F work culture

 So...I'm still reading the 99% Perspiration book and it's quite good, but one thing I wish that we could do away with is this weird reverence we have toward work culture in this country. I mean, while the one chapter in this book did go into a lot of stuff that I would, idk, I feel like something really lacking in a lot of these books is a really scathing rebuke of work culture. To be fair, Chandler, in one of the later chapters in the book, does kind of tear this stuff down, but honestly, I know whenever I look into stuff like the future of work, we really just give these ideas the moral high ground. We shouldn't. This stuff is repackaged Christianity. The reason we value work culture so much is because we treat internalizing the work ethic as a virtue, and treat rejecting it as a moral flaw. We see being a "hard worker" as a way of saying they have good character, while the opposite of that implies bad character. We treat the link between work and property as absolute because we believe that property is a natural freaking right that comes from God. We think redistribution is inherently immoral, and that wealth earned from work is inherently moral. We believe that billionaires "earned" their wealth, and that some dude on welfare, or who did work, and only makes minimum wage deserves their fate because they didn't work hard enough.

 And when we talk about doing away with work, the idea should be a no brainer. I'm like "work sucks, let's do away with it." But then these people who internalize the work ethic are like "but what would I do all day?" and push weird misguided sentiments like "work has dignity." Even left wingers like Biden and AOC seem to believe such things. And it baffles me. I mean, AOC kinda mentioned how rich people seem to laugh at her when she has work ethic sentiments, and while I normally dont agree with the wealthy, they're right. They know deep down that work sucks, and let's be honest, they think you're a sucker if you buy into work ethic. Because quite frankly, you are.

And that's really where I wanna go with ALL of this. ALL of this stuff is just propaganda made up by wealthy people to make you want to work. What is more effective than the end of a gun, or the whip? Creating a belief system where people internalize the values of work. Where people link work to their character and their identity. Where the loss of a job is a loss of identity. Where people  WANT to spend their time working hard. But the wealthy know the truth, they know that those who believe such ideas are suckers. And they mock you behind closed doors, and sometimes, in the era of trump, even openly. Like, these guys see themselves as untouchable these days. And they're letting the mask slip. And I could've told you guys this 10 years ago. I mean, when I left Christianity, the scales fell from my eyes so to speak. Not only did I reject christianity, but I rewrote my entire belief system and value system from scratch. And honestly? It made me see work and work culture, and work ethic, for what it really is. Don't get me wrong, there is balance. People might say if everyone was like me, society would fall apart. The thing is, i dont expect everyone to be like me, or as extreme as me. I might represent an extreme of an argument, but at the same time, in practice I know work is needed to SOME extent. Nowhere near the extent that we value it and engage in it, but if current culture is 100 and I'm 0....we probably need something in the ballpark of 50. You know what I mean?

But that's the thing. The only real value work has, is the value that it produces. Work, as a concept, is nasty, unpleasant, and should be eradicated like a disease. It's the product of the work that matters. An as robots and AI and automation are, over time, able to do more and more, we should have more and more of a discussion about doing away with work.

The problem is, that these ideas just wont go away. Because they're too entrenched in people. People internalize this stuff and when you do away with it, it's like it breaks their brain. Part of this is because people are entrenched in the so called objective morality of the protestant work ethic like a kid who still believes in santa claus, and some of it is because it presents a chicken and an egg situation. If we were to get off of this crazy work train, what comes first? Do we change the culture and wean ourselves slowly off of work? or do we change society, allowing us to wean ourselves off of the culture? That's the thing. BUT, we do have that problem, where our cultural beliefs accept a certain idea so strongly it goes unquestioned, and then our structures reinforce the culture, even if it's no longer needed. So when you get get a guy like me who sees it as all BS, I end up facing intense resistance as the culture is so entrenched, and the institutions back up the culture, that it becames insanely difficult to change it, even if it really should be changed. 

But to me, this is why I'm so uncharitable to these ideas. I despise them, I despise their origins, I despise the fact that they dominate society and dictate how we live, and I quite frankly believe a better world is possible. I believe we DO need a different value system. But that involves being confrontational to the one that exists. Not coddling it. Not babying it. But outright confronting it, rejecting it, and advocating for a full replacement.

And that's what human centered capitalism is about in a sense. It's a more pragmatic value system that recognizes the objective value that work has, but does away with the BS honorifics and just treats it for its utilitarian value. 

If we really wanna do away with work, we gotta stop putting it on a pedestal. We gotta full on reject the feedback loop that work culture thrives off of where it kind of justifies its own existence by requiring an insane amount of rethinking society in order to move past it. But...at the same time, that's what I offer. A different worldview. A different way of thinking about things. 

I don't wanna coddle it or respect it. I despise it, and I believe society should do away with these outmoded ideas. I give it as much charitability the right gives to the concept of "government", or the social justice left gives to "racism and bigotry." Okay, maybe not that much as I wouldnt actively try to "cancel" people for working...it is good that SOME people like that exists, but it shouldnt be everyone, and those ideas shouldnt be replicated to the extent that they are. Again, we need society to be at 50 right now. That can mean either everyone is a 50 on the question, or it can mean half of society is at 0 and the other half is at 100. Either way, we need to tone down the ideas significantly and diminish their cultural importance. 

Remember, from a humanist point of view, work has no inherent value. It's just about the value that it produces for society. That's it. We need to stop treating it like this sacred rite of passage. It's basically akin to having kids or joining the military. Sure, some people should do it, but should everyone do it? no. And doing it should be voluntary. And I know those who do it often look down with resentment among those who don't, but that's their problem, not ours. And sure, some weirdos, especially on the right, might wanna force everyone to do such things, but it really isn't necessary, and their ideas are harmful. You know? 

And yeah, I'll leave it there.