interesting Tweet of THE Morning

[YoshidaYui]

Link to tweet

[calimary]

1. Yep.

[TygrBright]

2. This. Yep. n/t

[Ford_Prefect]

3. I endeavor to suggest that one part of humanity chose to make nearly everyone else

adhere to the standards you observe. They believe life to be a war between those who have and those who have been taken, the winner of which gets almost all of the cookies, the naming rights, makes and enforces all of the rules, and gets the first seat next to GOD.

[plimsoll]

14. I'd suggest that they are god.

At least they're also the ones who get to decide what is "moral," and much like all other gods the rules don't apply to them.

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. Unfortunately, the fruit has to get to your floatie thing somehow

I’m inclined to agree with most of the sentiment, but somewhere along the way, someone has to do some serious labor.

Even in paradise, someone has to bury the poop.

[Martin Eden]

12. That was my thought as well -- but we SHOULD have more quality free time

Growing up in the 1960's (born 1957) I remember hearing how all the wonderful advances in technology and productivity would raise our standard of living, reducing the number of hours worked to give us more quality time for life and family.

The wonderful advances in technology and productivity did indeed occur, but the benefits accrued overwhelmingly to the major share holders. If anything, we are working more hours than the "greatest generation" did 50 years ago, struggling to afford the "American Dream" that was more in reach when strong labor unions helped to fulfill that promise for so many working Americans.

[AleksS]

21. Yup! Jetsons was the aspiration...

We’re supposed to be aiming for 3-day work weeks, a few hours per day. Making enough to care for a family and even have a robot to clean and cook for us. Instead for the vast majority, we’re aiming for longer work weeks, more hours, and less money.

[Martin Eden]

23. For that matter

Fred Flintstone seemed to have it pretty good by today's standards.

He and Barney had enough disposable income to buy a boat together, but they couldn't agree on a name for it. One of them wanted "Nautilus" and the other wanted "Sea Queen" so they compromised and named it "Nau-Sea."

Wilma pointed out that spells nausea.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

5. Amen!

I am agree 100%

[localroger]

6. Even in the harshest climates, hunter-gatherers work about 20 hours a week

...on survival imperatives. This has been well documented both in the African desert and the Arctic. The grind doesn't benefit us as individuals, it is about our tribe/civilization and our leaders expanding influence and resisting others who might be expanding their influence over us. And none of this was a big deal to many people until about 10,000 years ago when agriculture was invented.

[Eyeball_Kid]

8. The earth is already overpopulated.

Overpopulation also means it’s more expensive to live. It also means that humans organize in hierarchical form. With capitalism, guess what happens?

[rickyhall]

7. So much bullshit only to finally retire broke.

Ought to at least get a free trip to somewhere outside the lower 48.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. I don't know of any jobs that are actually 9 to 5.

8 to 5 maybe, with an hour unpaid lunch. More likely 8 to 4:30 with a half hour lunch.

[soldierant]

13. And then there are swing and graveyard shiftf.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

26. Most of my working life I did shift work.

Never graveyard, but mostly an afternoon shift of some kind.

I hate getting up early. As far as I'm concerned, any time before 10am is the crack of dawn.

[soldierant]

35. Oh, I agree!

Not having to do mornings may be the very best part of retirement, at least for me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

40. Whenever I need to make an appointment for something,

I tell the appointment person, "I don't do mornings." Yesterday I actually had to get to a doctor's office at 8:45. Yuck. I did make it, and didn't complain, because it wasn't her fault that was the only time available.

[Silver Gaia]

43. Same here!

Daughter is the same way.

[niyad]

47. When I was in college, we had a professor on loan from Oxford (don't remember

the details). At our first class, cigarette in hand, he started with, "conducting any activities before 10am is completely uncivilized."

[LogicFirst]

10. If no one works, where will you get the fruit?

[I_UndergroundPanther]

33. I pick mine from the tree and one for the

Guys that came with me. I dont need to consume the whole tree. As I drop the seeds in a few years more fruit trees.

Dont need to strip it bare. Capitalism loves creating the illusion of scarcity.

[70sEraVet]

11. I've been retired for the last couple of years, and it seems like I'm constantly

fixing things, running errands, making and going to doctors' appointments, figuring out health insurance, home insurance, taxes......
Last week I went to a friend's house who is also retired, and said, "Come on, I've got two fishing poles and some night crawlers in the truck. We need to remind ourselves why we retired!"
I caught a 4 pound catfish, and we had a great time.

[Delphinus]

16. Love it!

Thank you!!

[NJCher]

22. bravo, you

eom

[llmart]

44. +1

If we're honest with ourselves, some of what we waste our time on (retirees or working stiffs) is our own doing. People buy stuff they don't need and then they need to fix or maintain it and it becomes a vicious circle. In the early 90's there was a movement of people who practiced voluntary simplicity where some people including me realized that every single item one purchases requires both emotional and physical energy that takes away from the free time we could have had to just simply enjoy ourselves and life. I read everything I could get my hands on about people who were adopting this way of life and gradually adopted it for myself. It takes awhile to fully realize the truth of it all, and it takes people adopting a lifestyle of conscious consumerism. It doesn't ask that you give up everything you own and go live on a desert island somewhere, but it does ask that you think about the things you buy.

In some ways, Americans have to take some responsibility for creating the rat race with their own behavior.

[iscooterliberally]

15. This reminds me of one of my favorite Douglas Adams quotes:

“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”

[Escurumbele]

25. Excellent quote, thank you

[BadGimp]

17. So it's all bullshit?

[Mr. Ected]

18. Ask the people in Denmark why they don't think it's all bullshit

When the work/life balance isn't out of whack, you can have your cake and eat it too.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

20. Exactly!

Some of us enjoy working, contributing, helping, etc.

[Auggie]

19. Guess I'm lucky. Freelancer going on 28.5 years.

Part-time work that pays a living.

I really do goof off a lot.

Spent about 13 years 9 to 5. I do miss some of the people. Had some fun times. Tons of assholes though.

Of course I don’t miss it.

[Escurumbele]

24. He is right, and I have a story that depicts that exactly.

An American entrepreneur visits a South American country, he goes to this little town by the Ocean. As he is resting, enjoying the sun and the good weather he notices a fisherman rowing to shore, he leaves his boat up on the sand, takes about five beautiful big fish from the boat, walks to a hut, and a few minutes comes back, plays with his kids for a while then jumps onto a hammock he has hanging between two beautiful palm trees.

The American entrepreneur decides to talk to the fisherman. After introducing himself he asks "how many fish do you get every time you go out?"
Fisherman: "It depends, if I just want for my family 4 or 5, but if I want for my friends as well I can get up to 12."
Entrepreneur: "How many hours does it take you to get 12 fish?"
Fisherman: "About two hours, sometimes a little more, sometimes less"
Entrepreneur: "What if you went out for, maybe 8 hours?"
Fisherman: "What for?"
Entrepreneur: "Well, you could get more fish and sell it."
Fisherman: "What for?"
Entrepreneur: "With the extra money you could buy another boat"
Fisherman: "What for?"
Entrepreneur: "To make more money and buy many other boats"
Fisherman: "What for?"
Entrepreneur: "To build a fleet and make a lot of money."
Fisherman: "What for"
Entrepreneur: "Well, you can retire afterwards, relax, be with your family, and enjoy life."
Fisherman: "But that is what I am doing already."

I am sure many of you have heard/read this story, but ithe tweet published on this post made think of it.

[lame54]

32. 2 hours a day is a hobby...

He's already retired

[Skittles]

27. 9-5? lunch breaks? 5 day work week?

PIPE DREAM

[Blue Owl]

28. To quote the late great George Carlin... It's all bullshit.

[paulkienitz]

29. We know of two alternatives to working 9 to 5 in an economy, and neither attracts me...

One is subsistence farming, which often entails backbreaking labor from before dawn until after dusk. The other is hunter-gatherer living, which takes a lot less hard work, but would only sustain about 1% of our population, meaning the rest of us are sporked.

I'll take the 9 to 5 grind, thanks. Our present economy may produce a lot of inequality, but with democracy that is correctable, and also we're not far from the point where we can start transitioning from being served by poor people to being served by robots.

[IbogaProject]

30. BS Jobs

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-bullshit-jobs

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

41. Ahh, yes. I read that book recently.

Excellent.

[lame54]

31. Who's gonna pick the fruit?

[Johnny2X2X]

36. Am I the only poster who thinks this Tweet sucks?

Last edited Thu Oct 21, 2021, 07:29 AM - Edit history (1)

I love too work. Most of the people I know do too.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

45. You are not

You are not the only one. I agree with you. To me, the tweet is nonsense.

[Johnny2X2X]

48. My work is rewarding

I've worked many jobs, in many industries, found reward in every type of work, most people in the country do like to work.

Doesn't mean I am not for improving working conditions and increasing pay and benefits. But work is meaningful to me, I love my job and think I make a difference there.

Do Americans probably work too much? Yes, but that doesn't mean we all want to be floating in the ocean daily.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

49. Agreed 100%

Imagine if people like Jonas Salk thought like this guy!!!

[BannonsLiver]

53. No

It’s actually a temper tantrum reminiscent of a 5 year old being asked to clean up their room. It’s infantile and pointless. So no. You’re not alone.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

56. Yes!

Spot on!

[Demovictory9]

37. kick

[Historic NY]

39. The beer isn't free today, try tomorrow

[NullTuples]

42. But people are oh so much more controllable when they're always just one mistake from total failure.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

46. Try living in, say, India. In a clothing factory. All above in America IS paradise.

False equivalency.

[SayItLoud]

50. Americans:

Live to work.
Europeans work to live.

[Renew Deal]

55. Yeah, not really.

Europeans have bought in just as much to the capitalistic lifelstyle. A few extra days off in August doesn't change that.

[malthaussen]

51. "We don't want people to think they don't have to work hard to survive."

Quoth a guy I was watching on YouTube yesterday. I have a feeling he has no idea how inhumane that statement is.

-- Mal

[Efilroft Sul]

52. That comment on 7 hours of school for kids followed by 7 hours of homework is telling.

Even before COVID hit last year, there was no way in hell my kids could find time to participate in all these extracurricular activities our district likes to promote. The amount of homework they've been subjected to since elementary school is outright abusive. My wife and I are much older than most parents (mid 50s), and we didn't grow up with having every waking moment of our evenings and weekends sucked away by busy work for the sake of busy work. The other parents appear to be Millennials who must've grown up with this kind of madness and think it's normal, hence there has never been a sizable parental backlash to homework.

What's really sad is that every graduating high school class that has come up through this abusive curriculum is told, "You kids can change the world!" But clearly, those who have gone on to become curriculum specialists haven't changed it for the better. When kids constantly check their emails like neurotic adults check their work emails while on vacation, something is wrong. It, as the Twitter post said above, is bullshit.

[Renew Deal]

54. Who does he propose doing the work in the "hanging out" lifestyle?

Because things will go wrong. Who will be responsible for dealing with it?

[BeerBarrelPolka]

57. He's

He's an entitled, lazy, worthless bum. Nothing more than that and probably a lot less.

[drexelkathy]

58. Whomever wrote this tweet

really is naive.

Who is building this raft? Who is growing the fruit? Where is he living? Where is his drinking water coming from?