Why in the world are we here?/Surely, not to live in pain and fear
(“Instant Karma,” John Lennon)
In the U.S., 44 percent of men and 36 percent of women fear retirement more than death.
After that nightmarish fact has sunk in, ponder how far we have sunk as a society. Ponder how deeply the corporate capitalist dogma has been injected into our collective veins.
“I’d rather be dead than not go to work.”
Of course, there are surface reasons why people fear retirement as they do. In a recent related survey, the top fear was financial. This connects to pensions, healthcare, etc. After that came:
Not keeping mentally active
Not keeping physically active
Not having social and friendship networks associated with work
All of this is the result of gaslighting and downright thievery. We don’t need the so-called elites to grant us a rich, fulfilling, healthy, and happy life. Never did, never will.
But the powers that (shouldn’t) be work overtime to program us. If we see wage slavery as normal and even necessary, they win — every single time. The propaganda is so pervasive it even gets one group of wage slaves to attack other groups of wage slaves.
Case in point: The nonsense that was going around when the government extended unemployment benefits during the lockdowns.
When the fake news was presented in 2021 that NO ONE wanted to work and they’d rather stay home, be lazy, and leech off the government, at least half the country was outraged. Funny, I never witnessed such widespread anger being aimed at the captains of industry who never stop trying to destroy our lives. No, the real villain was some dude who (allegedly) didn’t exude external gratitude for a minimum wage job at Target. This meme sums it up well:
Breaking news: Just because this is how we’ve “always” done it doesn’t make it right or smart or healthy or natural. Fuck work.
Yeah, yeah, yeah… go ahead and send me replies about how deluded I am and how we can’t fight City Hall. But I’m not an armchair philosopher here. I have lived it for my entire adult life.
I had my first full-time work experience at age 17. It took about a week for me to recognize that the people in charge were running a scam on us. From that moment on, I did everything I could to patch together a combination of freelance work and simple living. As a result, I’ve maybe worked a cumulative total of about six years in any full-time setting in my entire life. Never more than 2.5 years in a row.
I decided early on that when someone asked me “What do you do?” my answer would not be related to how I sold my freedom on a full-time basis (or more).
A 2017 Gallup poll found that out of the world’s roughly one billion full-time workers, only 15 percent of people felt “engaged at work.” Eighty-fuckin-five percent of humans are unhappy, unchallenged, and unfulfilled in their jobs. How can this not shape who you are and how you live?
You spend at least five days a week for decades doing something that doesn’t light you up, you probably become the kind of person who lines up for experimental injections without asking what’s in them.
Fuck work. The parasites in charge are (literally) selling you a lie and the price is your autonomy, your soul, your life. We’ve now reached the point where at least 4 in 10 humans would rather die than quit their job. And next, they’re coming for your pensions, your cash, your privacy, and more.
“If work is such a good thing, why don't the rich grab it all for themselves?” (Brendan Behan)
This isn’t Democrat or Republican. It’s not young or old, male or female, black or white, or any other false conflict. A tiny, tiny portion of humans needs you to submit and surrender in order to keep them afloat. All you need to do is grow a backbone and their plans are smashed.
Request: Instead of telling me all the reasons why this will never happen, tell yourself all the reasons why this has to happen.
I admit I am dumb enough to fall for this horrible scam of the “Capitalists” who control me. I worked 54 years before retiring in 2015, but I mostly loved it. It gave me purpose, satisfaction, and happiness.
Uncle Butch
I never wanted to work at retirement. Heavy cigarette smoking destroyed my lungs and forced me into an early retirement of sorts but I find plenty to do all the same. I don't miss working at all. I was a professional cook for 35 years, BTW.
My father worked well into his retirement as an engineer doing contract work on PC systems. He didn't ever seem to want to "take it easy".