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Why Americans Care About Work So Much

theatlantic.com

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Re: Why Americans Care About Work So Much

#51

Post by rwmj »

scruple wrote: post #20
protonbob wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of us still go to church every week!

What do I do if I want to "go back" to church but I don't believe? Speaking personally, and without spilling a few paragraphs of text here, it seems like that's where I am today.

Church isn't the only local activity by any means. As I noted in my other response[1], if you want to do charity there's volunteering groups. Or sports? We have a football team, bowls, ballet, pilates or general keep-fit. Or drinking? We have a pub meet up where they discuss philosophy (I'm not making this one up, promise!)

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35397479

Re: Why Americans Care About Work So Much

#52

Post by chii »

lisp-pornstar wrote: post #34
chii wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially if you are able bodied and healthy if you're abled bodied, and healthy, why should society bear a burden of giving you resources to live off long term? To exist means to locate the resources to live (such as food, shelter, etc). These resources can no longer be foraged like in the days of old, and thus, the allocation of these resources must come from a mechanism we call market and employment today. A so…

>To exist means to locate the resources to live I didn't understand the meaning of this sentence; does "means" here points to the expression of "requirement" or of "signification" ? (I am not a native speaker)

yes, to exist requires one to locate resources to live.

Re: Why Americans Care About Work So Much

#53

Post by fnordpiglet »

scruple wrote: post #20
protonbob wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of us still go to church every week!

What do I do if I want to "go back" to church but I don't believe? Speaking personally, and without spilling a few paragraphs of text here, it seems like that's where I am today.

Become a Quaker or Unitarian.

Re: Why Americans Care About Work So Much

#54

Post by dmoo »

scruple wrote: post #20
protonbob wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of us still go to church every week!

What do I do if I want to "go back" to church but I don't believe? Speaking personally, and without spilling a few paragraphs of text here, it seems like that's where I am today.

My take on this is that if your religion doesn’t make you do anything you’d be ashamed of if there was no God then there is no harm. Sometimes the rights and rituals help provide context for important life events regardless of any faith you might lack.

Re: Why Americans Care About Work So Much

#55

Post by DoreenMichele »

scruple wrote: post #20
protonbob wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of us still go to church every week!

What do I do if I want to "go back" to church but I don't believe? Speaking personally, and without spilling a few paragraphs of text here, it seems like that's where I am today.

Go to church.

Be polite. Be respectful. Don't wear your lack of belief on your sleeve.

No big, really.

Re: Why Americans Care About Work So Much

#56

Post by gamechangr »

scruple wrote: post #20
protonbob wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of us still go to church every week!

What do I do if I want to "go back" to church but I don't believe? Speaking personally, and without spilling a few paragraphs of text here, it seems like that's where I am today.

you join a "friendship group" or "cell group" that is offered at your local church. It's a weekly meeetup where people get to know people.

Just hang out for a few weeks, then bring any questions you have up.

Re: Why Americans Care About Work So Much

#57

Post by BossHogg »

rwmj wrote: post #14
Liquix wrote: post #7

On the potential downsides of WFH triggering a drawback from workism: If community means “where you keep showing up,” then, for many people, the office is all that’s left. What happens when it goes the way of bowling leagues and weekly church attendance? Bowling leagues, churches, meditation centers, hiking groups, tabletop game gatherings, music festivals, etc are alive and well! Becoming isolated from remote work,…

Yeah that was a strange claim. My local village paper (distributed for free on actual paper and supported by hyperlocal advertising) is full of volunteer groups, church news, the local football club, yoga lessons, pub meet ups. > > "What happens when it goes the way of bowling leagues [...] Reading it now I notice the local bowls club is having a "no experience needed" free coaching day in a few weeks, I might have t…

"Lawn bowling" to Americans.

Re: Why Americans Care About Work So Much

#58

Post by drewcoo »

protonbob wrote: post #11
Liquix wrote: post #7

On the potential downsides of WFH triggering a drawback from workism: If community means “where you keep showing up,” then, for many people, the office is all that’s left. What happens when it goes the way of bowling leagues and weekly church attendance? Bowling leagues, churches, meditation centers, hiking groups, tabletop game gatherings, music festivals, etc are alive and well! Becoming isolated from remote work,…

Plenty of us still go to church every week!

Define "plenty."

Then make this line stop dropping past the plenty level:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/248837/church-membership-down-s...

Re: Why Americans Care About Work So Much

#59

Post by shrimp_emoji »

Dalewyn wrote: post #35
DubiousPusher wrote: post #17

I very much agree with the author's thesis here. I think there is a kind of derangement especially among SV types about making every job about rescuing the world. And I think it comes from exactly this place of the human need for spirituality which is currently starved. But I had to screech the breaks for a second at this conjecture. > Their work was a matter of subsistence and necessity; it was not a race for status…

>Their spiritual frameworks provided direction on ... whom to marry and how to raise children. As a non-religious man (no, not atheist: non-religious ), I can definitely say that the lack of an overbearing deity or otherwise some sort of Code of Divine Conduct(tm) prescribing such things has led me to put such frivolous matters as marriage and family aside and very likely never touched upon again. Objectively, I simp…

I think the object, ideally, is to meet a person you like so much that the problems and sacrifices that a (active, committed) relationship entails are worth it.

To be suckered into soul-draining bad relationships on the pretenses of imaginary friends in the sky that told you to do it sounds hellish.

Re: Why Americans Care About Work So Much

#60

Post by lunatesi »

jongjong wrote: post #19

Regardless of how people feel about work, no government agency should ever aim for job creation as a goal. The irony of modern life is that it's often people who don't need to work who enjoy work the most... The game is fun to them mostly because it's rigged in their favor. On the other side, when the game is rigged against you, it's hard to think of anything worse. If I could get the same salary as I do now to liter…

> If I could get the same salary as I do now to literally stare at a wall and watch paint dry, I would do it and I'm not even joking.

Same. I would do it even if it came with a pay cut. It might be burnout for me, it might be a job that doesn't fit anymore (or, hell, maybe the whole career), I don't know — but I know I just had 2 weeks of vacation and am absolutely dreading Monday.

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