5 ms·

I support and understand what he's saying, but I think too many times we set up this false choice between "pursuing our dreams" and "working for the man" There

I support and understand what he's saying, but I think too many times we set up this false choice between "pursuing our dreams" and "working for the man" There's honor -- and authenticity -- in making choices for your life that involve working in the system. I used to look down on those who worked jobs they hated and would say things like "That's just not for me. I don't know how you can do it." until one day somebody took me aside and pointed out what an insulting and condescending attitude I had. I was being a jerk, a well-paid, able-to-pick-what-I-want-to-do jerk. Other people did not have the same lives or face the same choices as I did. I should respect their uniqueness and decisions -- even if they loudly and publicly complained about them. I have learned that for myself it is too easy to go off on a wild tangent about how one lifestyle is so much better than another, talking about slavery and such, just like in this letter. Basically I was being a judgmental prick, substituting my values for other people's and then declaring that my choices and values were best for everybody. I finally realized that the quality of life is something each of us owns through our own personal choices. So I don't do that anymore.

PavlovsCat 13y ago
That other people don't have a choice in doing that jobs they complain about doesn't mean there is "honour" in that. It's degrading to be forced into doing something you see no value in. And what does "authenticity" even mean in this context? There is authenticity and uniqueness in the things people do despite their soul killing jobs, but what's authentic about, say, selling your body? I find this just as condescending, sorry: If those people complain, i.e. if they say it sucks for them, then it sucks for them. Talking about authenticy and uniqueness, and pretending they have much a of a choice, is respecting a strawman (i.e. decisions they never got to make), while disrespecting their actual situation.
epo 13y ago
My God, could you be any more complacent or condescending? Could you have comprehended the letter less? You are, in your own words, still being a jerk, just a self-righteous one. And no, you didn't understand a single thing he wrote. Most people have no real choice in their work, except in the technical sense of one shitty job versus another. Most people don't "own their lives", their lives are dictated to them. To dismiss those lives as it being them having made a personal choice (the implication presumably being that they could have chosen to be a VC or a surgeon) is contemptible.

PavlovsCat 13y ago

That other people don't have a choice in doing that jobs they complain about doesn't mean there is "honour" in that. It's degrading to be forced into doing something you see no value in. And what does "authenticity" even mean in this context? There is authenticity and uniqueness in the things people do despite their soul killing jobs, but what's authentic about, say, selling your body? I find this just as condescending, sorry: If those people complain, i.e. if they say it sucks for them, then it sucks for them. Talking about authenticy and uniqueness, and pretending they have much a of a choice, is respecting a strawman (i.e. decisions they never got to make), while disrespecting their actual situation.

epo 13y ago

My God, could you be any more complacent or condescending? Could you have comprehended the letter less? You are, in your own words, still being a jerk, just a self-righteous one. And no, you didn't understand a single thing he wrote. Most people have no real choice in their work, except in the technical sense of one shitty job versus another. Most people don't "own their lives", their lives are dictated to them. To dismiss those lives as it being them having made a personal choice (the implication presumably being that they could have chosen to be a VC or a surgeon) is contemptible.