by Skald
Here's an idea: How about a weekly/monthly column on the evils of wage slavery? Each piece would be devoted to stories about terrible job experiences, evil bosses, degradation and humiliation on the job, ways of resisting workplace control, employer excesses, or letters from disgruntled workers.
We've got countless columns on idiotic subjects like etiquette, right-wing politics, and amusing personal foibles.... but no one addresses the core source of misery in most of our lives. As Hakim Bey wrote, "WORK is a far more actual source of misery for most of us than legislative politics." Amen!!!!
I'm somewhat of a freak in this respect....after all, I resorted to voluntary homelessness to avoid full-time employment. Still, the inescabable truth is that most people hate their jobs. Every one of my friends constantly complains about theirs... about the pay, about the treatment, about the schedule, about the boss, about the degradation, about the humiliation... about the de-humanizing and life-sucking effects of WORK.
Do we ever read about this in even the most "progressive" papers? We are bombarded with articles and opinions about politics and every other aspect of culture and society... other than the workplace. Everybody is scared to write about this big fat elephant. Why is this? Why the silence? Why do we steadfastly refuse to say what we all know: Work sucks! Maybe it would make the advertisers nervous. Or maybe its just that we're all programmed by the big lie of the "puritan work ethic"--
we know its a lie, but we know we're supposed to pretend it's true.
Regardless of the reason for the silence, I'm convinved that most people would love to read such a column-- just to know that they are not alone in their depression and simmering rage. Also, such a column would be sure to incite the obtuse Republican minority who preach work as a religion.... an added bonus.
So write to your editor and demand a column about something that truly matters: The monster called WORK!
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