I know a guy who came down with a nasty case of shingles and needed a few days off (unpaid) to recover, only to be immediately dismissed for his trouble. Now he has a black mark on his record he needs to explain to future employers, while his former boss faces no consequences whatsoever; 8 billion people who need to eat, give the job to one of them.
If employers pay subsistence wages, how do employees afford this magical adversity insurance they are supposed to have as forwards thinking individuals?
Hell, if employers just pay you enough to buy food, what is the dude that needs food + insulin supposed to do?
We know where this ends up: debt bondage from birth.
Capitalist culture is service industry workers not being allowed to sit down for their entire shifts, no matter how dead the traffic flow gets.
Capitalist culture is service industry workers sacrificing their comfort for antagonizing and pervy customers who are “always right”.
Capitalist culture is giving students homework in order to prepare them for their future careers where they’ll inevitably need to “take work home with them” or work extra hours in order to put bread on the table.
Capitalist culture is helping physically/mentally ill people only to the extent that they’re able to generate profitable labor again.
Capitalist culture is destroying food that can’t be sold rather than distributing it to poor people according to need.
Capitalist culture is monetizing knowledge and making it artificially scarce so that owners can profit and laypeople are left in the dark.
start with revolt
We don’t need unanimity, nor a comprehensive understanding of the whole world, nor a road map to a precise destination—just the courage to set out on a different path.
valerian house archive 