MEXICO: The Work Ethic and the Electronic Age

[Wiley50]

The 'Work Ethic' and The Electronic Age
Posted by: "[e-mail]" [e-mail]
Sat Sep 16, 2006 6:12 am (PST)

_August, 2006_ (http://www.peoplestribune.org/PT.2006.08.0.html)
_Vision and the Fight for a New World_
(http://www.peoplestribune.org/vision/vision.html)
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The 'Work Ethic' and The Electronic Age
By Bob Lee Homeless, and dreaming of a home.
ILLUSTRATION/LAUREN ALEXANDER
Why do we work? Most people would probably answer, "Because I have to if I
want to eat, and because it's expected." But consider these two facts: First,
the wealthy few who tell the rest of us to get a job don't do any work
themselves, and second, we're moving rapidly toward a society where no one will
have to "work" in the traditional sense.
The "work ethnic" is the idea that a person who is physically and mentally
able to is expected to work for a living. It has roots in both necessity and a
capitalist inspired morality.
Historically, we worked out of necessity, to survive. When capitalism arose,
the capitalists needed our labor, and they ensured that work was also seen
as a moral obligation.
Work is considered our contribution to society. We are taught that hard work
will be rewarded -- anybody can get ahead if they work hard enough. And
we're taught that we have to compete with one another for the best jobs.
But it's becoming clear that there is a real contradiction between the work
ethic and reality.
There are not enough jobs to go around. And for many of us, the jobs we do
have don't pay enough. Most of us never do "get ahead," no matter how hard we
work. Indeed, many homeless people are working full-time.
On top of this, the work ethic is used against us. The powers that be in
this country use it to turn us against one another. They get us to believe that
some people are unemployed simply because they don't want to work. The
country is in crisis because we've turned our backs on "traditional values," we're
told.

[skids]

1. Okay, a few comments...

It is patently obvious that workers are being bilked pretty much globally, and have been for centuries. That I'll grant you.

Talking about a "workless" society it is obviously meant "from each according to ability, to each according to need" but "workless" just sounds like a dishonest way to put it.

Finally the idea that putting in extra work should or will get one extra reward is so deeply laced into our cultures at this point, despite the fact that it is so often completely untrue in practice, that trying to push it aside is not going to work. In addition, one must account for the well established fact that human nature can produce both ambitious energy and pathological laziness at different times and in different individuals. It is necessary to have a reward system of some sort, even if it is just influence and prestige.

Given we are entering a global resource crunch more and more labor will be required once our economies are no longer being parasitically drained by the rentiers and are allowed to address the problems facing us. And, the world at this point is hungry for justice, with many as you notice asking the question "why should I put my shoulder to the wheel when the lazy idiot next door gets payed more than me for half the trouble?"

While wealth redistribution is long overdue, any proposal that does not incorporate some level personal reward will fall by the wayside. I hope you see what I mean.

(EDIT: oh and where is the tie-in to Mexico?)