A Dull Title for a Serious Problem

[Omaha Steve]

http://nebraskaworker.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/a-dull-title-for-a-serious-problem/
Posted by thesabotagecat ? June 11, 2012
You are at your workplace, and you decide to look down at your watch or phone to glance at the time. You see it, and a hopeless sigh is your immediate response. We always encounter this situation. You want to be out of there. It’s a long time until your next break, and it’s even depressingly further from walking straight out of the door. Under capitalism, we suffer just not poverty, stolen wages, and injustice, but also alienation, boredom, stress, and dare I say… routine.

I have severe A.D.D. I get cabin fever when I stand in the same grocery-aisle alone for ten minutes. I have to constantly keep my mind busy, occupied with thoughts, just so I can resist the urge from walking away from what I am doing. This, however, is a prominent feature of capitalism. Making workers do the same routine everyday sucks the life out of them: we become mindless zombies. Set out to do simple tasks over and over, for several hours a day, the majority of the week, we become downtrodden with boredom. Humans are creative creatures: we like experiencing new things, and thrive to prosper at what we are good at. Capitalism is the complete opposite of this: they simply hire whoever is the best at lying in the interview (we all do it). Once we have landed the job, we are trained to repeat the same task over and over, whether we like it or not.

A cruel feature of capitalism is that you are always wanting to get out of work. What sane person doesn’t have this thought come across their mind a couple dozen times throughout the workday? We think of what we want to do when we’re out of this wage-slavery; to cherish our few waking hours not working or sleeping. However, a common occurrence is that once you are out of work, the thought of work pops right back into your head. “I can’t go out tonight, I have to be up early tomorrow morning for work.” How about “I can’t go to such-and-such, I have to save money for bills, rent, and so forth.” We have to plan our lives accordingly to the wages we make, and the time we spend working. We live to work. The burden of money is ever constant, and we are forced into making decisions that is out of our reach.

Maybe I want to take a lovely Wobbly-girl to a concert and dinner? Too bad. I have to spend all my paycheck on bills, rent, gas, food, everything that matters just so I can live to work, get to work, or have access to work. I can take the risk of not paying my phone-bill, just so I can have some “fun money.” At what cost might that be? Phone companies, among others, are notorious for down-rating your credit rating. Therefore, in the future, I might have a high-interest rate if I need a car (so I can once again get to work), or have a place to live, or so forth. It’s a full circle: I end up spending more of my money just so I can live to work, and get to work.

FULL story at link.

[patrice]

1. Wish I could Rec this a million times! Wouldn't our entire economy work better if we had the right

people in the right kinds of jobs????

Better yet, wouldn't more people be happier and healthier if their workplaces cared for them more?

This idea that what we need is cookie-cutter education producing slaves for cookie-cutter corporations - so just shut-up accept whatever "we" say knowledge & learning are and take a job, ANY job, keep your nose out of anything that is "above your station", keep on doing what your told until "we" say you're too old, then take the crumbs "we" say you are worthy of - MUST END!!!

[abelenkpe]

2. "The burden of money is ever constant"

My seven year old says money is the problem and we need to get rid of it.


I just want more time with my son. But I have to work. Thing is....I like my job! I only don't like its constraints on time because I want to be with my son. But I now need my job (that I love) so I can care for my son (that I love), causing resentment of the job.


Can't win.

[rug]

3. "Capitalism surrounds us, just not at our workplace, or paychecks, but our minds."

It is a miasma dulling our minds and sucking our breath.