Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't think that screwing around and then rubbing it in your partner's face is abuse?
No, it's not. A partner's monogamy is a gift, not an entitlement.
You have never been in a deep relationship before have you?
“People simply empty out”
341–350 of 477 posts
Re: “People simply empty out”
#342Re: “People simply empty out”
#343Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that wage slavery exists but let's be serious, slavery in many societies, including the US was a brutal existence that included beatings & intentional separations of families, often even if you as a slave were compliant in the system. If you weren't compliant you were subject to torture and/or a violent death. The cruelty of slavery stretches far beyond the lack of freedom you're describing here.
Okay, you have an excellent point that modern slavery is a kinder, more gentle version. Now, instead of being beaten physically, you are gutted mentally via long hours and unreasonable schedules. Now, you "choose" to live away from the rest of your family because a job could earn you so much more money. Even the punishment has become more moral and more evenly applied to all to of course avoid discrimination. You are…
I have to disagree. Strong people will pursue their passion and find their ways. Weak people will succumb and be scared. It depends entirely on the person. Most people simply prefer stability, that's all there is to it.
Not everybody has this amazing idea they are absolutely passionate about and prioritize above everything else.
I just started working in a corporate environment. I'm the best at what I do. I work beyond hours. I also have a life. I can choose to go home and have a four hour game of thrones session, or I can invest my time into personal interests and developing myself.
It's up to the individual entirely. We live in a world where we are capable of forging our own path.
There is no lack of freedom, there is simply too much of it.
> while we have become more free have we really gained anything in terms of long term ability to do what we actually desire or be our own masters?
YES. You have all the resources at your fingertips. Institutions, counselling, meetups for specific interests, the INTERNET where you can communicate with anybody in a millisecond.
It's up to you what you do with these powers. Will you be complacent, or will you use them to your advantage? It's sad that most people use our new found technological superpowers to bore themselves instead of learn about our beautiful planet and all it has to offer.
Re: “People simply empty out”
#344Earlier quoted context omitted.
The system isn't capitalism, it's life: you don't work, you don't eat. The author was one of the few whose work is both enjoyable on its own and worth enough to others to survive on, capitalism in the form of sponsorship. Capitalism at least gives a generally fair exchange of work for value; the alternatives amount to institutionalized theft.
Congrats on completely perverting what Bukowski meant and also being a big old idiot
Care to elaborate on that insight?
Yes, Bulkowski observed that most people are in unfulfilling jobs, and he was happy to escape that life to pursue what pleased him. He failed to note that to leave those jobs would be a terminal move because they had nothing they found fulfilling which would at the same time create livable productivity. He was lucky enough to have notable talent in doing something fulfilling to the point that someone else was willing to exchange a "living wage" for it, and he was happy as a result. I'm happy too, having found my equivalent combination of joyful productivity coupled with a satisfying fair wage for writing (iOS code instead of English prose).
Yes, we lament those who toil to unsatisfying ends. So ask each and every one of them: what do you want to do? Most answers you receive, alas, would be either "I don't know" or something not rising to the exchangeable equivalent of sustenance farming. Natural reality being that you do not get fed & clothed just for mere existence, all have a natural obligation to produce enough for themselves & dependents to survive on, and if they can't find a pleasant way to do it then they must find an unpleasant way as charity (while morally obligatory) can only go so far.
Re: “People simply empty out”
#345Earlier quoted context omitted.
Capitalism is a recent invention. Societies in the past were not capitalistic, I challenge you to find one. They were imperialistic, mercantilistic, corporatist, fascistic, communal, the list goes on. Adam Smith invented capitalism as a response to the mercantilism of 18th century England.
>Capitalism is a recent invention. Societies in the past were not capitalistic, I challenge you to find one. They all were. Not in social sense, but in the economic one. The challenge makes no sense. What is capitalism? As long as you let the markets work and don't interfere with people decisions on the market on a permanent basis this is capitalism. As you let the capital flow and accumulate. Once you impose restric…
You're confusing human competition with the complex economic system of capitalism.
It's a recent invention, and requires much vigilance and restraint to be kept alive. In many ways it is already gone.
Re: “People simply empty out”
#346I don't happen to believe the wage system is slavery (I do happen to believe we have a modern slavery system, but that's another story) "They never pay the slaves enough so they can get free, just enough so they can stay alive and come back to work." But then why don't the slaves leave? Unlike in the past, nobody is holding a gun to their head. One possibility, probably popular among entrepreneurial types, is the sla…
Django unchained briefly visited that idea when Leonardo pondered why don't the slaves revolt or leave? The slave has nowhere to go. Wage slavery, the term, was coined when industrial jobs were coming on to the scene in the north and there was still slavery in the south. Groups of laborers in these new factories soon went on protest. They self-described their situation as being similar to slave work/living standards…
well, I guess I put a bit of a teaser in there. I don't believe in the concept of wage slavery. I believe we have debt slavery. I.E. Where someone else owns your labor and enforces that ownership using the law.
This is not to say I think lending should be abolished, I just think that paying back should be voluntary, the counterparty should assume all financial risk and the borrower should assume all reputation risk.
Re: “People simply empty out”
#347Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well I've quit without savings (ok, with one month's savings) twice. Both times I had friends who were kind enough to help take care of me until I could find a job. I'm about to quit (with two month's savings), and there is a strong possibility I'll change careers. It's certainly possible. I do think people generally lack the courage to try, but even that is besides my point. I think if even if people did have the co…
Ok, you had a safety net, and it's MUCH easier if you don't have financial obligations(children, mortgages, etc..). Most blue collar people I know can't impose on friends too much - young ones might get a couch to crash, but their friends are too poor to pay for one month of free food and transport, so some sort of savings is mandatory if you want to quit. For older ones, it's unthinkable without significant savings.
everyone, except possibly the mentally insane has a bigger safety net than they think they have. Even the homeless avoid shelters (rightfully in many cases, since many are violent places).
Re: “People simply empty out”
#348Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>Question 1: Because people want more than they need. This is practically an axiom. Is it? There are several hundred million Buddhists who might disagree with you. >>We aren't unique in this regard either. My cat needs air, water, and food. My cat wants attention, affection, and canned wet food. Your cat wants attention, affection and canned wet food because as a pet it has gotten used to those things. There are a b…
The Buddhists wouldn't disagree, they would agree and state that it is an axiom of their philosophy. The whole point of Buddhism is that people want more than they need and that it offers a way out.
No, the whole point of Buddhism is that capitalism teaches people to want more than they need.
It is not an inherent human quality. Our ancestors in the African Savannah weren't going out of their way to acquire material goods. They were lean.
Re: “People simply empty out”
#349Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I wish I worked more" - said no one ever on their death bed.
Well, maybe someone who got fired because of poor work ethics and then never got a job again and died in poverty said it before.
In that case, he'd say "I wish I worked smarter". (or harder, but I don't like that usage)
Re: “People simply empty out”
#350Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ok, you had a safety net, and it's MUCH easier if you don't have financial obligations(children, mortgages, etc..). Most blue collar people I know can't impose on friends too much - young ones might get a couch to crash, but their friends are too poor to pay for one month of free food and transport, so some sort of savings is mandatory if you want to quit. For older ones, it's unthinkable without significant savings.
everyone, except possibly the mentally insane has a bigger safety net than they think they have. Even the homeless avoid shelters (rightfully in many cases, since many are violent places).
"everyone, except possibly the mentally insane has a bigger safety net than they think they have"
That may be so, but I guess you're from the United States, right?
To be honest, my country has several welfare programs, but they're bureaucratic and marginalizing, I think most people wouldn't like hitting rock bottom like that, and for a dubious chance at a career change - my country does have free university, but I don't think you can do it from the street, and shelter is only available in winter.
I agree you wouldn't starve, at least in the U.S. or here in Uruguay, I can think of several places I wouldn't try it out, but it would be a huge hurdle to overcome (not to mention the difficulty of getting reinserted in society).