10 March 2012

On Jobs in an Industrial Society and its Presupposed Value

Work pays you, not for the time or life it steals from you but only to recognize the fact that it steals these things from you. If your job were to pay you based on the value of that which it stole from you, it wouldn't be able to afford you for more than a few handful of hours a month--maybe two or three weeks a year, these are unestimated, dramatically concluded guesses, the real amount is possibly even less. But in any case, your job cannot afford all the time and life you give to it, not really. So never feel bad about giving your job the very absolute minimum of your attention, effort, and lifetime. Insofar, as you preserve your position enough to survive in an industrial society that feeds and cares for you only in exchange for manual labor, do as little as possible. And the truth about an industrial society, especially one that exploits manual labor, is that it needs it workers as much or even more than its workers need the industrial society. It isn't necessary to work as so many of us do, however it is necessary for us to work as we do in order to maintain the structure of the industrial society, which conveniently enough, acts as if without it, we'll be worse off. If someone is addicted to heroin and then they just stop, lock themselves in a room for a few days, the withdrawal is scary, dangerous even, but they can survive through it and the result is usually for the better, or the first step towards it. Withdrawal from an industrial society would be similar.