“If you haven’t learned something new or picked up a skill in the past month, then it’s time to admit that you’re not busy. You’re just lazy. ”
From a meme some asshole created
Some months ago, an accomplished and respected acquaintance shared that meme in our group-chat. It had an image too. I can’t remember what it was, but picture early morning sunshine and coffee.
A pandemic isn’t a time to slow down, to reflect on life, and to cherish our loved ones. To him, and to the legions of automatons like him, quarantine, like sleep and nutrition, are necessary maintenance and retooling so that one becomes a more productive machine.
Americans aren’t the only ones plighted by Workism. It has infected the world’s psyche like kombuchas and k-pop.
I work in Shanghai for a London-based company with an American boss. (Something to deconstruct for another time.) One thing the man constantly rails against is the blasphemous English culture of “taking time off” and “leaving work on time”. Not responding to work messages after 6pm? Blasphemous. Not giving your health, body, and spirit to the company? You have bad (work) ethics. His favourite employee? A colleague who responds promptly to emails at 10pm, a “complete believer”. Naturally, he is a fan of Alibaba Founder Jack Ma, who recently sanctified “996” as a “privilege”. “996” – working 9am to 9pm, 6 day’s a week.
To follow this “total work” logic to its conclusion: a person’s moral and ethical standing and worth is measured by hard work . Mere physical and intellectual labour aren’t enough: spiritual devotion too is stipulated by the implicit addendum to you employment contract. The value of an employee is measured by its contributory potential to the company’s mission, which, stripping away the veneer of virtue-signals, is little more than to deliver returns to investors and shareholders. And the value of a human being, then, is measured by its productive potential.
When we voluntarily reduce ourselves to objects through language like “hacking” and “grinding”, we have truly reached peak Workism.
I imagine there are a lot of people who resent this demand for total absorption in private, but are held captive by momentum, by their own insecurities, by peer pressure. It’s that front-row effect where the person sitting in front at the theatre stands, causing everyone behind him to stand too. Unfortunately there is no shortage of people that objectify themselves as useful tools, available on demand. We need an external shock to shake people out of their stupor.
Oh wait…
And the latest panic sweeping my city is – “obsolescence at 35”.
Now we’re really fucked.
#00117F 