There is just so much wrong with your fundamental position and the fact you refuse to pick up a book about it says it all. Cheers.
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Oh yeah. Wouldn’t be surprised if there an assassination attempt (or a successful one) on Biden during inauguration day. Honestly, there shouldn’t be an in-person inauguration celebration due to covid.
There also won’t be a shortage of future insurrections during the next four years. Wouldn’t be surprised if we find out about another COINTELPRO type of operation against right-wing terrorism this time though.
Anyway, the deplorables I know have been pretty silent on this insurrection. Guess they’re waiting for their orders from right-wing media before sharing an opinion. Probably get it now that Trump is being impeached.
The fact that we’re experiencing a time where there simply isn’t enough useful work to go around kinda makes this hard. Especially since we’re intentionally driving towards a “Player Piano” type future instead of a Star Trek type future spells disaster for the people who need work to find meaning in life.
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I think one of the key issues is taking the stigma out of not working. One of the first questions people ask is “What do you do? Where do you work?”
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The belief that UBI will stop everyone from working says a lot about that person’s perception of humanity and perhaps of themselves as well.
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I was making a statement in response to the generalized view you presented in your final paragraph.
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The ellipse implies it.
I’m not sure I can agree with this. I understand the argument, but it’s very hard to square this assertion with the reality of the modern workplace. Many (most?) workplaces now are dystopian nightmares designed and run by sociopaths. The groupthink, transparently shallow propaganda, coded criticisms, and constant pressures are for many people thoroughly, thoroughly destructive to mental wellness (not to mention physical wellness). IMO it would be a major stroke of luck for a person that is mentally unwell to find a job that makes that better, not worse.
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I’m curious how satisfied and fulfilled the average Soviet citizen felt during the 1970s when there was little to no unemployment?
is this pretty universal or is it mostly an americanism?
One of the ironies of the modern workplace is that there are more analogies between current corporate leaders / leadership styles and the Soviets than there is between current corporate leaders and 20th century American leaders of industry. But current corporate leaders would swear up and down that they are capitalists to the bone.
It’s definitely common in Canada, but I wouldn’t say that it betrays much of a bias toward work. It’s more of an attempt to identify common ground with a stranger, which is good social practice. “What do you do for a living” seems to me to be more akin to “how about that weather out there” or “golly Local Sports Team sure is doing great/awful, how about that Local Sports Team”. It’s not like you get shunned by society if you say that you are between jobs or something. People will just move on to another attempt to establish common ground.
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So far, so good!
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One could argue that earning a subsistence level salary from the govt could give the average worker a ton of “fuck you” equity which would go a long long way towards fixing these issues in the modern workplace. “Yeahhhh I’m gonna need you to stay late and then come in on Saturday…” “lol no fire me.”
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Let’s not forget that multiple things can be true at once. It is possible that providing a more robust social safety net, perhaps a UBI, could be good, and it can also be good that people find meaningful work/absence of meaningful work can be harmful to some.
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for the record, i’m for ubi, as well as social support for retirees and unemployed people. but i’m hearting that because of many similarities between your relationship with dad and my experience. dad never found a white collar job after 2002 recession, though he did manage to drive a school bus and be a security guard for awhile. the decline is scary.
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1970s were a bit unrepresentative of larger history. between the repressions, famine, and war, that was the first generation that at least finished school on a relative baby boom, which somehow escaped cult of a living leader, and instead were fully indoctrinated in ideology of communism/anti-fascism/anti-imperialism. there was a real economic boom, even in comparison with the west.
it also depended how close to the party or marginalized you were.
I’m sure you can google stats for how many people find there job meaningful. I don’t think they are good.
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But even people that hate their jobs usually find some comfort with routine and the social bonds you create.
I submit to you that we can find the same routine and social bonds outside of pushing paper and doing something we hate.
The issue is our survival is tied to having a job the market finds valuable. Key point is the market thinks it is valuable. Most humans are doing things they don’t feel like add value to society.
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The UBI virus which no one will get in the foreseeable future is spreading. Containment thread?