Hate What You Do

[Ray H.]

This article wound up on my Facebook feed. Basically, the author wants everyone to feel guilty about happiness they find in a career or for creating jobs for people with low skills. Throw in some pity for academics, women, and the ever-exploited entry level worker. This paragraph makes me giggle every time (DWYL= do what you love):

 

"Ironically, DWYL reinforces exploitation even within the so-called lovable professions where off-the-clock, underpaid, or unpaid labor is the new norm: reporters required to do the work of their laid-off photographers, publicists expected to Pin and Tweet on weekends, the 46 percent of the workforce expected to check their work email on sick days. Nothing makes exploitation go down easier than convincing workers that they are doing what they love."

 

Snapping pictures! Pinning! Tweeting! Refreshing email! The man's keeping us down!

 

[dazed and confused]

great article, i dont see what you disagree with.

 

It seems to be the case that even going to a job interview for a job at mcdonalds you need to pretend to be doing it for reasons other than money

[Ray H.]

The article is, among other things, a call for a living wage. In other words, the author doesn't think capitalism has led to an increase in living standards, but instead has kept the masses down. This is obviously false after a moment's thought comparing living conditions of the "poor" in the U.S., Australia, Canada, etc to those in the former Soviet bloc, the Far East, South America, etc. To the degree that market forces are left alone, societies improve as a whole. 

 

This article is in the same vein as Peter Joseph's "structural violence" gibberish.

[dazed and confused]

The article is, among other things, a call for a living wage. In other words, the author doesn't think capitalism has led to an increase in living standards, but instead has kept the masses down. This is obviously false after a moment's thought comparing living conditions of the "poor" in the U.S., Australia, Canada, etc to those in the former Soviet bloc, the Far East, South America, etc. To the degree that market forces are left alone, societies improve as a whole. 

 

This article is in the same vein as Peter Joseph's "structural violence" gibberish.

 

I did get the impression that the author was coming from the left. 

 

however i didnt see "living wage" mentioned even in passing. The article was about the DWYL philosophy and the corporate culture. And he seemed to be on point regarding those two things. 

[Ray H.]

The last paragraph:

 

"In masking the very exploitative mechanisms of labor that it fuels, DWYL is, in fact, the most perfect ideological tool of capitalism. It shunts aside the labor of others and disguises our own labor to ourselves. It hides the fact that if we acknowledged all of our work as work, we could set appropriate limits for it, demanding fair compensation and humane schedules that allow for family and leisure time."

 

The author (a female, btw) mentions low wages, underpaid workers at least five other times in the article. 

[PatrickC]

Yes, the article is dreadfully written. The points the author was making were often difficult to follow at first.

 

The gist of it as I could tell was the author sees work as always mundane and a form of enslavement whether it be DWYL as he puts it or not. Certainly enough of an inference or at least a nudge towards the 'livable' wage I think.

 

The funny thing about this opinion and it's not uncommon in our culture. I certainly get there are jobs that are mundane and downright bloody boring. But compared to no work and scrapping by from tilling some dusty earth and attempting to grow potatoes to eat, so you don't starve, I'd know what I would prefer to do.