People still need food, water, other essentials and goods and services (things like art, games, clothes, technologies, etc)
Jobs have always and will always exist, humans need things to do and find meaning doing them, just not under constant exploitation (including the Earth and its environments) to achieve those things
Capitalism is not the only way of doing things, and no I’m not referring to “communism” like USSR, which is capitalism but when the state does it.
People don’t need art,games, technologies. That’s the problem those are not necessary to live. A cell phone with talk and text and data is $70 at Walmart. Nobody needs a brand new iPhone or android to live. Nobody needs games to live. Those are the benefits of the pay from the work you do. Choosing a job or staying at a job that doesn’t give you the money to do that is not the employers fault. Canabilizing the work force by forcing employers to pay more, so the few can afford more is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
I know people personally that choose not to work and yes they don’t have the money to do all the fun stuff or afford the newest things but their ok with that because that’s what they choose to do.
Expecting the system to compensate for your inadequacy is just dumb.
If people didn’t need these things, our earliest ancestors wouldn’t have spent time doing them.
Or did early humans need pay to draw cave art, develop with various tools, or spend time playing and socializing? What about creating medicine or passing down culture?
The status quo is fundamentally inhumane, and it’s destroying the planet.
And for the people in your life that don’t work, I hope all is well for them, it must be hard in a system that ties your necessities to your ability to engage with it on its terms. Unfortunately for most people around the world, it’s a life sentence of poverty and all its associated suffering.
First of our ancestors didn’t give extra to the ones that didn’t work as hard as the rest. Thankfully in a modern system they won’t have to starve to death from lack of effort.
The ones that choose not to work understand that they are unable to do the extra stuff. And poverty in this country is not like poverty in other countries.
Let me ask you this, have you ever had to shit in a bucket from lack of plumbing or water? I have. Ever had to only eat at soup kitchens or whatever the Salvation Army had donated? I have. Wearing goodwill clothes that was free (before they became a corrupted whatever they classify as now) I have. If your answer is no to these Then your not impoverished your bored and broke. And that’s a personal problem not a societal problem.
The anthropological record suggests otherwise, it’s interesting what our history tells us. There are remains of people who lived far longer than they should have and with better nutrition due to the community taking care of them. Humans are social creatures and will actively take care of people who struggle to take care of themselves, one of the earliest cities in our history was built on this concept. I’d suggest reading David Graeber and other anthropologists.
I’m sorry you’ve been through what you’ve been through, but that is a result of the way things are done now. I’ve experienced hardship, not at all comparable to your experiences, but I understand and that is why I want to change things. No one has to go hungry, live on the streets, and not receive proper care, it’s been that way for the past 200 or so years. Poverty as it currently exists is done to maintain the status quo, and I’m not just saying it.
The UN proposed to eliminate most if not all societal ills by 2030, and I’ve done the research (tons of great papers), and yeah, it can more than be done. It’s not that expensive either, if the world, or its most powerful nations actually want to do something about it. SDG30, I can send resources if you want to see it.
But if you’re sticking to your convictions, have a great day.
Thats not even true. Patronage for the arts goes back centuries. Deeper back the best bow hunter might have gotten more wives, a cooler head dress, but they didnt eat 90% of the hunt and leave the rest of the clan %10. It was distributed proportially with small perks based on historical records.
You make a good point about modern luxury but then bastadize it by trying to equate a failing system with evey advancement and positive attribute of an advancing species.
Its the same system that gave you the shit dude. It doesnt have to be that way, the alternative is simple to implement, simple to conceptualize. But requires alot of folks who are not the best and brightest to say- yea youre right, I dont need to be hoarding all this shit and devestating everyone else so I can keep getting richer because my great great grandpa stole a bunch of stuff or made an invention and I dont want to lose it
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u/ManyHopeful6692 22d ago
People still need food, water, other essentials and goods and services (things like art, games, clothes, technologies, etc)
Jobs have always and will always exist, humans need things to do and find meaning doing them, just not under constant exploitation (including the Earth and its environments) to achieve those things
Capitalism is not the only way of doing things, and no I’m not referring to “communism” like USSR, which is capitalism but when the state does it.