Ok, So I live in Canada. I have a job, am currently self employed. Worked many terrible jobs, or jobs with terrible aspects throughout my life. Harvey's, Metro, Buck or Two, A skid factory. Many things I am glad I left behind. My current job; I don't make a ton of money, but I enjoy it well enough. So my question to this anti-capitalism crowd is- Can't you already “anti-work” when I lived in BC so many people lived on the beach, essentially homeless, tents, fires. These people are free, they contribute very little, have very little responsibility, they are free of work and societal burden, taxes. They still eat daily, have clean water to drink, a shelter to go to if needed, access to healthcare, smokes, booze, chips, pop, music, phones. Now I live in Ontario and I have a roommate who lives off ODSP- They are not disabled, just don't want to participate in their own well being and this enough seems to qualify them for benefits, they get government money to pay for a room, internet, food. They define anti-work, living for free doing very little, just living and consuming free food and endless media. Essentially these are two ways to exist where I live without working or being born rich or lucky. Still eating and drinking, medication, police for safety, shelters to sleep in. You literally don't have to participate in society at all, and society will still protect you; either with benefits, or a shelter and free food daily. How can one expect society to provide more than that? If that same person doesn't want to contribute to society making it function for other members. If enough people commit to anti-work then the society would function so poorly it would be impossible to support more non-workers.
I understand that some people have awesome jobs; models, sports stars, surgeons, famous musicians. Or some people are born rich beyond others wildest dreams. I also understand that big companies treat humans like meat, and over work is the normal route. The housing market where I live is totally fucked and I will probably never own a home close to where I can work. All of this is frustrating and it's easy to want to just give up, but I don't personally want too. We can't all be rock stars or born rich, and no-one is forced to work at Walmart till they die. If you want, you can quit and be free, or you can quit and try a new job, or quit and be a nomad. Nothing but your own choices makes it so you work at a job you hate for 15 years only to feel overworked and still be broke.
Not trying to be a dick, I hate work too, I just don't understand the popularity of this ideology or maybe I don't understand its core. How can people not want to contribute to society but expect there to still be a society?
Or is it more about anger directed towards the inequality of wealth, where Jeff B's and Elon's wealth could support whole cities of people, or maybe this wealth could make the quality of life better for the average person. But how can we as a society adjust this? capitalism sucks but its the best solution to creating a society we have come up with so far. Won't inequality always be an issue no matter how it is addressed? The system will always be gamed and some people will have more then enough and some people won't. At least in our current society, at least where I live, I am free. Free to choose what I want to do. If I want to do anything at all.
So tell me, why work? if you would really prefer anti-work?
But also,
What if so many people choose anti-work, there are no workers to support a society at all? Isn't that just chaos, famine, death?