when I debated in high school. It's not about believing them, it's about learning how to make a good argument. Defending dumb ideas can make you much much better at defending strong ones.

I think that if debate was a required class then the world would be a lot better off. People don't know how to have a civil and fact based debate anymore. It is all emotion and insults.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
I knew one of those once. He moved to Seattle and because a full fledged communist. Little Dougie. He used to wear his girlfriend's yoga pants.

Instant stardom in Seattle!

Freeganism. Huh.

Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCB42DDDXPI

I used to dumpster dive an inflatable boat sales/repairs dumpster. Found a 9' Avon that required just one patch. Pulled another zodiac that was shot but for some reason they had replaced all of the fill ports with brand new stainless steel 2 piece OE Zodiac ports. Not only that, but they would toss out a bunch of survival rafts with all the survival kits in them. It was like freaking Christmas for me!

I would pull up in my truck, jump into their dumpster and start pulling out stuff out, getting nasty looks from the owners. They finally started locking it, dont know why?

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I don't squat (at least in the living space sense...) and I sure as hell won't eat food out of a dumpster, but other than that, I'm a dedicated dumpster diver. I've scored a LOT of useful stuff out of dumpsters.

But then, about half the time, I come home from the transfer station with more stuff than I left with...

I've scored some good shit at the dump too. Lawnmowers, skis, various appliances. I even picked up a 4-wheeler one day.

I wouldn't eat food from a dumpster unless I was literally starving. But I used to "dumpster dive" the dorms on move-in/move-out days, back in college.

(Although there wasn't really any diving involved, since most kids were too lazy and just left it piled up next to the dumpsters and trash chutes anyway.)

Scored stuff like coffee makers, speakers, microwaves, lamps, etc. Most of which were still new in the box.

Rich kids whose parents bought them too much shit for their dorm room, so they tossed it out rather than finding a spot for it, or lugging it home.

freeganism - or conventionally known as anarchist bums....


Freeganism is a practice and ideology participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources, particularly through recovering wasted goods like food.[1] The word "freegan" is a portmanteau of "free" and "vegan".[2] While vegans might avoid buying animal products as an act of protest against animal exploitation, freegans—at least in theory—avoid buying anything as an act of protest against the food system in general.

Freeganism is often presented as synonymous with "dumpster diving" for discarded food, although freegans are distinguished by their association with an anti-consumerist and anti-capitalist ideology and their engagement in a wider range of alternative living strategies, such as voluntary unemployment, squatting abandoned buildings, and "guerrilla gardening" in unoccupied city parks

Businesses don't lock dumpsters because of divers, they lock them because assholes dump their trash in them, getting a free ride. Anyone who wants to root thru my trash is welcome, provided he doesn't leave a mess. Diving to recover furniture, etc is one thing, to get food another, and to protest capitalism and consumerism is quite another. The third group, to me, are much like raccoons.

Reducing consumerism is a great thing, aside from all of the hippie nonsense.

We (humans) waste far, far too much, and we spend far, far too much on disposable junk.

quote:

Originally posted by Otto Pilot:
As far as defending it in a debate, I had to defend all sorts of dumb ideas when I debated in high school. It's not about believing them, it's about learning how to make a good argument. Defending dumb ideas can make you much much better at defending strong ones.

^^This.

Debate helps you understand that even a horrifically bad premise can be made to look good with the proper verbiage, and that poorly constructed arguments in favor of good premises can have holes poked into them.