Oh it used to make my blood boil to learn my MP hadn't even bothered to show up for a vote or debate. It still would but I don't keep track of it anymore. It's your godsdamned job, you over-entitled fucks. I don't give a shit if you think it's dull - you wanted it, you got it, now get your arse onto those benches and represent the interests of your constituents. If you don't want to do that, fucking resign.
Making everything about money turns out to have been super bad for society.
As in we seem to treat money as the ultimate form of success. Sure, we pay lip service to other things, but in reality we don't really acknowledge other accomplishments on the same level.
You see it in the way the culture sector is expected to make a profit, rather than the goal being to make culture. Much like healthcare - you put money in and get a healthy population out. It's not supposed to make money!
I'm thinking that if a successful career as a politician was based more around improving our society, rather than being a great way to make pots of cash, then the goal would be to have a memorable (positive!) career in politics.
Putting money on a pedestal is such a fucking lie. It's essentially a boiled down version of the classic advertising lie - "Buy this thing and you will be happier" (perhaps not stated as such but that's the general pitch). Satisfaction and contentment isn't something that can be achieved by ticking a box - it's a journey and a learned way of framing one's life. There's plenty of ways to spend money to reduce negatives, and money can definitely lubricate the gears of life towards happiness, but ticking the boxes won't actually unlock those things.
You don't wake up one morning after achieving whatever tickbox and suddenly become a different person.
"I've got my PhD, now I'm satisfied with life!"
Doesn't work like that! You can't flip a switch in your brain and change the way you've been interpreting your situation.
It'd be lovely if it did work like that, so I can see why it's so easy to get people to buy into it. It's an easy answer to a difficult question.
Instead I think we need people chasing after different needs. The need to make a positive difference (and be known for it), to make a contribution to our culture, etc.. There's a bit of ego about it but that's humans for you. Use that lever for good!
Seems like an odd place to post this but I'll bite.
Even the things I love doing involve work. If I want to do some sewing I still need to tidy up before and afterwards, for example, or spend time pinning stuff (and then taping up the numerous stab wounds). It's a bit reductive.
Instead I try to get paid for things that require minimal emotional "work" from me - that is to say, things that don't leave me sapped of energy to work on my passion projects. I don't dislike what I am paid to do but I'm not super enthused about it. That means that when I'm done working I've still got the creative juice to work on stuff I actually want to do.
If instead I have to spend my working days pushing myself through stuff then I tend to be left with nothing in the tank, even if I still have time left at the end of the day. Instead I get paid to do something I'm good at but that doesn't usually involve extended periods of advanced problem solving or frequent uphill battles of effort (there's always a bit, of course, it's not a perfect solution!). That isn't to say what I do is easy, but much of the stuff involved is stuff I've been doing for twenty years so is comparatively easy for me.
I was fortunate to find something that I have enough skills for but I absolutely agree on the polymath thing. One would think that it'd be a useful skillset to have but I don't think most businesses can grasp the concept. As a result my employer doesn't receive anywhere near the benefits they could from me.
Yeah, I always found it weird when people would act like they have it so cushy. On a material comfort level, sure, but on basically every other level it sounds awful. You couldn't pay me to put myself or my children through that.
Footballers who get paid a packet and can then vanish into obscurity if they so choose? That sounds like the good life.
Hard pass on the gilded cage thing. I'm no monarchist, so now that the single nationalised granny initiative is over I'm wondering whether we'll keep them. Inertia will probably keep it going for a while yet. Transitioning away from them seems like it'd probably somehow be even more expensive and troublesome than living with them. A bit like trying to totally rid a large building of mice.
I'm reminded of Louise Belcher describing safety tape:
Gene: Are we safe here?
Louise: Of course! It's safety tape. They can't just call it that if it's (screaming as the mechanical shark smashes through the safety tape)
It's the same reason I look both ways before crossing the street even if it's a one-way street - just because something isn't allowed doesn't actually stop it from happening.
Added to an effort in schools to introduce children to a wide variety of sports or exercise based on them finding enjoyment rather than meeting some specific gov goal.
Gods, this rings a bell. My relationship with sports is terrible because there was basically never any effort made to make it fun. I played what I had to and was at best okay. I've not been involved in sports in over twenty years because it doesn't fit into my world.
Flamekebab @ Flamekebab @piefed.social Posts 3Comments 601Joined 12 mo. ago
Don't go to the nazi bar.