as kids we know--iherently--that this is all shit. we question work. but society treats it as a measure of maturity to have those questions beaten out of you by weather and time. you gotta suck up the reality in order to grow up. those who question the normalisation of work are "naive"--they say. those who question the normalisation of work need to grow up. it's considered childlike if you haven't given up on clinging onto wanting to actually have a life that isn't swallowed up by time spent completing tasks for the profit of others.
well, the kids have got it.
fuck work.
fuck the irreparable harm that work has done to our bodies, our minds, and our planet. it would take a diatribe to list the absolute rampant destruction that work has enacted in the capitalist scouring for perpetual growth. and, i am so exhausted by it, that i don't even care to re-live that hell by putting it all into words. but here is a glimpse. the briefest glimpse into the tyranny of work from which we can only wish to escape.
i'm going to make an assumption that you think work fucking sucks too. not even think it; you know it. but maybe you lack the imagination to think of an alternative world, or maybe you have full-on accepted the diabolic existence and reconciled it so deep within the core of your bones that you've convinced yourself it is good. i don't know. i don't know you. but i would guess that most people are dissatisfied in their work. they know they give their bodies and minds to the profit of someone else. they know they are stuck in a system of debt and interest fees, and hidden charges that the pay they earn barely even covers (if it covers it at all); and they know the hours that they give encroach on their lives and leave them little time for living, for spending time with their friends and families, or for pursuing their dreams, or for straight up just doing whatever it is they want to do (yes, it's okay to want to sit and do nothing and just read books or whatever).
i keep saying "they", but you know i mean you. you know all this. you know you are at the bottom end of the ladder of wealth inequality, yet you either accept the system, or (for some reason) defend it.
the kids know it too. they see it more clearly than you. they see it when you disappear for hours on end, and when you shuffle them off to nurseries and childminders to be raised by other people while you march off to your work camps. they see it when you come home too tired to play with them; when you are angry and stressed all the time. they see that your time is being stolen from them. they know it, and you know it.
to work, you are a resource from which to be drained. your mental health is a commodity. when it is drained, and you are fried, and you see the hell for what it is, what do you do? you speak to a doctor and they medicate you. they rework the chemical structure of your brain in the chance that maybe--with a little bit of soma--you won't hate this battery cycle that you are stuck in. or you speak to a therapist, and they tell you that you just need to come to terms with the necessity of work. you need to develop coping strategies.
your mental health is seen as your responsibility. it's up to you to manage your suffering. it's not work's fault. you just need to be better at managing your shit. it's not the job that's the problem. it's you who is failing.
this is beauty to the capitalist who can sell you happiness in mindfulness apps, holiday retreats, yoga classes, and blog posts. they double-dip on the commodity of your soul, first when they drain it with work, and secondly when they sell it back to you with their solutions.
so you resort to this system of coping dosing; using drugs and alcohol to cope with the stress, depression, and anxiety caused by work. you load up on coffee and painkillers because your body is fucked and you've forgotten what it feels like to not be in a constant state of chronic fatigue. you pay monthly for your anti-depressants on repeat prescription and when you aren't working, you're so exhausted that you plug yourself into mindless escape entertainment just to give yourself a few hours of relief before it all starts over again. you micro-dose on happiness; like, maybe if you squeeze in five minutes of meditation on your lunch break then you can be happy. or, if not happy, you can cope.
that's it. you'll settle for coping.
and not everybody does cope. the system is designed to push people into isolation; solitary individuals struggling to survive, to get one over on each other just to keep our heads above water. we cannot come together and think of a way out as long as we are struggling just to keep going. so, those individuals who do question "is this it? is this what life is?" they start to look like outsiders. they start to feel crazy because they see how fucking absurd the whole thing is, but everyone is carrying on like it's normal. they see no way out. or, they see only one way out. they blow their brains out.
it's a toss of the coin whether their boss will send the condolences before or after they put out the job advert. "dear family of the deceased. their suicide has greatly inconvenienced our work rota. perhaps one of you could come in on their behalf?"
people feel alone, but they are not alone. it's just that they cannot connect with others because everyone is so entrenched in the system.
work is not normal.
it's not normal to feel constant anger and anxiety and depression and alienation at existence. it's not normal to be shamed by society for wanting a way out. a long time ago you knew this, but your hope was stolen. it was conditioned out of you by a monolithic order that says "work, or die".
tell that to the kids, they'll tell you "that's fucking absurd" because the kids know that work sucks, and you know it too. and it will continue to suck until we start kicking back at it. not with passive unions. not with better wages that sell us a dream of one day buying our way out of misery. not with worker cooperatives. but with the total annihilation of all work. reject the tyranny of work in its entirety. fuck it off completely. only when work is gone can we reclaim our lives.