The Working Man's A Sucka

[Preach]

True or false? I happen to completely disagree.

Who is "The Working Man"?

I want you to justify your user title, DP. I take direct offense to it.

 

[linx]

False.

 

[masta247]

I think a man truly successful in his work can only be fulfilled.
A man who's not working probably don't even know what true happiness is, and when I worked it really tired me sometimes but surely I was hella happy I earned some money by myself.

I think every man should work, somebody who's not working won't enjoy his life, even if he's somehow rich he won't know the happiness of achieving that by himself.

yeah I've seen dp's title and it somehow raised negative emotions in me too. Not serious tho, I just simply disagree.

 

[Preach]

I want to define what the working man is to me.

The working man is the man who goes to work. The working man is the man who does what is expected of him to his greatest ability for a predetermined amount of hours a day to receive money. This man uses this money to pay taxes to the state, and to purchase goods in stores. The money is put in rotation. One single working man is one in six billion, so one might say that in the grand perspective, he is meaningless. But "the working man" represents a concept where every human being serves a function in a community. For serving this function they receive something that they can use to provide other people with what they require to perform the function they are made for. It's clockworks. The benefits of this system is that you are able to walk into a store and choose from a wide selection of foods, electrical articles, entertainment articles, that you can go to a cinema and watch a movie, that a movie can be made. It's that if someone kills someone, or if someone steals something from you, justice is served, and they have to take responsibility for their actions. That your life can have a beginning and an end where changes in the community inflicts changes in you, evolving you, giving you new impressions and a reason to live. There is good and there is bad in this system. There is corrupted politicians, and there is compassionate crooks. They are oxymoronic characters on opposite sides of the system, but the contrast represents a balance that is mirrored in the conflicts of the human mind. I would go so far as to say that being a working man is natural, and that anyone who deviates from that norm is on their way to becoming a sociopath.

I don't work because I have bowed to a corrupted system or because I a following a crowd. I do it because it's for the greater good and I am not bigger than this good.

The working man understands these values, even though not all of them have formed this as a monologue in their heads.

 

[masta247]

I see you look at it as a bigger cause. Of course it is a bigger cause but I think working in life is also irreplaceable from a selfish point of view - it gives specific, personal joy to each of those billions working units like I wrote below. Except being commited to the community you also have that joy of earning money for the job you do so you can afford most things in life for yourself and your close ones - buying those things using money that was given to you for free just can't compare to it.

Somehow IMO a man who was slacking off all his life can't die happy

 

[DarkPhantom13]

Umm....It's a quote from the movie A Bronx Tale! No meaning behind it in my case since i work my ass off at my regular job, my "other" job, and i spend the rest of my time in the studio. I was just watchin the movie att he time i was lookin for a different sig picture and i just put it as a user title. Haha i find it funny that you guys took it so literally.

 

[Preach]

Yes. It creates a scene where you can make advances or fail. Failing teaches lessons that lead to improvement, advances create a sense of accomplishment. There are many things in life that create this for you, so like you say, if you think of it from a selfish point of view, it should be about becoming a complete person for your own sake. But one shouldn't be completely selfish, and I think it's important that people keep in mind WHY we pay taxes and WHY we work, and who it affects when we slack on our chores. Compassion is another source to happiness.

 

[S O F I]

If you look at it from the perspective of allocation of power or from a Marxist point of view, the working man in this capitalist world now IS a sucka. It depends on how you perceive things in this world. When confronted with a situation, the first instinct is to say "Well, I think bla bla" as if the opinion is different or unique. Most likely, every opinion you have about everything falls into a certain perspective of how the world is seen. Sometimes, I find it a bit peculiar that many working class people out there don't share a Marxist view of things. But, then again, the american education system makes sure it stays that way.

 

[Flipmo]

I play in poo and I'm richer than you.

 

[masta247]

I don't share the marxists point of view. It's just unfair and doesn't reflect today's situation and jobs people work in. If you're doing dirt then you most probably deserved it - why didn't you finish school? Everybody in civilised countries has that possibility these days. If you've got a good job it usually means you're good and you worked hard for it all your life and deserved it.

Actually there's a stupid ass advertisement of men's magazine in tv here that says - "it's about things all real men pursue - money, power and sex and it's for real men only" - Everytime I see it, it just pisses the hell out of me and I'm forced to switch a channel. What a primitive thinking. For some reason I think it has something in common with this thread's quote. Intelligent people think higher than that. There are much deeper values which are much more important in the long run.

 

[S O F I]

I don't share the marxists point of view. It's just unfair and doesn't reflect today's situation and jobs people work in. If you're doing dirt then you most probably deserved it - why didn't you finish school? Everybody in civilised countries has that possibility these days. If you've got a good job it usually means you're good and you worked hard for it all your life and deserved it.

With a good education, you're still exploited. You might not be working in a mine but behind a desk in a corporation, but you're still being exploited. That's what Marx would say in a nutshell, I 'd say.

Also, there are sooooooooooooooo many situations that would make you think differently about what you said up there:

1. if you're doing dirt, you deserved it, you should have finished school ----> there are thousands of situations in this world that would make you think otherwise
2. everybody in civilized countries has possibility of education ---> thousands of situations that say otherwise....listen to the rappers, that's what they've been telling us the last 20 years.
3. if you've got a good job, it usually means you deserved it --- again, millions of situations where that's not the case


It's quite obvious that the circumstances you grew up in make you think that's true but you have to travel the world a bit.

Actually there's a stupid ass advertisement of men's magazine in tv here that says - "it's about things all real men pursue - money, power and sex and it's for real men only" - Everytime I see it, it just pisses the hell out of me and I'm forced to switch a channel. What a primitive thinking. For some reason I think it has something in common with this thread's quote. Intelligent people think higher than that. There are much deeper values which are much more important in the long run.

Well, it's an advertisement with a select target audience. Some people think money, power, and sex do make you happy. Some people then are like Jokerman. Personally, it's harder to achieve what Jokerman talks about. "Achieve internal happiness." I can't agree more, but what does that really mean? It's up to you to find out and that's where the trouble lies. Meanwhile, there are ways to achieve power, achieve money, achieve sex.

 

[masta247]

With a good education, you're still exploited. You might not be working in a mine but behind a desk in a corporation, but you're still being exploited. That's what Marx would say in a nutshell, I 'd say

Actually if you've got a job behind a desk in a corporation you're above most other citizens so actually it's fair enough. Of course there are still people above you, you could easy be one of them if you'll work even harder, if you've got education you have all those possibilities, now you have to work on your personality, try and you can be a boss as well.

It's quite obvious that the circumstances you grew up in make you think that's true but you have to travel the world a bit.

actually yeah, that's what have been proven so many times in my life, I think there might be exceptions but people like that are minorities that rightfully manifest how harmed they have been.

Well, it's an advertisement with a select target audience. Some people think money, power, and sex do make you happy. Some people then are like Jokerman. Personally, it's harder to achieve what Jokerman talks about. "Achieve internal happiness." I can't agree more, but what does that really mean? It's up to you to find out and that's where the trouble lies. Meanwhile, there are ways to achieve power, achieve money, achieve sex.

Actually I think people who set money sex and power as their goals in life are empty and primitive. Unfortunately many people like that actually achieve that - that's why there are corrupt politicians with sex scandals etc. So I have to agree with you, there are many exceptions to what I said before. Except achieving internal happiness which is hard as hell but worth to set as your goal there still are things that make you happy like honest, great friends (not money and power hungry only), family, loving wife, kids you raised, house and all the little things you can affoard from your honest work you put in your whole life. I haven't achieved most of those things yet but tasted it and I have a slight knowledge on how great it may be like.

 

[Preach]

I just understand that I can either be a working man or I can go against the grain. I'm contempt so I'll be a working man, besides, you can only change the system from within.

The world is the way it is. Some people die and other people eat lobster. What if everyone just starts giving a fuck about work and does whatever the hell they want because society is so bad and so wrong.. I mean I agree with that, I think it's wrong, but sitting on my ass protesting doesn't achieve a damn thing. So I go to work and I pay taxes. In return I have roads I can drive on. I have an educational system. It's maybe not flawless, but it's better than nothing.

The problem in the world is that there is too many people.

 

[Rahim]

False. The working man is someone who works hard for a better life, and that's pretty much anyone who wants to live a better life and be more then just financially stable.

 

[S. Fourteen]

the working man in most cases is the zombie to support the machine. a tiny little gear out of billions of gears that makes the machine going. the owners of the machines do not really care about gears as long as the machines provide their wants and needs. you can try to escape the machine but some secretary will walk by the machine, find your tiny mini gear ass and toss you in the garbage like she has no clue of what it is.

even if you owned the company that owns the machines, you still pay taxes and somebody still owns you.

 

[Euphanasia]

I tend to have somewhat of a Marxist view. I read the "Communist Manifesto" in college and although I disagree with several areas, he raises some very valid points. To answer the question, I do not think the working man is a sucker. What other choice do most people have? Work or starve or go on welfare unless you're born into money or acquire it through some other means. I work in a supermarket making pretty shitty money and I feel like an "oppressed worker" What really pisses me off are people who abuse the welfare system in this country. I'm all for helping people out if they legitimately need it, but a lot of time these people are just lazy fuckers. For instance , my friends mother is basically a piece of garbage with legs who collects a welfare check and uses whatever cash she does have for drugs. If she can't pay a bill or her rent she just calls Social Services and they pay it for her no problem. So all of us taxpayers are giving her free money so she can sit on her ass all day and drink mountain dew.

So maybe you could say being a product of that system where I'm indirectly paying for my friend's mother's drugs makes me a sucker? I don't know though. It's not like I have much choice.