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by marta_weber 1998 days ago
So what would be a non-bullshit job? Animal cafe for lost pets? Handing blankets out to homeless people? Planting trees? How many of these jobs do you think are needed in the world?

I mean, if you are really into this stuff, nobody prevents you from going down this road... If not, then the main concern is this:

Do I like my job? When I wake up, do I think about what I was stuck on last evening and how am I going to tackle this? If you wake up thinking "Oh fuck, I need to work", yeah then that's a bullshit job for sure. But even then, I don't see how more than 1% or 10% of the population could have a job they enjoy. Work needs to be done, most of it is boring, dirty and doesn't earn money.

Until that changes, this is how it will be. No point in crying after it, just think about where you want to position yourself in this system.

Not to mention that this whole discussion brings us back to the question: Who's fault is it that people die? The arms researchers or manufacturers? The army? The people who are mean to us and own resources we want (I mean they could just surrender)?

Are the people building Facebook responsible for the social decline? Or is it the government, not applying proper regulation/laws? Or is it the people using Facebook (nobody is forcing you)? Or are humans just like this and Facebook shows us their true color?

3 comments

> Not to mention that this whole discussion brings us back to the question: Who's fault is it that people die? The arms researchers or manufacturers? The army? The people who are mean to us and own resources we want (I mean they could just surrender)?

Everyone's at fault, according of course to the degree to which they themselves are able to shape the object, in this case mostly culture and incentives, responsible for the decline.

> Are the people building Facebook responsible for the social decline? Or is it the government, not applying proper regulation/laws? Or is it the people using Facebook (nobody is forcing you)? Or are humans just like this and Facebook shows us their true color?

I repeat, everyone's responsible.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_responsibility

You're misunderstanding the term "bullshit job" (originally from the late David Graeber [0]) which has a specific meaning and has nothing to do with

> boring, dirty and doesn't earn money.

Or even

> If you wake up thinking "Oh fuck, I need to work", yeah then that's a bullshit job for sure.

Instead, it refers to employment that is "so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence". Prototypical example is the layers upon layers of superfluous middle management.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs

I think those could be considered non-bullshit jobs. And, if social necessity were how work were allocated, rather than what makes capitalists the most money, we'd almost certainly see more tree planters and animal rescuers and homeless person assisters.

But, I'm afraid you're wrong about the main concern, if only in my particular case. I see it as "if I don't do something someone will pay sufficient money for me to do, eventually, I will find myself in a financial bind due to insufficient savings and suffer for it."

And, I would much rather work a non-bullshit job. It's just that the realities of capitalism make that a nonviable alternative. Thus, if I want such luxuries as a roof over my head and food in my belly, I'm deprived of my voluntary choice of how to allocate my own labor, in addition to having the fruits of said labor mostly taken away from me.