"Some people worship beauty, some worship political identities, and others worship their children. But everybody worships something. And workism is among the most potent of the new religions.... It is the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose.... [E]lite American men have transformed themselves into the world’s premier workaholics, toiling longer hours than both poorer men in the U.S. and rich men in similarly rich countries. This shift defies economic logic.... It’s emotional—even spiritual.... In the past century, the American conception of work has shifted from jobs to careers to callings—from necessity to status to meaning.... The problem with this gospel—Your dream job is out there, so never stop hustling—is that it’s a blueprint for spiritual and physical exhaustion. Long hours don’t make anybody more productive or creative; they make people stressed, tired and bitter. But the overwork myths survive 'because they justify the extreme wealth created for a small group of elite techies'.... On a deeper level, Americans have forgotten an old-fashioned goal of working: It’s about buying free time.... [T]he same perspective that inspired the economist John Maynard Keynes to predict in 1930 that Americans would eventually have five-day weekends, rather than five-day weeks. It is the belief—the faith, even—that work is not life’s product, but its currency. What we choose to buy with it is the ultimate project of living."
From "Workism Is Making Americans Miserable/For the college-educated elite, work has morphed into a religious identity—promising identity, transcendence, and community, but failing to deliver" by Derek Thompson (in The Atlantic).
याची सदस्यत्व घ्या:
टिप्पणी पोस्ट करा (Atom)
६९ टिप्पण्या:
Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.
St. Auggie. Confessions
True then. True now.
Well, at least Congress is safe. We can be sure they aren't "workaholics".
The excerpt is right that there is no such thing as an atheist. Everyone worships something. People with old time religion worship something that gives guidance. Others worship, but their worship is empty, unmoored from meaning. A sort of purposeless purpose that, because it has no definite form and therefore no limiting principle, allows for any act and yet any deprivation.
Neal Stephenson had a great essay on the puritanism of atheists in cryptonomicon.
It’s emotional—even spiritual
Where'd this segue come from? Where's the evidence?
Of note: the PE/VC guys I know- those 'Elite American men'- bust hump most of the year but generally take long breaks- trips at the holidays what last weeks, not days. Summers are slower, with much time for leisure and family.
Perhaps techies are a poor example of what's elite?
I guess you can assume from this article that if you are a hard worker you cannot be a faithful Christian. False!
Now that I'm retired, I have enough free time to work :) My Dad turned down early retirement in his 80's and finally retired at age 92. He did say that if he had it to do over, he would have retired earlier, but he liked his work and came from a generation where, if you didn't work, you didn't eat. I can't speak for the wealthy.
Derek does not understand, if we did not have such — more power to them and thank goodness I am not one of the group — then how will numskulls like AOC get their GND and I my GBI
"[E]lite American men have transformed themselves into the world’s premier workaholics,..."
How can they say this?! Women work soooo much harder than men. Even if you don't count their Emotional Labor.
Personally, I want Congress to “work” as little as possible. Figuring out how to take money from the people who earned it, but they don’t like, in order to give it to the people who didn’t earn it, but favor, is not in the best interests of the country.
It's worth it to re-read DFW. Everyone worships something, and the worshipping changes us, so try to worship something that promotes good. Anyway: this is water
When you're Derek Thompson, it's easy to see that if life has a meaning, it hasn't got anything to do with your job.
Gotta serve somebody.
BGO.
Man's Search For Meaning... buy it read it. Through the portal. Listen to Dennis Prager, the loss of religion in our lives leads to many varied substitutions. i.e. Leftism.
Perhaps techies are a poor example of what's elite?
And maybe a lot of them are H1-B drones on a short leash.
Some people worship beauty, some worship political identities, and others worship their children. But everybody worships something...
Prove it.
Busy works, the "fig leaf", vs true, enduring covering
I’m still holding out for the five-day weekend. Keynes was onto something with that.
Chestertons adage applies.
He never heard of a play for pay job. I'm doing exactly the same thing I did as a job only now I'm not paid for it.
Everyone has an unquestionable bit of faith, or something that it hurts to question.
The modern fashion is to worship ones own feelings.
But there are other things.
Only true scotsmen really worship.
It's ridiculous to attack first principles. It's more ridiculous to defend them
- Luatreamont
"On a deeper level, Americans have forgotten an old-fashioned goal of working: It’s about buying free time...."
WTF? I thought the old fashioned goal was to afford food and shelter.
It's interesting to note how in the history of the Left the Marxist "Dignity of Work" has morphed into the modern squish-Left "Dignity of Goofing Off".
A visit to Europe in August will drive this point home most effectively.
And then there are the young women who think they are Living Their Best Lives by putting all of themselves into their work. We know a young woman who has a great, lucrative job at Amazon and she's been there for a good ten years, which is a lot. (Most people reach their sell-by around the three year mark.) She's approaching her mid-thirties, has been married for about three years, and gets intensely annoyed when anyone asks her about kids. She has a Great, Challenging, Rewarding Career, you see. All those 60 hour work weeks give her a sense of Purpose and Meaning. And then she can spend her limited downtime petting her dog and drinking wine with her equally spiritually empty gal pals. But don't worry: she can die alone thinking about how she did her part to get Bezos a few more millions to spend on his whore.
“He who does not believe in God will believe in anything. ” – G.K. Chesterton (attributed)
Her parents are Scandinavian immigrants who have a loose but fond attachment to the Lutheran church and brought her up in it. But she's far too cool and evolved for that youth group silliness now. There's a new product launch to prepare for.
I’m beyond tired of hearing random obnoxious assholes proclaiming that there are no real atheists, or that atheism is a religion, or some other such horseshit. The assertion never comes with any good faith attempt at saying what really counts as a religion, or what distinctive beliefs atheists allegedly have that religious folks in general don’t. And never, never is any empirical evidence involved.
I suppose some atheists won’t open umbrellas inside, or date a Gemini, or mention a potential no-hitter until the game is over, but the same can be said for just about any group of religious people. Stop saying that religion is so fantastic that everyone must have one. It isn’t, and they don’t.
How many times did this article mention CAGW?
"The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the 'disenchantment of the world.' Precisely the ultimate and most sublime values have retreated from public life either into the transcendental realm of mystic life or into the brotherliness of direct and personal human relations. It is not accidental that our greatest art is intimate and not monumental." --Max Weber
The article gives off a powerful scent of wild boar excrement. It is filled with people-like-me fallacies. Somehow work requirements for welfare lead to millennial burnout when student-loan-debt-ridden baristas find their path to CEOship derailed at the barista level.
I say speak for yourself Atlantic-boy.
Another thing Keynes got wrong, btw.
But his math was elegant, even if his theories do not fit the facts.
I'm doing exactly the same thing I did as a job only now I'm not paid for it.
Robert Frost: “My goal in life is to unite my avocation with my vocation,
As my two eyes make one in sight.”
My partner used to say about surgery, "I hope they never find out I would do this for free."
If you don’t believe in something, you’ll believe in anything.
Wait, I'm getting confused. Is the problem with Americans that they work too hard, or that they're spending all their time playing video games and posting on Twitter?
If you are content with food and shelter, you can easily work just a couple of days a week.
Look at the women they get to choose from. Might as well work. It fills a void.
"Everybody worships something." I'm sure y'all believe that.
Wasn’t this our complaint against the Japanese in the 80s? Look at them now.
I was a workaholic for about fifteen years. When I made my bundle, I stopped working. I never saw anything redemptive or liberating about work, and they definitely had to pay me to do it. Nowadays what gives my life savor and succor is my afternoon nap. I pity the fools who don't take afternoon naps in their golden years. My heart goes out to Diane Feinstein. There she is in her eighties being lectured to by a twelve year old when she could be home napping. I suppose this also true of RBG. While it's true she does nap, she has to sit upright in that chair. No matter how comfortable, a chair is no substitute for a couch or bed when it comes to napping......You're only old once, and you've got to make the most of your opportunities.
Yes, I'd agree it's definitely NOT about 'free time' anymore...I've lost count of those I know who have voiced the fear "What will I do?!" It's totally psychological now - a frightened drive to feel needed, important, useful and to maintain biz activity as a raison d'être and biz contacts as ones 'social circle'. The fear of social irrelevance seems the scariest threat to many. They can't even imagine anything else.
The progress of faith and religion coincides with the progress of cosmopolitan and hedonistic virtue.
Dylan still relevant.
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
Indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody
I’m beyond tired of hearing random obnoxious assholes proclaiming that there are no real atheists, or that atheism is a religion, or some other such horseshit.
Superstitious people are insecure about their superstitions, what with the baselessness and all that. Parroting the obviously nonsensical phrase "if you don't believe in my superstitions, you'll believe in anything" is a defense by psychological projection.
Wait, I'm getting confused. Is the problem with Americans that they work too hard, or that they're spending all their time playing video games and posting on Twitter?
This article, like the "hiding in the basement playing video games" articles are just clickbait to sell advertising.... or, "on a deeper level", so to speak, maybe the articles are just an amusing form of discord, as sown by Russian agents.
Having worked in senior positions for big corporations for many years, I can tell you that working long hours is not about worshipping your job. It's about culture. In these companies, and I worked for several, the culture was that you came in early and left late. It's just what you did. It's just what everyone did. It was expected.
@Fernadistein,
Parroting the obviously nonsensical phrase "if you don't believe in my superstitions, you'll believe in anything" is a defense by psychological projection.
Oh, bullshit. What it's about is the philosophical imbecility of most modern atheists, yourself included.
Atheism & especially agnosticism are certainly defensible positions. So, however, is theism. The idea that atheism & agnosticism are clearly more "rational" is simply not born out by the history of philosophy. That they lead to more "ethical" outcomes after 100 million dead at atheistic hands in the 20th C is a non-starter.
You just keep on pulling your self-righteous pud there, Fernandistein. But, as for me, I'll start to take you & your ilk seriously when you come back with a decent materialist philosophy of mind. Until then, put a sock in it.
Reading that essay was depressing. Not because of the thesis or facts. But because it was so dull. Say something interesting! says the Oracle of Althouse. Is that so hard? Can a modern essayist write a direct and pointed essay without genuflecting to the shibboleths of policy prescription?
Dude! You're writing about people who work because they want to. Bill Clinton's welfare reform has zero to do with your thesis. Throw that out with the parental leave nonsense and actually say something!
But the man can't help himself. The needle skips back to its groove. His big sell is the same public policy soundtrack that every station plays.
"I hope they never find out I would do this for free."
The luckiest people in the world, find careers they would do for free.
BTW, I'm willing to accept $$$ for commenting on the internet.
I've worked for big corporations almost my entire life too. And weirdly its the people, your co-workers, that make the work enjoyable.
Its not just the greenbacks, its the peeps.
In the "olden days" Atheists were seen and not heard. Can we go back to that? Please.
Its like Homosexuals. They've gone from the "love that dare not speak its name" to the "Love that won't shut up". Hey, we know you don't believe there's a God. Well, Bully for you. Got the proof? Got a DVD or some science? Uh no, you haven't. So, its all just your OPINION Mr. Atheist.
So show some humility. Or maybe just shut the fuck up.
DVD showing God doesn't exist? No, all you get its some Atheist saying "Where's the proof?" And
"There's no GOD, but hey, I still believe the Jews are the chosen people. So, don't call me Antisemitic. There's just no Jehovah".
Yeah, that's all they got.
Two things to note. First, let's acknowledge a separation of logical domains. Second, judge a philosophy by the content of its principles. Then reconcile, don't select, Natural imperatives.
I loved my job - career, profession - until I was fifty or so.
The thing (my various jobs) were all about technical problem-solving in teams with very bright people (and I even loved budgets), but over the last decade its much more about process, compliance, regulation and inter-management relations.
I kept at it because we had a bunch of kids to put through the University of California.
I am officially done, and soon.
“I kept at it because we had a bunch of kids to put through the University of California.”
If American universities are so horrible as you’ve said so many times, why did you educate your children in the US?
I am very fortunate to be a highly paid paralegal in a Big Law Firm. I am even MORE fortunate to have snagged a rare, 3 day a week, part-time situation at said Law Firm.
I am often asked if I miss the extra income I would have working those two extra days.
No. Fucking. Way. Thankfully we are smart/frugal enough it works very well. If my employer ever suggested they would need me 5 days I week, I'd resign in a heartbeat and get middlin' job with less stress much closer to home.
My father was a workaholic but he retired at 50 so he could play golf every day. Then he became a golfaholic.
As far as I can tell, loudly proclaimed atheism is mostly anti-Christian bile. As such it is not interesting and it is mostly destructive. It is aimed at society at large, or parents, or other malefactors. But, maybe it gives some people's lives meaning that work cannot.
I guess it's not the Protestant Work Ethic anymore.
It is where and when I learned to hate US universities.
Fortunately the kids went in for technical degrees, and learned (not without its costs, that), what and who to avoid, and what to flee.
I offered the last two to send them to the University of the Philippines for equivalent degrees, and my sister would have put them up, and front them the difference in tuition and board in cash, but no takers.
Vanity, a bit, and the problem of having to pay the career entrance fee, both in money and dignity.
YoungHegelian said...
"But, as for me, I'll start to take you & your ilk seriously when you come back with a decent materialist philosophy of mind."
You think theism provides a theory of mind? It is true that the materialist theory of mind boils down to "There isn't anything but matter, so the mind must somehow be a product of matter". But at least they're trying. What have you got? The world is incomprehensible, except in terms of some even less comprehensible pre-existing condition? Turtles all the way up.
Atheism is the only truly untenable religious belief.
Seeing Red said...
If you don’t believe in something, you’ll believe in anything.
I really hope you all aren’t directing this towards atheists.
Secularism is a religion and requires substantial leaps of faith.
@Jupiter,
You think theism provides a theory of mind?
No, & I didn't say it did.
The problem with materialism is that it seems unable to account for consciousness, the conscious knowing subject, within any sort of materialist paradigm. While certainly not "proving theism" in any fashion, the fact that the very presence of the knowing subject propounding the theory of materialism is a conundrum for materialism leads one to take its further attempts at grand metaphysical pronouncements such as the non-existence of God with a boulder of salt. It seems that we are ineluctably stuck with a ghost in the meat machine. If a ghost there, then why not other ghosts? Especially, that most useful of ghosts, God?
The world is incomprehensible, except in terms of some even less comprehensible pre-existing condition?
In what way does theism preclude the natural sciences? That would come as a big surprise to Aristotle, to say the least. I fail to see how claiming that chains of efficient causes may have a beginning outside of that series of causes in any way invalidates any judgements made about those causes anywhere along the causal series.
writer wants to enable people feeling guilty for "work"
I consider myself very lucky... I have a job that pays exceptionally well and offers a lot of flexibility in terms when / where I work... it is something I enjoy and am good at... in general I consider it to be “fun” and not “work”...
some weeks I put in more than 40 hours, some weeks less... it all balances out...
but this didn’t just fall in my lap overnight... spent 20 years working every shit job imaginable and another 15+ climbing the ladder in my eventual chosen profession... I deserve to be where I am... and feel sorry for folks stuck in bad jobs...
my word of advice to them and to the younger generation is that it’s never too late... find something your passionate about (that pays a livable wage) and then go for it... bust your ass and never give up and eventually you’ll find career Nirvana as well...
Atheism isn't real, it's an abstraction. It has no existence in itself.
But holding an atheistic ideology like communism is real. Just like a particular religion like Catholicism is real.
You can't make a comparison between say Catholicism and Atheism. It's like comparing apples and oranges. Comparing something with nothing.
Take abortion. Catholicism has something to say about it, 'atheism' doesn't. An atheist who believes that 'Atheism' has a 'teaching' on abortion is just an atheist who believes in his own particular 'Flying Spaghetti Monster'.
And that's what so dishonest about doctrinary atheists. Since their believes are undefined they can pretend to anything, to their very own fantasy world. And nothing can compare to that.
"But everybody worships something."
Says Derek Thompson, assuming facts not in evidence.
He is full of shit. Many, perhaps most, people "worship", cling to, put unquestioning faith in, etc., something, but not everyone. Some of us live happily without ideology or belief, accepting Nature on its own terms, including the limitations on what we know, or may be able to know.
buwaya is closer to the truth when he says "Everyone has an unquestionable bit of faith, or something that it hurts to question."
The key then is to take the next step, to look carefully at what it hurts to question, try to understand why it hurts, and to outgrow it. This often involves an acceptance of uncertainty.
I have long been more comfortable with simply saying "I don't know", rather than making something up, but this requires conscious discipline to achieve.
"The decline of traditional faith in America has coincided with an explosion of new atheisms. Some people worship beauty, some worship political identities, and others worship their children. But everybody worships something."
This is a lie: atheism isn't messianic, so anybody "worshiping" anything - by definition - isn't an atheist.
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