Bad article - drama for some cheap thrills. Common sense stuff coated with shocking statements (your life is over) or grandiose ones ("Be hated").
I am utterly utterly bored of such crap. Tell me something I don't know. Or atleast don't coat it with all this drama.
Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)
91–100 of 107 posts
Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Certainly conveys some sense of 'day in, day out'. I've dithered about reading a Wallace book, mainly because of the length of them. PS: Do you not have corner shops in the US?
In parts, but they're more expensive than supermarkets and don't carry much more than junk food and beer.
Over here (UK) the corner shop often has some fresh fruit, veg, milk and bread. They are of course more expensive, but in my opinion, the extra cost is not huge for one or two meals worth of food, especially laid against the angst and ennui of a heavy traffic supermarket!
Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)
#93Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable. The speaker draws a dichotomy between work and play, as he defines these terms, with work being things done under compulsion and play being things done based on desire (and especially passionate desire). His theme is a clarion call to shape your life, and the way you make a living, around things you love to do and to avoid dying a s…
1. I've never bought this argument. "You have to do hard work that you don't want to do because it builds character." Why? Are there no other ways to build character? There are forms of hard work that you can enjoy. I worked 16-hour days 6/7 days a week for over a year once. In hindsight, I realize that was a terrible, terrible idea, and in the end I was bitter and burned out. But before that happened, I loved it and was passionate about it. It was definitely difficult and tiring work, and I learned a lot about myself and other people during the process, and have since moved on to something I'm just as passionate about, but that comes with balance. Maybe working a mind-numbing and/or back-breaking job for that period would have taught me the same things, but I prefer the path that I took. And hell, there's nothing that says someone can't have a passion for certain kinds of hard physical labor, too.
2. You can learn things about yourself through a variety of ways. This just seems so limiting. Maybe you think making fancy widgets at age 22 is the best thing ever and will make you happy because you love it. Maybe you try it, and it turns out to be a terrible idea. Maybe you learn something incredibly valuable by failing. You have the rest of your life to "get things right". Your early 20s are the best time to screw up by experimenting with different paths. Once you have a family, a mortgage, etc., it's harder to be irresponsible. (Jeez, I feel like I'm pitching "why you should start a startup" with this one.)
3. It's very rare that a particular piece of advice can be taken by everyone. Most advice has a limited audience. In this case that audience was a graduating class at a college in an affluent country. Telling a group of people who have the means to "play" and why not playing is undesirable needn't be denigrating to those who do not. There's a difference between putting down the "bad" jobs, and putting down the people who perform them. Grellas, your parents sound like amazing people, but I doubt they enjoyed the fact that they had to move to a new country and work themselves to the bone to better their conditions. It must have been very difficult to do that, and, all things being equal, I would hope that a sane person would prefer life without restrictions over one with many.
I loved this piece. A little iffy on the "don't tell the truth" part, but I think it just wasn't communicated well and came off more "always lie" than the author intended. I want to play. I have the means to do so. I just need to figure out what playing means to me. The bit on loving someone also struck a chord with me, especially the bit about society being anti-love. Rejecting someone requires but one reason, loving someone requires acceptance of everything. Very poignant.
Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
In parts, but they're more expensive than supermarkets and don't carry much more than junk food and beer.
Over here (UK) the corner shop often has some fresh fruit, veg, milk and bread. They are of course more expensive, but in my opinion, the extra cost is not huge for one or two meals worth of food, especially laid against the angst and ennui of a heavy traffic supermarket!
Yeah, you're lucky to find any produce at all in an American convenience store, though you're likely to find milk and probably bread in the better ones. On the other hand, there's all the beer, soda, "potato chips" (crisps to you), and chocolate bars you could ever want; sometimes a better selection than the supermarket!
Also, because Americans drive everywhere and walking is impossible in most places, most of our convenience stores are attached to gas stations (petrol stations to you).
Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)
#95"Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself." By this logic, a full third of the workforce ought to be professional gamers...
Funny how technology has made "professional player" a zero-income occupation. It used to be so profitable.
Could you please elaborate on that? I'm genuinely curious - I'm not "hardcore gamer" anymore, but I'm still fairly interested in games - but I didn't know that "professional gaming" became zero-income occupation. What happened?
Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)
#96Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable. The speaker draws a dichotomy between work and play, as he defines these terms, with work being things done under compulsion and play being things done based on desire (and especially passionate desire). His theme is a clarion call to shape your life, and the way you make a living, around things you love to do and to avoid dying a s…
If we accept the notion that hard work is good as a tool for personal development, doesn't it also follow that it would be a good idea to try and max out the work/experience curve? Ie apply 80/20 to the concept of menial, character-building drone jobs and try to capture as much low-hanging experience fruit as possible. That way you would get the necessary experience points without spending more time than necessary in those kinds of jobs.
Thoughts on this?
Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
While very few standup comics make Louis CK money (and don't forget how long it took him to get there) there are tons of working professional ones you've probably never heard of. It's very similar to music in that way. If you're willing to work hard at it you'll probably get to where you can make a decent living within a couple years, even if you never end up with your own HBO special.
I love how he made an insightful comment, and everyone goes off on a tangent about how much money comedians make.
Facts are easy to talk about.
Too easy.
Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)
#98One of the best articles I've read in a long time. I'm 21 and about to graduate. I totally relate to this and am already trying to adopt this way living into my life. My friends often tell me I'm being unrealistic and I'll soon realise that I need to grow up. My plan is to work part-time when I leave university leaving myself all the time I want to work on my own projects and to socialise. That's what makes me happy,…
I'm 22 and I told a couple coworkers at lunch that I wish I could do my job part time, and that I'd give up half my salary to just have all that free time back. They thought I was crazy.
I am 60 and I have (almost) always just worked about 32 hours per week. When working for large companies, like SAIC, I would just not come in on Mondays and put 32 hours a week on my time card; same at other companies. I did this for over 30 years. I think in retrospect that this was a great decision.
Kudos to you if you manage half time.
Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)
#99Age 10, me: "I want to be a professional baseball player." Others: "Get serious, you'll never be good enough." Age 16, me: "I want to publish comic books." Others: "Get serious, that's no way to make a living." Age 22, me: "I want to teach math." Others: "Get serious. You'll never make much money that way." Age 30, me: "I want to publish my own software." Others: "Get serious. No one will buy yours over some big comp…
Something I always tend to ask folks:
"Living the life you want to live or one society expects you to?"
Fortunately I was given a severe life lesson not too long ago - certainly made me more selfish but at least it taught me to do what I enjoy, and ignore the nay-sayers.
Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)
#100Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable. The speaker draws a dichotomy between work and play, as he defines these terms, with work being things done under compulsion and play being things done based on desire (and especially passionate desire). His theme is a clarion call to shape your life, and the way you make a living, around things you love to do and to avoid dying a s…
Excellent post. I don't agree with how the OP defines "work". Work is goal-directed activity that may involve momentary discomfort or difficulty, but that leads to a long-term purpose. If that purpose is stupid, then it's a waste of time, but if the purpose is useful and the work is rewarding, then it's a good thing. "Play" is usually used to refer to divergent creativity. Convergent creativity is also important, and…
That piece about convergent/divergent creativity was truly wonderful. Thanks!