First Neil Young and now the r/antiwork subreddit.
r/Antiwork
When I first heard about the r/antiwork sub-reddit a few weeks ago, I thought it can’t be good to promote trying to get by doing as little as possible because it doesn’t jive with my inherent life principals. I reviewed the board further and it’s people telling you to take 20 minutes shits or that there is nothing worse than a “co-worker who works through breaks”. The board’s main function is complaining about capitalism.
The main gripe in r/antiwork is corporations pay their employees much less than they are worth. This in turn pushes them to boards like this where they congregate to discuss how they can “antiwork”. The group had a bomb dropped on them last night when Doreen, a transgender female and moderator of the sub-reddit, shows the flip side of this argument which is a genuinely lazy person who wants to get through life doing as little as possible. It is also uncovered that this mod has admitted to multiple sexual assaults. The board in turn has felt ridicule from this interview.
Next Step
After being humiliated on national TV, and the public wondering how a board this stupid could exist, the board is in turmoil. Their credibility has been tarnished. It’s important to distinguish between the two types of people among the board which are the lazy (see video) and the employees taken advantage of. To feel taken advantage of you must earn less than you’re worth. To argue that everyone should earn the same living wage is ludicrous when you consider someone at McDonald’s shouldn’t be worth the same as someone developing the vaccine. Once you accept that people are paid based on their worth to society, you might consider what your life path has been rather than complain about it. If you choose history as your profession, you should know being an expert about the past doesn’t pay as much as being an expert of the future. If you learn to be a developer of Web3 in 2022, you might be paid handsomely. But I’m supposed to pursue my passion! Fair enough, you just might not get paid for it. If you don’t have the skills to be paid more, I’d suggest you spend some time getting them instead of posting on the Reddit board. Easy for me to say! White privilege! Not everyone agrees with capitalism but it built one of the strongest countries in the entire world and ALL the people are more privileged than 90% of the rest of the world.
Having a meaningful job is important to your mental well-being, not to mention your basic needs. These people need to study history for a reality check. Though Capitalism isn’t perfect, no other system has done more to lift people out of poverty and improve the quality of life for all people. They should live in socialist Venezuela now. They’ll quickly learn what all the people fleeing East Germany the day the wall fell in this picture know: https://en.historictalk.com/11-fascinating-historical-photos-that-most-people-have-never
“Once you accept that people are paid based on their worth to society, you might consider what your life path has been rather than complain about it.”
Do you consider teachers valuable to society? If so do you support teachers unions striking and asking to be compensated? I am genuinely asking, no troll.
There becomes a problem with your statement when you start defining “worth to society” I think. Would you say a marketing executive is contributing more to society than a nurse? Is a famous instagramer adding more society than a teacher? It’s not 1 to 1 compensation to worth, you have to admit there are issues. I don’t have the answers but no one does. All I know is boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that’s why I shit on company time.
(note: i am the manager of a team of 4)
I’d answer every one of your questions with “yes”. I consider teachers valuable and support them striking. I would say a marketing executive is worth more than a nurse because less people can do it successfully. A shitty marketing executive won’t have a job for long. Sadly, an Instagrammer who provides millions of people entertainment is worth more than a teacher. If the Instragrammer can’t develop a following based off of their content they are worth nothing. The system is the system based off value. People accept the wage for the position. They aren’t told to do the job, and get the same amount of pay, like communism which has failed many times in the past. Capitalism produces innovation.
The boss takes on the risk of the company succeeding. The employee is a function of the company success. Nobody forces you to work there. If you want to start your own business to be the boss, go for it. It’s America.
The counter to this is that the boss needs the worker. Without workers what is left? That’s why unions are powerful. When the workers organize they can make demands because these big companies are nothing without them. There needs to be balance between the two and the workers should have some say because otherwise there is nothing stopping the bosses from abusing their power and their work force.
I don’t think “less people can do it successfully” is true here either. There are plenty of things that would be very difficult for a large % of the population that are low paying jobs.
It’s an interesting conversation about skill, difficulty, contribution to society, compensation, and power. I don’t think I’m as far off from you on this one as I am on some others lol.
Share ownership is a solution. The problem is owners don’t like to share.
I’ve been told I need to tone it back on some of my viewpoints. When I hear that, I generally think I’m closer to the truth.