this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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There are many people who can only do grunt work. If they don’t have a means to make money, society will unravel.
Only if we continue to be dumbasses
We need to take universal basic income more seriously as a future policy
In my experience there are two groups of people who don't take UBI seriously.
If you’ve been paying attention to society over the last 5-10-15-50 years you’ll see precisely that this concept will never be implemented. It would take catastrophe and the destruction of current society.
I share your pessimism tbh
You mean essential work? Building the homes people live in, cooking the meals people eat, delivering people the stuff they're otherwise incapable of getting for themselves?
Not sure why anyone who's not part of the ruling class who profits from its devaluation would want to refer to it as being done by 'grunts'?
I agree that we shouldn’t devalue it, and that was my initial word choice. That wasn’t the intent behind the choice, but I get it. I’m not sure “essential” is a good descriptor either. It is essential, but that’s not the defining quality we’re after.
My comment was a reply to another user, quoting the exact same verbiage as them to offer them a counter point.
Instead, you’ve deliberately skewed my entire comment and attached your own deranged rambling about “the elite class” to demonize me. We’re on the same side but you’re too lost to understand that.
If you had a bad day today, take it out on a pillow instead of harassing other people. Get yourself some help.
Quoting you is demonizing you? You're the only person here who's called anyone a name.
Language is important. "Grunt work" is a phrase used to devalue jobs in order to justify low wages, regardless of how important those jobs are and what skills they actually require. If you want to use the phrase, don't expect to be immune from criticism. You weren't using it ironically or something, you were just straight calling it that.
And you're the one who asserted that "some people" can only do those jobs. Which people are that, exactly? Have a group in mind? Or was that just another careless use of language?
There is no such thing as 'unskilled' labor. That concept is part-and-parcel to that undervaluation of labor. Line cooks, construction workers, professional drivers, etc, all have skills that doing similar activities non-professionally does not impart. They all require training and experience.
The attitude that certain jobs are something "anyone can pick up and do just as well" as someone experienced in that work is just hubris.