Modern lies my society told me...

[Peter Kropotkin]

Within our ''atomistic'' existence.... lies the problem
of work.....unless one is a ''trust fund baby''
and I knew one who still worked... until he died at 48....

one must work.....I have been working since I was 17.... roughly
48 years..... and there is nothing positive or gratifying about work.....
there is nothing about work that is noble or gives us any purpose in life...
it is sheer drudgery and nothing else...... but Kropotkin, that isn't
true about all people or all work..... if it were so horrible, why
do people still work?

Indeed, that is the question.... much of our modern alienation
derives from work and it traumatic effects it has on people...
the term ''Post-traumatic stress disorder'' or (PTSD) is really
about work and the stress work gives us....

but that leads us to a bigger problem, that of economics....
which is how the state/society organizes itself to feed itself....
clothe itself, house itself.... the basic questions of a human being,
the bodily questions of how does one gain the necessities of existence
which one to live.... economics is the large-scale path of what
individuals do, which is seek out food, water, shelter, health care,
education.....and what of the psychological needs of the one, how
are they meet in a state/ or society? The blunt answer is, they
are kinda met those needs......that of love, of safety/security,
of the need for esteem and of belonging......

the society kinda meets the safety/security and a sense belonging...
for example, the ''ism'' nationalism is about country....
the MAGA/GOP motto is ''god, country and guns''...
in which our need for belonging is met... by our belonging to
country......but as noted elsewhere... there is a strong sense of
alienation from country, as there is a strong sense of alienation
god, and even guns... (and from guns we get the idea that we
can find answers within violence... and not answer can come
from violence)

One of America's means of cohesion lies in the ism of work
and business and the ism of capitalism..... I have laid out the
arguments against capitalism, time and time again... and thus
feel no need to repeat them... outside of saying, that a major
source of America's alienation and discontenment lies in
the devaluation and dehumanization of human beings under
capitalism..... the nihilism that profits are worth more
than human beings... that human beings are a means to
an end and that end is profits..... that our value as human beings,
lies in being participants of capitalism...with no other inherent value,
outside of being a worker, a producer and consumer.... we have no
other value in capitalism.....

that of being dehumanized as human beings is the very heart of the
working experience in capitalism.... that we are replacable, that we
are expendable, that we are considered to be on the same level
as the means of production.... the assembly line is not about the
human beings, but about the machines that move the assembly line....
or to put this another way..... if monkeys ever learn how to count
out change, I am out of a job....as I too work in a factory lite job...
that of a clerk in a supermarket... and if the machine that scans the
items is not working, I am moved elsewhere... in other words,
the scanning devise and cash register have more value than I do,
in my factory lite job... the company spends far more time
and money keeping those two items working, then they do in me....
and the priority in a blackout, of which I have been in several,
the first priority has been to get the machines up and running,
everything else is a distant second......
I am replaceble, the machines are not....

and we return to our original question...
what is the value of work?
If we are expendable and replacable, then what
value does work have for us? How do I find meaning in
work if I have virtually no value at work....

In my particular company, the goal is to have workers work
for only three years... any longer and they begin to cost more money
and that is unacceptable.... they get automatic raises because of
the contract we sign with the company... I have worked for
this company 18 years, my hourly wage when I started was $9.00 something
an hour...today, it's close to $27 per hour....
and how can the company makes its profits with employees like
me who are making $27 an hour....and yet, my corporation made
over 20 billion dollars last year..... despite my wages....

and for the corporation, I have no more value than a door in
the corporate lobby... and how do I find meaning in that?
and one answer that will arise is, Kropotkin, you find your
meaning where you can? its not a state or society purpose
to give you meaning.... if that were true, then why push
capitalism as an ism? If there is no inherent meaning in
capitalism, then why push it as the sole economic system
of our times?

and if the workers are not benefitting from capitalism, as I
have suggested, on several levels, then who does actually
benefit from capitalism?
those who own the ''means of production"" the owners of and
the stockholders of any given corporation.... they benefit....
and thus the lie of the meaning of work stems from their
gains from capitalism..... it is their lie to keep the workers,
working....

Now one might say, so what is the alternative Kropotkin?
but as usual, the first step is, as it always is, to
first discover if there is a problem..... and for most people,
they have been indoctrinated enough into believing the lies
of capitalism and of work..... as I always say, it is for us
to engage in a reevaluation of values.... to see if our values,
the ones we hold dear, our actually our values or, as I have
often suggested, values that were indoctrinated into us...
and we have blindly accepted..... without any examination
of the implications of those values....

We have been alienated, dehumanized, devalued from our work,
our economics, our ism's and our state/society......
and we can only escape this if we could only see and recognize that
fact..... and that is the battle today.... to see our economics and
work as the enemy, not as our friends.....

Kropotkin

[Peter Kropotkin]

Have there been attempts to overcome the nihilism
and alienation that is the hallmark of the modern world?

Of course.... From communism to Critical theory to the
Frankfurt school to isms like nationalism and Nazism/MAGA cult....
Even Christo-fascism... that seems to dominate in
the American south... and who are trying to force Christianity into
all facets of life in America today.....and have succeed in some schools
in the south..... and their war on secularism is doomed to failure...
and why is that? History......as the history of rights has shown us,
that rights flow from the one, the Pharoh or Ceasar to some,
to many and then finally to all..... and we are today, somewhere
in between the rights of many to the rights of all....

Hegel talked about history being the history of consciousness... but he
was wrong.... history is the history of rights...and the history of the
next couple of hundred years will be the expansion of rights from
some, many to all.... everyone will be treated equally... which is
the definition of justice... Justice is where everyone is treated equally,
before the law, politically and the last place justice is attacking is
the economic...... and when justice is found economically,
then we will have some sort of society/state worth living in.....
for that is one of the problems of today.... we have equality in
some aspects of our life, but not in very many area's.....
and equality/justice in the economics involve workers
having a voice, a say in their lives.... having a voice... a radical
economic concept.... but that is what must happen if we are to
bring the human race into the next level..... think of the various
levels that human beings have been at..... the longest lasting level
in human history was the hunter-gather society.... and that lasted for
maybe, a million years? and that lasted until a better system came
along... which was the pastoral life... where we traveled with the
sources of food.... when herds moved, so did we....
and the next level was the realization that we could stay in
one place and bring the herd to us... and that realization became
the city/town.....our urban life began here.... as an economic idea.....
and what of the modern lies we hear?

what of the lies of capitalism? that somehow, in ways never
actually explained, how greed brings about a better society....
how selfish behavior in some unknown fashion, improves the society/state.....
capitalism is simply built on a lie.... the lie of the nobility
of greed and selfish behavoir.....

which points us to the realization that we are social beings/creatures...
that evolution has made us rely on each other..... there is no other choice
available to us in nature....that human beings are best in and work best
in groups, either the family unit or larger units like the city/or businesses.....

but the failure in businesses/corporations for example, is that they
are failing to seek out what is best in being human.... they, corporations
seek out the worst in human beings, by seeking out greed and selfish
behavior.... with the false promises of the trinkets of existence.....
that somehow, in some unexplained fashion, that seeking out
the trinkets of existence, money/wealth, power, fame, titles
and material possessions, will make us ''better'' human beings....
that is a lie of our society/state....
that greed/selfish actions behavior will benefit us or our society....
it won't....in fact, it devalues and dehumanizes us in ways we still
don't understand.......but everyone is so invested into capitalism
and greed, that to admit that failure will bring shame and
disgrace upon millions of people.... it is the investment
that people have made into capitalism that is the problem.....
we are so invested that even after we die, we are still going to
contribute into the society/state... inheritance taxes is one
such ''contribution''....

the fact is that our faith in capitalism is propped up by the many
lies told about it.... and the many lies about what will happen without
capitalism..... the lies about communism.... which is essentially
the communal aspect of people which is intrinsic in being
human..... our lives are not solitary or isolated or apart from others....
we exist, we actually survive best with others, working, living,
and fighting with each other.... it is in making a connection with
others that is essential to being human....
love is just a deeper connection to another person.....
that is the value of love... its connection to another.....
and if there were one word, I would leave you with...
it is connection....... for that is the entire aspect of being human..
it is in the connections we make with each other...for virtually
all of the psychological needs of human beings, come from or
derive from making connections....

you want to know what it means to be human?

it is making connections that help us feed our needs...
psychologically and bodily....
and example of our bodily connections being met....
the ''state of nature'' as described by Hobbes, is a state
with no one having connections to another....it
is everyman for himself.... with no regard to others....

and that is what the conservative is striving for.... a society/state
where there are limited or no connections to each other outside of
family..... and given our state in existence... that is the completely
wrong way to go......we must, in order to survive, continue that path
into making connections to each other.... and that is what it means
to be human.... making connections... and we must continue that

Kropotkin

[Peter Kropotkin]

and the reason we end up with lies is that
we fail to practice basic philosophy and
critique our values and beliefs.....

many of our modern values/beliefs are lies and indoctrinations...
which we would know if we actually investigated them and
evaluated them.....we just assume that society is looking out
for us and it has its own agenda....survival at all costs....

the state/society lies to us because it makes the agenda of
the state/society easier to reach....
and it is from indoctrinations and assumptions that allow the lies
of our state/society to thrive...don't assume anything...

evaluate every single thesis including ones that we are fully
indoctrinated into.... that would include capitalism and communism
and even democracy.... we must practice what the enlightenment
began, which is a revaluation of values, all values, all indoctrinations....
both individually and collectively.......

I still hold the path into the future requires us to increase our basic
human rights and give us a greater voice into what we do...
politically, socially, legally and of course, economically.....
the path into the future, for me anyway, is the path of justice,
the path of equality... which is the application of justice...
for justice is nothing more than everyone being treated equally...
in all spheres, not just legally or politically... but philosophically
and yes, economically.... our systems, our isms will be volatile
and confused until we establish them on an equitable basis....
until we practice justice for all... equality for all.....

but that entire thing begins with a reexamination of values...
to see which values are actually ours and which values were installed,
indoctrinated into us.... and then we can move forward....

Kropotkin

[Age]

Within our ''atomistic'' existence.... lies the problem
of work.....unless one is a ''trust fund baby''
and I knew one who still worked... until he died at 48....

one must work.....

And there is the actual lie that this one was told, and is still trying to spread.

This one was indoctrinated into a cult and so believes lies, like this one, are absolutely true. As it will show and reveal this

I have been working since I was 17.... roughly
48 years..... and there is nothing positive or gratifying about work.....
there is nothing about work that is noble or gives us any purpose in life...
it is sheer drudgery and nothing else...... but Kropotkin, that isn't
true about all people or all work..... if it were so horrible, why
do people still work?

Indeed, that is the question.... much of our modern alienation
derives from work and it traumatic effects it has on people...
the term ''Post-traumatic stress disorder'' or (PTSD) is really
about work and the stress work gives us....

LOL this one says and claims this, but still goes to 'work'

but that leads us to a bigger problem, that of economics....
which is how the state/society organizes itself to feed itself....
clothe itself, house itself.... the basic questions of a human being,
the bodily questions of how does one gain the necessities of existence
which one to live.... economics is the large-scale path of what
individuals do, which is seek out food, water, shelter, health care,
education.....and what of the psychological needs of the one, how
are they meet in a state/ or society? The blunt answer is, they
are kinda met those needs......that of love, of safety/security,
of the need for esteem and of belonging......

And the lies, told by the society, just keep getting told.

the society kinda meets the safety/security and a sense belonging...
for example, the ''ism'' nationalism is about country....
the MAGA/GOP motto is ''god, country and guns''...
in which our need for belonging is met... by our belonging to
country......but as noted elsewhere... there is a strong sense of
alienation from country, as there is a strong sense of alienation
god, and even guns... (and from guns we get the idea that we
can find answers within violence... and not answer can come
from violence)

One of America's means of cohesion lies in the ism of work
and business and the ism of capitalism..... I have laid out the
arguments against capitalism, time and time again... and thus
feel no need to repeat them... outside of saying, that a major
source of America's alienation and discontenment lies in
the devaluation and dehumanization of human beings under
capitalism..... the nihilism that profits are worth more
than human beings... that human beings are a means to
an end and that end is profits..... that our value as human beings,
lies in being participants of capitalism...with no other inherent value,
outside of being a worker, a producer and consumer.... we have no
other value in capitalism.....

"americanism" may well be the biggest cult, in the days when this is being written, and the attempt to spread "americanism' could be seen as the biggest cult, and ideology, following, in the days when this is being written.

Although it is the most degraded, distorted, and very,very Wrong ideologies it is, still, followed, agreed with, and accept by many very disillusioned human beings.

that of being dehumanized as human beings is the very heart of the
working experience in capitalism.... that we are replacable, that we
are expendable, that we are considered to be on the same level
as the means of production.... the assembly line is not about the
human beings, but about the machines that move the assembly line....

you human beings, in the days when this is being written, who are 'working' 'for others' are nothing more than those who built pyramids, and you are doing nothing more than what they did, 'for others'.

you human beings who 'go to work: have been lied to throughout your whole childhood, and right up to this very moment, that 'you have to work:, and while you are believing 'this lie' those who benefit from all of 'your work' are sitting back and 'laughing their heads off', AT you.

But, just completely ignore this fact, and just keep doing what you are because you 'have to' keep working to keep paying for those houses and things that you 'need' to live, right?

Well this certainly what those who are laughing AT you want you to believe is absolutely true.

And, because some all of you have become so indoctrinated into 'this societal cult' you can not see the actual Truth, here, and so will just 'keep on working: FOR 'the others'.

or to put this another way..... if monkeys ever learn how to count
out change, I am out of a job....as I too work in a factory lite job...
that of a clerk in a supermarket... and if the machine that scans the
items is not working, I am moved elsewhere... in other words,
the scanning devise and cash register have more value than I do,
in my factory lite job... the company spends far more time
and money keeping those two items working, then they do in me....
and the priority in a blackout, of which I have been in several,
the first priority has been to get the machines up and running,
everything else is a distant second......
I am replaceble, the machines are not....

and we return to our original question...
what is the value of work?
If we are expendable and replacable, then what
value does work have for us? How do I find meaning in
work if I have virtually no value at work....

In my particular company, the goal is to have workers work
for only three years... any longer and they begin to cost more money
and that is unacceptable.... they get automatic raises because of
the contract we sign with the company... I have worked for
this company 18 years, my hourly wage when I started was $9.00 something
an hour...today, it's close to $27 per hour....
and how can the company makes its profits with employees like
me who are making $27 an hour....and yet, my corporation made
over 20 billion dollars last year..... despite my wages....

and for the corporation, I have no more value than a door in
the corporate lobby... and how do I find meaning in that?
and one answer that will arise is, Kropotkin, you find your
meaning where you can? its not a state or society purpose
to give you meaning.... if that were true, then why push
capitalism as an ism? If there is no inherent meaning in
capitalism, then why push it as the sole economic system
of our times?

and if the workers are not benefitting from capitalism, as I
have suggested, on several levels, then who does actually
benefit from capitalism?
those who own the ''means of production"" the owners of and
the stockholders of any given corporation.... they benefit....
and thus the lie of the meaning of work stems from their
gains from capitalism..... it is their lie to keep the workers,
working....

Now one might say, so what is the alternative Kropotkin?
but as usual, the first step is, as it always is, to
first discover if there is a problem..... and for most people,
they have been indoctrinated enough into believing the lies
of capitalism and of work..... as I always say, it is for us
to engage in a reevaluation of values.... to see if our values,
the ones we hold dear, our actually our values or, as I have
often suggested, values that were indoctrinated into us...
and we have blindly accepted..... without any examination
of the implications of those values....

We have been alienated, dehumanized, devalued from our work,
our economics, our ism's and our state/society......
and we can only escape this if we could only see and recognize that
fact..... and that is the battle today.... to see our economics and
work as the enemy, not as our friends.....

Kropotkin

[Walker]

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Philosophical Approaches to Work and Labor

2.2 Opposition to Work and Work-centered Culture
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/work-labor/

[Walker]

"As Bertrand Russell (1932) remarked, 'work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth’s surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so.'”

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/work-labor/

Comment: Short and sweet, with room to think.

[Fairy]

Ultimately everything has to work if life is to work.

I literally mean every living organism has to work at staying alive, and that’s all that’s apparently happening. I’m not going to lie, there is no escaping this happening, there is doing, doing is done, and no doer thereof. So cannot escape.

There is no doer of a deed
Or one who reaps the deed’s result;
Phenomena alone flow on—
No other view than this is right.

Tis all grist to the mill.