Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
I've tried really hard to get a job that requires as little from me as possible and still pays the bills.
Life is misery, every week I start knowing I will not be allowed enough freedom to ever stop being a wage slave.
I work to stay alive, and have no chance to plan for the future.
I have nothing to live for besides the people I care about, and my work makes it so I have to spend almost all my time away from them or too tired to interact.
Our world is dying and I can't even be upset about it anymore, becuse whatever happens will be more fulfilling than this
And does it make you a better project manager?
I'm not sure how to phrase this without sounding like a condescending jerk, but that's not my intention.
The thing is, a job that requires as little from you as possible while still paying the bills is guaranteed to be unfulfilling.
There is no fulfilling job in this system
Having a gun put to your head and being told to work or die is not fulfilling in any way. It's a hostage situation. It's slavery.
That's hyperbolic.
When I am allowed to choose to spend my time working twoards the actual benefit of society for a fair wage call me.
Until then I'm not doing any of this voluntarily, it's against my will. Like a slave
It's a constant fight for survival, we've made the horrible mistake of modeling our systems off of the cruel fuedal hierarchies of the past and the cruel uncaring themes of nature. These are things a fair civil society is supposed to oppose and ours is failing.
Sorry if I can't delude myself into being a happy slave for some boomer on the internet lol
"Working towards the actual benefit of society" is subjective and I'm not sure what your definition is.
In Western Australia where I live there are several gargantuan projects under construction to use solar to crack hydrogen out of water for export to south east asia. 1,000s of construction jobs in these projects. A labourer without a trade qualification would probably earn at least 2x the average Australian full time wage doing that. A qualified trades person with experience in this type of project might earn 2.5 or even 3x average wage.
I volunteer as the treasurer for a local 18 bed refuge for teenagers without a safe place to live. They employ about a dozen social workers for the in-house and outreach programs. All of these people are earning close to the average full time wage.
My own job as an accountant is less directly "benefit of society" but I do find it satisfying to help people navigate complex situations.
I think most people are able to choose to spend their time working towards the actual benefit of society for a fair wage.
Oh well I live in the US where the less fortunate are put in prison and forced to be slaves.
I've never been to the US but I'm certain that's not true.
I'm not trying to be a snarky online asshole telling you you're wrong about everything. I'm certain that I've felt the way you are in the past. I do genuinely wish you well.
I guess I was just trying to give you some hope for the future by challenging your feeling of hopelessness.
If capitalism didn't exist and we just had a more archaic society, it would almost invariably be agrarian and you'd need to work for food or also die.
It's not largely different.
The difference is in your example the majority of your labor benefits you.
Currently most working people pay off the cost that their existence incurs before age 40. But most people won't get to retire.
Every year the ratio of work/life keeps getting shifter further away from life. And pretending like Capitalism does us any favors is just ignoring the more practical solutions at this point.