So...with the event of trumpleforeskin doing 15 minutes of minimum wage labor for the sake of a photo op, and Harris pushing her cringey opportunity economy stuff, there is a hypothetical question I could see being levied against me, if I ran for higher office. And it's basically this. Well, if you never worked, how can you claim to be for the working class? And other similar sentiments.
In a lot of cases, the very question is something that's hard to push against, given our society valorizes labor and people think working and being a wage slave makes someone "one of us" or something in our society, so I'll say this.
Sometimes, you need someone who views the issue from the outside to truly make sense of it and understand how screwed up the situation is. If someone is raised in an abusive family with no idea of what "normal" is, an abusive relationship IS normal. And they won't even know what's wrong with their family situation. They are so conditioned by the circumstances at hand that they think that what's insane is actually normal.
The same can be said of someone who is raised in slavery. Someone who is raised to be a slave doesn't necessarily understand what freedom even is. Their senses are so dulled by their upbringing that they can't grasp the concept of it. Servitude is all that they know.
It's easy for us as a culture, to look at what another country does, and say "that's F-ed up." We look at Hitler rising and say, how did the people just follow him? How did they just go along with that, and yet, here we are doing the same thing with trump and being unaware of it it seems (btw, dude literally was outed as praising hitler today, HUGE red flag there, america). We do it to north korea, and how everyone praises kim jong un. We do it to russia. China. Etc. And yet, when it comes to our own country, we're free. We're not brainwashed. Our new tells the truth. We understand how the world really is. And we just never think about how maybe we're just as screwed up as the rest of them.
As I see it, our society has a work problem. We're in a cult, a cult of work. People are raised from birth and indoctrinated at every part of their lives into this culture of work. Our schools teach obedience and discipline, and working to the clock. We listen to teachers like we do bosses, we follow orders, we dont question things. We see jobs as normal. it's just what we do as a society. And it seems like it just goes over most peoples' head that this is screwed up.
So as the person who "never worked", let me just say, yeah, it is messed up. And I want to help you. Just like I want to help the person raised in an abusive family who doesn't know what normal looks like. because I don't think anything about our society is normal. This is a dystopia, as real as 1984, or brave new world. We are in a work cult, one that's designed to keep you busy, one that's designed to not let you think about it. One that at every step, is designed to indoctrinate you and make you a subservient little worker bee.
With questions like this, I like to offer some comedy. George carlin did a skit on this. He talked about why we'd never fix our education system. And it's because the owners of the country don't want that. The real owners who make all the important decisions. They own everything, they even own you. And you dont realize it. And they wanna keep you dumbed down so that you dont recognize it. So it's brainwashing.They dont want a society where people can think about how they're being screwed, they want obedient workers. Everything in that skit is true, and that's how society looks to me.
Alternatively, and this is an early example I'd use to point out the inhumanity of the system. The game bioshock infinite did a good job showing gilded age style propaganda trying to make everyone a good worker. Does a bee take a sick day? Does a bee go on vacation? No! Be the Bee! Be the bee!
We can look at this from the outside, or even look at our current society from the eyes of a comedian, and laugh at this and understand the truth of what is being said, but when someone tries to seriously argue it, all of the sudden we attack the messenger and their alleged character flaws.
Which is what this question is. Do I need to be a worker to sympathize with workers? No. Do you need to be abused to sympathize with someone who is? No. Do you need to be a slave to understand that being a slave is wrong? No, if anything, not being a slave and understanding freedom will make slavery all the more abhorrent.
And that's what my perspective is on this matter. We're all slaves in this society, and we're so brainwashed we dont realize it. I admit I come from a position of relative privilege, not being forced to work, but I also know that my lifestyle cannot last forever and that the day I will be thrust into the work force will eventually come. And I hate it. I hate the idea of it. Just as any sane free person would hate their freedom being taken away. I'm like a wild animal who is self aware enough to know that being caged is bad for me. I don't want that of me, nor do I want it for anyone else.
And that's what this question is. If you want someone who is "one of you", fine, but consider this. Trump's photo op. Is he one of you simply because he worked for 15 minutes and took pictures? Was Benito Mussolini one of you when he did the same back in the 1930s? Of course not. They're wolves in sheep's clothing. They might emulate you and speak your values, but they're there to keep you enslaved.
Heck, think about why you take pride in working so much. Is this really because your job is one worthy of pride? or is it a propaganda device to keep you subservient and submissive in your servitude? Do we frame work as opportunity because it is? Or because it's actually slavery that we totally pretend isn't slavery? That's the thing. Much like 1984, up is down, left is right, truth are lies, lies are truth, slavery is freedom, and freedom is slavery. You have no real concept of up and down.You dont know what's left and right. What's truth and lies. You don't even know if you're really free or if you're enslaved.
As someone who views this from the outside in and who explicitly doesnt have those experiences, and doesn't share those values, i think I offer a unique perspective, and believe I can actually address these questions in the way no one can. I have a more objective frame of reference of these things. And I can honestly say that work sucks, I wouldnt wish it on everyone, i think anyone who views it from the outside looking in and isn't brainwashed into this insane society of ours would view it the same way, and above all, yall are brainwashed.
I know that isn't what a lot of people wanna hear and they might even take it as an afront to their values, so if you do, I have another quote for you that you might be able to relate to:
The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.
And quote frankly, if you hate me for what I say, because I'm "not one of you", well maybe you should consider that quote. Am I really attacking you, the worker? or am I attacking the system that enslaves you? Because from my perspective, I'm trying to help you. I understand how fake this system is, how screwed up it is, and I want to free you from it. But at some point, you need to want saving. If you reject my message, it doesn't mean I'm wrong, it just means you're not ready.
Feel free to try your luck with "opportunity economy" Kamala Harris, who might have some okay solutions but generally doesn't offer much. Or AOC, who valorizes her experiences as a bartender. No offense to either of those guys' work history, btw. I don't take offense to the fact that they have worked, I just don't get this obnoxious, overinflated pride in it and it comes off to me as "yeah this is literally someone indoctrinated to like being a slave." But hey, if you want someone like that, go for it. But don't be surprised when they don't liberate you from this mess we're all in. Because they're part of that corrupted system, and they'll preach its values until the cows come home. They probably don't even realize how screwed up society is.
And that's basically my defense. People might think it's elitist AF, but that's how I view it. When you've left "the cave", you understand what the cave is. People inside the cave dont understand what the cave is, people who left see it as clear as day though. They have a problem telling the people back in the cave about it though as they think that they're crazy. People outside of the matrix understand what it's like to be in the matrix, even if the people inside often don't, as it's all they know. And it's the same thing with work culture. You might want some insider who preaches the values of work and who is "one of you', and who suffers like you, but will that ever free you from this corrupt system that enslaves you? No it won't. Do with this information what you will.
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