#2 2009-05-26 14:06:49
The spurious division of mental and physical labor a false class dichotomy makes...
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#3 2009-05-26 14:17:46
I, personally, get much of my best thinking done when I'm doing something with my hands. The parts of the brain that aren't needed by the task at hand are free to wander.
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#4 2009-05-26 14:34:34
I sent this link to monkeyboy, who fired right back with...
"For anyone who feels ill suited by disposition to spend his days sitting in an office, the question of what a good job looks like is now wide open."
Spoken all through like someone who has never spent 10 straight hours on a factory floor or a loading dock or a semi-truck in his fucking life, someone who's never had to face a day of labor he absolutely did not want to perform with a body that absolutely wasn't up to the job, using equipment and tools that were insufficient or actively dangerous to his safety.
I consider it somewhat lucky that some of my first jobs were in filthy shoe shops and old-school moving companies, working alongside old, grizzled broken men missing fingers and eyes and toes, who hobbled onto that shop floor or up into that semi to do back-breaking manual labor for just one more week, or month, or season, or year, or till the next layoff or injury, if they could manage it, and taught me by patient example not to fall for this kind of prose. He whines on about his mindless strivings writing abstracts while failing to recognize the connection between that activity and the average factory workers day, completely missing that most manual laborers work at something just as un-fulfilling while going without the perks he enjoyed.
I'm glad he's enjoying his artisan bike shop, but every time I hear some degreed jackass romanticising hard honest labor I think of those old mens desperate faces and want to kick his fucking ass till he's in the shape they were in, and see how much he enjoys twisting that wrench when he's got to do it with 7 fingers, one eye, an empty stomach, creaking knees and a bad back, for serious pay-the-rooming-house-this-week-or-else wages, and see how many more elegies to the fucking goddess Work he decides to write.
"A good job requires a field of action where you can put your best capacities to work and see an effect in the world. Academic credentials do not guarantee this. Nor can big business or big government - those idols of the right and the left - reliably secure such work for us."
This is about where I started wondering what his lungs would look like on a stick. Fuck him and his platitudes.
Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs
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#5 2009-05-27 10:10:36
After I spend a mind-numbing 12 hours in this chair I like to unwind with a little manual labor in my garage, building or fixing something. I almost look forward to plumbing problems and oil changes.
But his article extols the virtues of blue collar work while what he really is is a small business owner. He doesn't come in to work and do uncomfortable, dirty work to make a profit for someone else. Sure, he turns wrenches, but it's for his own business. That's a big step up from someone with mechanical aptitude but no funds to start a business and sustain it through the lean times. We have all seen what happens to the electricians and home builders during this economy, no matter how well they do their craft.
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#6 2009-05-27 10:23:28
I am the daughter of a couple of people who busted their asses and went hungry to lift themselves (and their offspring) out of the manual-labor stratum. I'm the wife of a man who also did his share of hump-busting physical labor in his quest for an education and a better life.
I share your disgust with dilettantes who think that wearing "work" clothes and handling a few tools erases their class conditioning and makes them different people. (Nobler, even!)
But in fairness, this fuxored economy has left plenty of white-collar desk jockeys out of work too. Also, what Dusty said.
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#7 2009-05-27 11:27:21
What Dusty said.
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#8 2009-05-27 11:51:27
Mr. Sofie does plenty of both blue and white collar stuff for his business, and he works his ASS off. So hard, he eats three HUGE meals a day and has to eat cashews by the pound to get enough calories to keep him alive. He burns it all up and then some.
It's funny to see his eyes glaze over in boring business meetings, because he prefers being in constant motion.
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#9 2009-05-27 12:55:37
Blue collar jobs are not all cut from the same cloth. I like the German model of sending some youngsters to trades schools instead of high school, which is reserved for those going on to college. At these trade schools the students learn all sorts of mechanical skills, from computer aided machining to electrical and plumbing skills. to auto mechanics. These students are smart and skilled and they earn damned good money. Our goal of sending every kid to college is ludicrous and it deprives many young people of the opportunity to learn skills that will provide a good living.
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#10 2009-05-27 13:04:06
What Phred said.
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#11 2009-05-27 13:18:45
I'm also gonna agree with Phred on this one. My high school had dropped its shop programs by the time I got there, with the exception of "graphic arts" which was a fucking joke and auto shop which was less of a joke, but it was also the class they stuck the hooligans into to get them out of the way. At the time, going into such an environment would have left me with permanent wedgie scars.
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#12 2009-05-27 15:48:05
What Choad said, squared. Very eloquent. I'm a self employed mason, or was until around four months ago. That's when all the calls ceased. Until then, I would have done almost anything to get out of this trade before it finishes destroying my body. Now in the current economy, I'm ready to jump back into it before they cut off my broadband.
Maybe I should move to more populated area and begin a construction/ blue collar themed boot camp for yuppie wannabes.
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#13 2009-05-27 16:04:15
nfidelbastard wrote:
Maybe I should move to more populated area and begin a construction/ blue collar themed boot camp for yuppie wannabes.
Make them call you "Daddy" if you do this, you'll be able to charge them more!
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#15 2009-05-27 21:08:14
I'm currently working a white collar position, but I've held my share of blue collar jobs in the past. I'm not falling for the whole Dickensian description of blue collar work that's been put forth here. I spend most of my time these days interpreting various profit and loss reports, performance reports and auditing my different employees and locations. To be honest, my white collar work is not very satisfying and to make it bearable I create "blue collar" projects for myself as often as possible. You'll never hear me brag or express pride for approving another stack of expense vouchers or when I lower my expenses and increase my income. You'll see me satisfied in my job after I convert a pile of 2x4s and sheetrock into a nice break room, when I build a chain link security fence, when I install a hot water heater, or when I change an engine on a vehicle. I could be as lazy and miserable as any other white collar person out there and pay someone else to do this stuff, but I don't. The most satisfying part of these "blue collar" projects for me is how they help me become truly independant. If my pipes burst I don't have to call a plumber, if my check engine light comes on I have the tools and know how to fix it, I do all of my own plumbing, electrical and construction work. Far too many Americans feel that blue collar work is somehow beneath them and they end up being dependant on other people for nearly everything. I know full grown adult males that are unable to change the tire on their own car. I credit my stance on this subject to my dad who received his PhD and chose a white collar profession. He still didn't feel it was beneath him to pour his own concrete, build his own garage and replace his own brake pads. If he wanted something done he'd buy a book to learn how to do it and the tools to complete the project. I'll never scoff at the blue collar worker or feel that what they do is somehow beneath me.
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#16 2009-05-27 21:19:42
I am more in line with Dirck. Thanks for your thoughts, D-Man.
D
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#17 2009-05-27 21:32:46
Dirck, it saddens me that you are becoming known as the guy who doesn't know how to create paragraphs and no longer are the guy who dressed his dick up and showed it to everyone.
Last edited by Scotty (2009-05-27 21:33:36)
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#18 2009-05-27 22:54:46
Scotty wrote:
Dirck, it saddens me that you are becoming known as the guy who doesn't know how to create paragraphs and no longer are the guy who dressed his dick up and showed it to everyone.
ENCORE, ENCORE!
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