The freedom that we workers of the world have was won because of thinkers, writers, activists and artists who were free to think. Capital must not have liked that because it continuously searches for new labor to exploit, to make addicted to consumerism, and then to discard. Capital is like a gigantic dinosaur that will eat up all the resources of the world, and we all know that but we are so addicted, so hypnotized by the glitz and the illusions that we just can’t give it up. In the coming months, that hard won alliance between labour and capital…meaning that capital had to have some accountability towards labor, the hard won struggle, for labour to be recognized as part of capital is under threat because of a virus. In a world completely watched and integrated via the internet, the new war was waged through our mind, not our bodies, it is waged through the fear of a virus, which makes us all comply much faster than the fear of odd people doing bad things to us.
In war time we are afraid, suspicious and distant. The act of purchasing groceries feels risky. 1. Who and what does our fear benefit? and 2. Do they expect us to pay rent and mortgages without getting paid work? Wait, hasn’t this been going on for a while now? there was a time we paid artists for music, actors for acting, writers for writing. Now we pay some corporation to get creative work for free. There has been a strong and precise erosion of rights over human intelligence. We live ever increasingly purposeless lives….we have less and less meaningful work, the more knowledge we have, the less work we get. The truth is that this is a war on a certain kind of intelligence–human intelligence. Now we are living with an irrational fear of germs, our society is buying any harsh cleaning agent and tons of food as if there is a war. Masks, gloves, and fear abound. Our compliance has come because of the fear for our safety. In a few short weeks we have accepted that we must not meet in person, only online. Over time, we have become so well trained, that we are terrified of possibly getting a flu that might develop into a pneumonia, that might mean we die or someone else will die because of us. This is a new spin on risk. In the meanwhile the globe is in a state of emergency. Because its just a virus…..we willingly gave up our freedom, because the government says we will pay you to stay home in countries where labour has some legal rights. In others, their armies keep people at home and online.
I don’t think people realize that their work has less and less real value. Even though our economies recognize labour as capital, the facts of the economic realities of our time is that labour is being replaced by technology so fast, that it is tempting to shift labour into the liability category….what I have said has HUGE implications for finance and economics. But they don’t teach that kind of stuff at Universities anymore….it doesn’t pay to think, only to make more money from selling more stuff to more people.
The psychology of our times is such that we accept a world which is the dream come true of the landlord, the capitalist, the owner of resources. It asks all of us to own capital and pushes us all to become capitalists, valuing ourselves by our assets. It is a weird kind of mental oppression, leading to a state of chronic malaise, a deep existential purposelessness. If we are depressed, we are told it is a chemical imbalance, and if we take some chemicals we will feel okay.
The glass is half empty or half full. Perhaps it is a victory for racism, or the creation of a new race. Make way, quickly for robots. Even Chinese workers cannot keep up with robots.
Behind The Veil 