Political Memes

First off, fuck the rich.

Second, I think we could have a society where people don't work. I'd work. I kinda like having some shit to do. And I'm not alone. There's some people who like working a lot more than I do. And there's some people who don't like working at all. I think it's doable. I obviously agree that we need to work though. Some people do. I just don't know that we all need to.

That was my idea of what AI and robots were supposed to do, replace mindless bullshit jobs, let people do their thing. It just needs to come with some UBI.

also, anyone that’s consulted (like real consulting: not bullshit “management” consulting: actually building, but with a mandate and permission to actually change shit and get things done) knows that human systems are not perfectly efficient either

just like no machine is perfectly efficient (they all lose energy to tolerance, error, wear, slop, friction, heat, etc), human organisations lose efficiency in both materials and human effort for similar reasons: liquid capital must be available to deal with emergencies (eg paying people during a global pandemic), warehouses must have stock, humans must check to ensure other humans haven’t made mistakes or acted with malice

just because theoretically humanity produces more than enough money, food, hygiene supplies, etc to feed the US population (~>300m) 20x over doesn’t mean all of those supplies would be enough to feed, clothe, and sanitise the world (~>8b)

If you could alter human nature so that everybody trusted everybody else, and everybody cooperated with everyone else, then people could work significantly less.

In that scenario you wouldn't need police, courts, food inspectors, restaurant inspectors, auditors, or a military because everyone would just be cooperating and honest. Offices would need far fewer managers because managers would just be coordinating work, and never have to worry about employees slacking off. HR would never have to fire anybody or discipline them because everyone would be trustworthy. You'd need far fewer executives, and the executives would be honest about how little they worked, and wouldn't ask for absurd compensation.

But, that isn't humanity. Throughout history people solving disputes non-violently has been extremely rare. It's possible among small isolated groups who all know each-other, but as soon as you get towns, people are no longer able to completely trust the people they encounter day to day.

People are also underestimating how good we in the developed world have it today. Working only 40 hours a week was something only the privileged few used to be able to do. Being able to choose what you want to eat is something that only the nobility used to do. Could it be better? Sure. Has it gotten worse on the small time scale of decades? Maybe for some groups. But, for most of the world the last few decades have been ones where the standard of living has gone up by leaps and bounds.

Yes, we should guillotine all the rich, but look at the immediate aftermath of the French Revolution to see how a fully justified plan can still cause death, starvation and chaos in the short term. Humans are still animals, and although we can sometimes recognize there's a problem, cleanly transitioning to a better system without chaos and death is not something we've figured out how to do.

why are we always pressured to feel like we’re behind

One reason is because of old Christian morale. You're born in sin and have to work and obey to repent for that sin, idle hands are the devil's workshop, that kind of stuff. Of course this kind of mentality got co-opted by industrial society to the point that work forms somebody's entire status in society and obligation to the nation. Industry then does what it does best and mercilessly exploits this.

A second reason is because the entire monetary system and economy is built on growth. There always needs to be more goods, more services, more consumption. And if the population isn't growing enough, then the people have to be made to buy more.

What brings us to advertisements, pushing to spend more, to compare yourself with the neighbors, always evaluating the status you're projecting.

Fuck 4-8s

I want 2-4s

The problem is consumables. This photo appears to be an oil worker.

The US burns something on the order of 20 million barrels of oil a day(!)

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=33&t=6

Up from 19 million not too long ago. 100 million in a work week. 5.2 billion a year.

Someone needs to be out there producing it. Yeah, it would be great if we could wean ourselves off of it, but then we'd still need people producing and managing whatever replaces it.

there being enough food to feed the world probably doesn’t mean you work less: people outside the imperial core often work far more for far less… if we even out those scales, i reckon we’d probably end up working more; not less!

yeah billionaires are a thing, but distribute the top 10 billionaires’ wealth across the US population and that’s still only about $1000 each… the top 20 to the world and everyone still only gets about $100USD

I do not want 14 hour shifts starting at 4. 9 - 5s are bad enough.

The rich and powerful are supported by the status quo, and they'll resist any attempt to change it. Because they're rich and powerful, if they think it's necessary they'll resist that change with violence.

That's why things only tend to change when people are really, really "uncomfortable". If you're comfortable, then the injury and death you risk by attempting to change things isn't worth it. If people are already dying from starvation or disease, then it becomes worth it to risk death by challenging the status quo.

Nothing will change until people are hungry.

It could be easy, but people make it hard by ~~supporting~~ enforcing the status quo

Fixed it for you. Shaming the gaslighted masses won't stop the ones with the actual power from oppressing and otherwise abusing the rest of society.

It's not like any of the people in charge ever got a majority of a 100% participation vote. They've been systematically standing in the way of majority rule for centuries and pretending that everyone knows that for a fact and likes it just keeps us squabbling between ourselves while the root causes for most of the world's biggest problems only worsen.

Problem with voting for the people that support this on a national scale is you'd have to get past the ingrained mindset people in America have of a third party never winning. O can guarantee you no Democrat will have support this and even if the someone wanted to pull a Bernie and just run as a Dem, but actually be a small bit more left than the corporate Dems, they'd fail hard cause the DNC doesn't want to actually do anything.

Compared to previous generations, most of the luxuries you are describing are a much lower percentage of our overall expenses, while 3 big things: housing, healthcare, and education have outpaced wages dramatically and are a MUCH larger percentage of our expenses compared to previous generations. Yes, you can save a lot of money by being thrifty, but home cost, healthcare, and education are hard if downright impossible for many people to mitigate.

All that being said yes, you could live a much simpler life, but I think the issue is people seeing an expected standing of living that many western countries used to have, slipping away while a very small percentage of people at the top are consolidating phenomenal wealth. So saying to them “hey it’s your fault for not lowering your expectations” comes off as well, ridiculous.

So.. we move to fantasy land where jobs exist that pay enough for a small home with a small yard?