60
Time to quit your pointless job, become morally ambitious and change the world
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
60 points (84.9% liked)
Progressive Politics
2561 readers
397 users here now
Welcome to Progressive Politics! A place for news updates and political discussion from a left perspective. Conservatives and centrists are welcome just try and keep it civil :)
(Sidebar still a work in progress post recommendations if you have them such as reading lists)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
This article has real "It's just a banana, what could it cost, $10?" energy.
Despite all of the commentary about slavery and the abolitionist movement, saying "just quit your job and be an activist" sounds like they've never read Marx and have no idea about the modern-day trend of wage slavery.
People don't want to work pointless jobs. They're tethered to them, because the alternative is poverty and homelessness in an era where social safety nets are being eroded faster than ever before. The article acknowledges this (barely) by comparing people in this situation to "American Dream" types (i.e. a limited subset of mainly white people) with a house and family and lawn (complete with robot mower) and labradoodle, as if that is the only excusable albatross hung around the worker's neck, while everyone else has nothing to lose.
They fail to acknowledge that the majority of workers are living paycheck to paycheck, precariously standing one major unplanned expense away from disaster. The only people who can quit their "pointless" jobs in the name of "moral ambition" are those who are lucky enough to not need them in the first place.
The article does say exactly that.
I know, and that's why it's ironically a pointless article.
There can't be a meaningful progressive movement organized exclusively of the upper class. Everyone else with a "pointless" job is one they need to survive. Not just because they're afraid to give up their two car garages and avocado toast.