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Thread: You really do give up a lot to hold down a job, don't you?

  1. #11
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    Food, Shelter and Clothing is what most do for work. Few seem to be actually blessed to do what they really love and would do forever if they could. Usually what one loves or hobby would not be a good work as that would turn it into work.

  2. #12
    Senior Member Tradd's Avatar
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    Rob, who do you expect to support you while you go off gallavanting from one protest to another?

    It’s called being a responsible adult and supporting yourself.

    If you actually expect someone else to pay for your rent, food, utilities, and mobile phone, etc., in addition to traveling expenses to all those protests, I don’t know what to say. Words fail me.

    Are the responsible adults who work and pay their taxes going to support the ones who don’t want to work and just protest all the time? Hell, no!

    There are a lot more people who deserve help before the likes of protesters would ever get help.

  3. #13
    Yppej
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    Rob if you were willing to retire in the US you could go to all the protests you want then.

    For now you can serve where you are. When my parents were struggling to raise three small children they couldn't take off but they did things like participate in Cesar Chavez's grape boycott.

    I feel I have been led to the job I have now because an immigrant employee who has been the victim of workplace mobbing needs a friend.

  4. #14
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    Dh and I started out much farther apart politically. He spent years telling people that one of my goals was to vote him out of a job (I was a real blast at company parties!) I love him. AND thanks to his faith in traditional gender roles, I got him to pay for my food, housing, clothes, car, phone, etc. while I worked on making the world a better place - trickle down theory of social justice. I managed to divert some of the capital flowing through the military industrial complex into channels to build a saner society, while raising three kids who stand with me.

    i used to talk a lot with my friends about the fact that policies we opposed were feeding, clothing, housing, and educating me and my children. I joked that I needed a t-shirt that said “ sleeping with the enemy since 1988” Most of them felt better us than someone else. I don’t know if the process made me cynical and utilitarian or if I was bent that way already, so it was easier to adapt to the process.

  5. #15
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gimmethesimplelife View Post

    ...but it's really dawning on me that the system is set up this way - so that most Americans are slaves to debt and can not break away to protest injustice. This is how police departments nationwide bank of getting away with their illegal behavior how tired and tied to a job most citizens are.
    Bolded for emphasis.

    This is ridiculous, your attributing the behavior of “police departments” as banking on citizens being too busy to pay attention.

    But to the larger point, I agree that in general active and engaged citizens are the backbone of a well functioning government. Citizens with their nose to the grindstone, too busy earning the money to buy their consumer crap are missing out on one of their duties as a citizen of society.

  6. #16
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    The responsible adults who feel no call to help the world, well I wouldn't even call such behavior responsible, because it is not responsibility in any fully developed mature sense. Mature responsibility cares greatly about the outside world. But we don't always act on all we feel called to and sometimes don't dare risk it because we need to survive another day? I know. And I don't fault anyone for taking care of themselves either really. But I'm not sure how responsible such mostly fear based behavior really is. But we do what we need to survive and if we have young kids it is a whole 'nother thing. But those who feel pangs of conscience know what that is like as well, and by no means are our feelings irresponsible. Because mature responsibility cares about the wider world.

    Because I actually do understand the dilemma (to be called by conscience, to be agonized by the way of the world). I mean I remember maybe 6 years ago, working, hey a dead end job, because hey it put food on the table temporarily even if it wasn't even good for my OWN long term future (and I'm paying for that now in my own life!). But anyway I remember feeling very upset about all going on politically, and being unable even to sit still hardly (though I did do my work, it didn't require much, it was dead end understand), and I would have gladly have risked much to change things politically, I felt chained to my desk, but also there was no real movements to join and even I'm not deluded enough to think I can single-handedly change the world all alone (peeshaw now that is delusion).

    Now, I doubt we would be protesting the same things (I'm not entirely unsympathetic, but priorities differ) and I wonder if I could even justify the carbon impact of getting to another part of Cali to protest unless I took Amtrak or a Greyhound bus (remember that's the only way I ever travel either). But I have felt the conflict. I worked mostly, oh there is a picture of me when I snuck out of work to take place in a keystone xl protest right outside because I really could not sit still when it was right there. Do I feel bad for that?, not for one second ever! (good memories, even if they changed little, I went mostly to morally support the truly good peeps protesting rather than thinking it changed anything), but mostly I worked ...
    Trees don't grow on money

  7. #17
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    I choose to live my values by helping others which I do a lot of. I think that has more impact then protesting but I have friends that attend local protests on weekends because they are all still working.

  8. #18
    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    This is a great argument for Universal Basic Income. Then people like Rob wouldn’t be oppressed by having to produce, and could spend their time engaged in necessary protests and virtue signaling.

  9. #19
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    I am more in favor of helping people when they are down like we do now versus basic income. Most people want to work and it brings a sense of satisfaction. Yes it brings headaches too but doesn't everything in life have 2 sides to the coin?

  10. #20
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    The march against guns etc had quite a decent crowd here I saw on the news and it seemed to around the US. I think it is great that the high school students are taking the lead on this.

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