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capitalism really, really want the rest of us to believe that we have no power outside our ingratiation of ourselves to their economic machinery, and that taking a beat away from the endless march of "productivity" erodes that power.
It's a lie. https://twitter.com/SahajKohli/status/1329841666740641792
capitalism really, really want the rest of us to believe that we have no power outside our ingratiation of ourselves to their economic machinery, and that taking a beat away from the endless march of "productivity" erodes that power.
It's a lie. https://twitter.com/SahajKohli/status/1329841666740641792
I'm a very big believer that labor is necessary and good because it creates value and meaning, but capitalism treats only a very narrow range of easily-monetizeable labor as "productive."
Self-care requires labor.
Zooming with your family requires labor.
Taking care of your pet and making dinner and reading a book and going to therapy and healing from stress and illness requires labor.
Zooming with your family requires labor.
Taking care of your pet and making dinner and reading a book and going to therapy and healing from stress and illness requires labor.
The healthiest possible response to the time we are in right now is to try and find ways to lighten our sense of obligation to productivity, not tie ourselves in knots worrying that by not producing at peak in the middle of a crisis we'll end up powerless losers.
One thing organizing has taught me time and time again is, we have far more power than we are taught to believe.
When we are in relationship with others and take action together, we can move mountains with shockingly little effort.
When we are in relationship with others and take action together, we can move mountains with shockingly little effort.
One of the coldest lies capitalism and especially US capitalism tells us is that power is dehumanizing if it's not individualized.
Then, it tells us that individual power is measured by how many gold stars we get from the bosses.
Then, it tells us that individual power is measured by how many gold stars we get from the bosses.
The fact is, we can be vibrant and realized and powerful beings even and actually *especially* if we find our power through collective action.
In liberatory collective action we practice our deepest power and also get to discover our most authentic individual selves.
In liberatory collective action we practice our deepest power and also get to discover our most authentic individual selves.
What that means is, we are actually enriching our own power when we find time and energy to perform the "unproductive" labor of tending to our relationships, becoming better and healthier people, and taking care of ourselves and loved ones.
That doesn't produce much for the bosses or the profiteers of capitalism, so our capitalist culture treats that labor as unvaluable.
That isn't true, actually.
It's a lie we get told because that labor lessens *their* power and fails to line *their* pockets.
That isn't true, actually.
It's a lie we get told because that labor lessens *their* power and fails to line *their* pockets.
One of the most liberatory changes that could possibly come out of this pandemic is a collective realization that capital-enriching "productivity" was never necessary for our self-worth or worthiness, that unpaid labor is not a less-than labor.
Looking at the capitalism cheerleaders who run our government, I can't help but believe that this is one of the main reasons they're so resistant to common sense measures aimed at subsidizing folks to stay at home long enough to stay the pandemic.
They're willing to risk driving us into an economic depression in order to keep us believing that we are nothing if we are not plugged *constantly* into the apparatus of production.
It's that simple, and that deep.
It's that simple, and that deep.
I think a lot about the idea of vocation now, about shaping my life around the labor I feel called and able to perform, rather than the labor that will guarantee me the most gold stars.
It's an incredibly hard paradigm shift to make, but also an incredibly useful one.
It's an incredibly hard paradigm shift to make, but also an incredibly useful one.
I used to be a very good gold star-earner.
I learned the hard way that those stars lose their sparkle the moment you begin to claim and exercise your own power, instead of just submitting to various bosses trusting they'll take you where you need to go.
I learned the hard way that those stars lose their sparkle the moment you begin to claim and exercise your own power, instead of just submitting to various bosses trusting they'll take you where you need to go.
"Productivity" will earn you gold stars.
We live in a culture that fetishizes those gold stars, but those gold stars only ever reflect the light bosses deign to shine on us, and that's a light that can be withdrawn at any time.
We live in a culture that fetishizes those gold stars, but those gold stars only ever reflect the light bosses deign to shine on us, and that's a light that can be withdrawn at any time.
What we should be doing right now is actively pushing and developing a politics that rejects gold star hamster wheel productivity bullshit and reminds us that we don't need bosses to make the labors we perform valuable or meaningful.
We generate that value and meaning ourselves.
We generate that value and meaning ourselves.
That value and meaning comes from our investment of ourselves in the work, not what it produces.
When someone is depressed, the labor of simply taking a shower can be a deeply meaningful and valuable act, even if it is minimally "productive."
When someone is depressed, the labor of simply taking a shower can be a deeply meaningful and valuable act, even if it is minimally "productive."
Don't hold yourself to a standard of "productivity."
Ask yourself, am I using the capacity I have to labor in a way that creates meaning and value in my life and this world to the extent I am able?
Ask yourself, am I using the capacity I have to labor in a way that creates meaning and value in my life and this world to the extent I am able?
If you can do that, you can begin to be patient and fair to yourself and wean yourself from destructive gold star fetishism.
It's not an easy transition to make.
Always but especially during this pandemic, though, it is incredibly healthy and liberating.
It's not an easy transition to make.
Always but especially during this pandemic, though, it is incredibly healthy and liberating.
