FYI: Full time work is a sucker's game*
*40 hours is not long enough to be so miserable as to rise up against it, yet just long enough and restricting enough that your life revolves around work and you never have enough time to really think about the actual quality of your life. You know things such as intellectual, social and philosophical pursuits that may just make you realize how abhorrent and complacent you have become in accepting a system such as this being the pinnacle result of 5000 years of civilization. I'm sure this is what our forefathers foresaw when they made strides in science, technology and thought. That their descendants would work in a cage without physical exertion but sedentary mental strain, would sleep far less than them, be impervious to weather; working in rain and snow and never seeing the sun, have their time and duties regulated so efficiently as to make an ant colony want to streamline, and to slave into old age to pursue a dream that was as easy to our ancestors as walking 100 metres down the road and cutting a days worth of trees; a plot of land around our home with a fence (hopefully white picket) to demarcate as our own and plant a little garden for wholesome food to grow. Today, only Tim Hortons and Wal-Mart seem to find the task of building homes quickly on ample plots of land easy. Yes, what a Brave New World we Nineteen Eighty-Fourers have grown into.
- T.K
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
a global shame
I should, and do, feel ashamed, because i live in a city where we waste our wealth on needless material possessions while people around the world struggle to fill their stomachs. I do not feel Canadian, or any other identity that uses political borders as its criteria for membership. I feel part of the global village, and feel an obligation towards my distant brethren to help them if they are in need. Yet i do not feel like my society is structured to care of any plight other than that of its own citizens.
I also feel dead, because a life without struggle is not worth living. Nietzsche wished his friends a life with struggle and hardship, so they could feel alive. Any existance that is too comfortable is worthless, he noted. We are too affluent for our own good, and therefore unfulfilled. This I believe.
I also feel dead, because a life without struggle is not worth living. Nietzsche wished his friends a life with struggle and hardship, so they could feel alive. Any existance that is too comfortable is worthless, he noted. We are too affluent for our own good, and therefore unfulfilled. This I believe.
Friday, June 24, 2011
work ethics are ridiculous
I am in utter disbelief that our system is naively accepted by all its sheep. Why do people accept to be treated as slaves? It must be that people are too busy to stop and think. Think about why they do what they do. Why we work harder than we ever did even though we are more efficient and productive than ever in our history, and should only have to work a fraction of our ancestors for the same yield. This is one reason.
Another reason: the human memory is shorter than we know. We can't remember how we were and felt just a few months ago, or a few days ago. The memory of an emotion is brief.
We barely understand how we feel now, let alone decades ago. But decades ago people were happier, they worked less and had more time for things that matter: family, friends, reflection, and appreciation of things around them. People were alive, had personality, and were not part of a rat race.
We are in a cage of modernity and have no idea how restricted the lives we lead are. Just like a fish does not know it is wet.
We are socialized from a young age with more rules than my harddrive can store. We are constantly trying to do what is appropriate, right, and in adherence to social norms, etiquette, and laws. We are bombarded with voices telling us to be a model citizen, to work hard, be successful, progress.
Children are happy, because they do not have these restrictions and speak, shout and live freely. They eat with their hands, fart, cry, shout and say "inappropriate" things. They do not carry the burden of being "successful"
Most of our problems could be solved if we worked less. The environment would be saved, because no longer do people feel a sense of entitlement to wasteful consumption simply because they work so hard and deserve it. We would buy things we need, and the list of what we need would be a fraction of today's list.
My generation has not experienced the 1960s, or the 1860s, or the 560s, to know that all our luxuries do not bring us happiness. What brings us happiness is good weather, socialization, and the arts. But today we live in shit weather with little socialization and little time for music and art. We have no time for our friends and children. We have time for our managers and bosses.
Our cities are polluted with the smell of exhaust rather than enriched with the smell of fresh bread coming from the local bakery down the street. We do not sing, dance, or play. We do not laugh. I do not hear laughter coming from my neighbour's house. They are alone on the computer, or with their partner watching a shitty reality show on television. People do not interact on the street with each other, but rather with their blackberrys, iphones, and ipods.
Our meals are not eaten at a human pace, but rather scarfed down like a whale.
We are losers. We are suckers.
It doesn't have to be this way. The solution is simple. We need to break down the capitalist system by slowly transferring our taxation to local municipal governments. It is national governments that sign trade agreements, start expensive wars, and make us work to pay taxes. The compete with other countries for a larger gdp.
But local governments are indifferent to the global rat race. The global race to the bottom.
Local governments are concerned with their environment, transportation, and good access to health care.
We need to stop buying junk we don't need from dollar stores, wal-mart, hardware stores, and the like. Once we only buy our necessities, such as food, shelter, public transportation, and health care, all other ficticious industries will simply collapse.
Once we stop competing at a global level, the capitalist system will fail and we will be free to spend time with people we care about and have conversations that are meaningful.
Another reason: the human memory is shorter than we know. We can't remember how we were and felt just a few months ago, or a few days ago. The memory of an emotion is brief.
We barely understand how we feel now, let alone decades ago. But decades ago people were happier, they worked less and had more time for things that matter: family, friends, reflection, and appreciation of things around them. People were alive, had personality, and were not part of a rat race.
We are in a cage of modernity and have no idea how restricted the lives we lead are. Just like a fish does not know it is wet.
We are socialized from a young age with more rules than my harddrive can store. We are constantly trying to do what is appropriate, right, and in adherence to social norms, etiquette, and laws. We are bombarded with voices telling us to be a model citizen, to work hard, be successful, progress.
Children are happy, because they do not have these restrictions and speak, shout and live freely. They eat with their hands, fart, cry, shout and say "inappropriate" things. They do not carry the burden of being "successful"
Most of our problems could be solved if we worked less. The environment would be saved, because no longer do people feel a sense of entitlement to wasteful consumption simply because they work so hard and deserve it. We would buy things we need, and the list of what we need would be a fraction of today's list.
My generation has not experienced the 1960s, or the 1860s, or the 560s, to know that all our luxuries do not bring us happiness. What brings us happiness is good weather, socialization, and the arts. But today we live in shit weather with little socialization and little time for music and art. We have no time for our friends and children. We have time for our managers and bosses.
Our cities are polluted with the smell of exhaust rather than enriched with the smell of fresh bread coming from the local bakery down the street. We do not sing, dance, or play. We do not laugh. I do not hear laughter coming from my neighbour's house. They are alone on the computer, or with their partner watching a shitty reality show on television. People do not interact on the street with each other, but rather with their blackberrys, iphones, and ipods.
Our meals are not eaten at a human pace, but rather scarfed down like a whale.
We are losers. We are suckers.
It doesn't have to be this way. The solution is simple. We need to break down the capitalist system by slowly transferring our taxation to local municipal governments. It is national governments that sign trade agreements, start expensive wars, and make us work to pay taxes. The compete with other countries for a larger gdp.
But local governments are indifferent to the global rat race. The global race to the bottom.
Local governments are concerned with their environment, transportation, and good access to health care.
We need to stop buying junk we don't need from dollar stores, wal-mart, hardware stores, and the like. Once we only buy our necessities, such as food, shelter, public transportation, and health care, all other ficticious industries will simply collapse.
Once we stop competing at a global level, the capitalist system will fail and we will be free to spend time with people we care about and have conversations that are meaningful.
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