Slashdot Mirror
Why Do We Work So Hard? (1843magazine.com)
An anonymous reader points us to a fascinating piece at The Economist that tries to explain the elements that drive people to work so hard: Working effectively at a good job builds up our identity and esteem in the eyes of others. We cheer each other on, we share in (and quietly regret) the successes of our friends, we lose touch with people beyond our network. Spending our leisure time with other professional strivers buttresses the notion that hard work is part of the good life and that the sacrifices it entails are those that a decent person makes. This is what a class with a strong sense of identity does: it effortlessly recasts the group's distinguishing vices as virtues. This reminds me of an article by Om Malik, veteran reporter and founder of the GigaOm news outlet, who wrote this when announcing his retirement. From his piece: "I relate to Jeter's desire to find life outside of work. Living a 24-hour news life has come at a personal cost. I still wake in middle of the night to check the stream to see if something is breaking, worrying whether I missed some news. It is a unique type of addiction that only a few can understand, and it is time for me to opt out of this non-stop news life."
The USSR was a dictatorship with The Party at the top, and the populace placated with lies of how they were moving towards a true communistic state, but you have to hand over all power to The Party, because we're the only ones who can manage this transition. All lies, of course.
If you had bothered to actually read Das Kapital and other fundamental texts of marxism, socialism and communism, you would know that no such state would ever have a ruling class or dictator of any kind. You would also know that the end goal (utopic as it may be) is the complete withing away of the state.
But you wouldn't know that, because you couldn't be bothered to actually do any research, could you?
Eat the rich.