There is a lot of work to be done, and that is why you shouldn't seek a job.
Right now there is a lot of work to be done. There are people starving, people losing their houses, problem distributing necessities, some areas of America without clean tap water, lots of people going without medicine, lots of people going without the psychological help they need, lots of people dying from preventable disease, lots of addiction, lots of people with suboptimal educations and teachers complain that they don't get paid enough for what they're hamstrung into doing. There is a ton of work to be done. However, we're nearing a 40% unemployment rate. There aren't enough "jobs". A job is where you clock in to make someone else's profits go up. A job is where you go to spend the majority of your life to earn the necessary capital to exist outside of that job because our entire society is built on this notion that your worth as a human being is tied to the capital you earn. A job is what is holding the poor back, because if they get a job they make too much money to retain the benefits that keep a roof over their head. A job is how the rich justify their demonization of the poor for not being able to afford a society structured around capital. A job is what fools do because it's what they're told to do The entire system being structured around profit motives is killing millions every day.. Fuck a job. Do work.The pursuit of capital has morally bankrupted the world. We should be working to abolish capitalism and instead put our money into humanitarian efforts to make sure nobody goes without. Epicurus was right in his assessment that we should make strides in limiting suffering, he was wrong in his assessment that we should avoid politics.
Posted Aug 29, 2020, 7:24 AM UTC
"Don't earn money, just work for free! That'll show 'em!"
It's two fold though. When you work a job you're lining the pockets of people that are pursuing capital as an end and not a means. It is also the fault of the pursuit of capital that has created this situation in the first place. We need to end this parasitic view of jobs and capital. Capital is just a resource. A resource being leveraged against the people, not for them. Why should you willingly contribute to your own downfall?
You presume that I'm in a position to be harmed, rather than to benefit, from the system.
I make enough money, in your world view, to be the oppressor, not the oppressed.
Of course in my world view, I earned it, and I'm harming nobody by having nice things.
You are making 2 big mistakes in your thinking. The first is that there is not an unlimited amount of wealth in the system at any given moment. There is theoretically infinite wealth growth potential, but right now in this very moment there is a limited amount of wealth. If you have wealth that is wealth nobody else has access to. It is literally not possible to have excess wealth and not be negatively impacting everyone else.
The second mistake is what people in the realm of psychology refer to as egocentric thinking. Most people will attribute to hard work things that are partially or entirely luck based. 9 times out of 10 when someone says they've earned something, or contributed the most to a project, they don't see how much outside factors they had 0 control over actually impacted the situation.
This is so obviously untrue that a five year old could disprove this. If a five year old finds a dollar in a bush when playing, they've gained wealth. Nobody is suffering as a result.
My wealth is generated by selling a service, like most people, and it is entirely voluntary.
Regarding your second point, given the service I sell is as a clinical psychologist, I feel obliged to point out you're misusing a term from developmental psychology. What you're talking about is a more sociological term, privilege, which despite its political contention is a real thing and you're not wrong that I've benefited from things outside of my control, given that I have no choice over my desires, looks and intelligence, all of which have been greatly beneficial in life.
What you're failing to understand, though, is that if you operate on the logic of suspending all belief in free will then the world stops making any sense whatsoever. Even if we have little to no real control on the outcome of our lives, there's little point acting on that knowledge, because the only rational thing to do is to stop.