It occured to me the other day that life is a lot like "Blood Diamonds"

[trollgirl]

Yes, the movie. Allow me to explain:

You're free and happy at home.
But - you have to leave it, to go to a place you'd really rather not be, leaving behind home, family, and contentment.
You are placed far outside your comfort zone, to do work that you'd really rather not do.
The value of your work is demanded from you by people who have the power to terminate you.
If you try to keep even a small piece of the value of your work for yourself, those who watch you get upset, call it theft, and may just terminate you.
You are fed/clothed/housed just well enough to keep you coming back to work.
Those who really reap the rewards of your labor are people you will never see, and whose names you have never heard spoken.
Only a lucky few escape the system alive, and fewer yet take the rewards of their work with them.

Comments??

[kexodusc]

Yes, the movie. Allow me to explain:

You're free and happy at home.
But - you have to leave it, to go to a place you'd really rather not be, leaving behind home, family, and contentment.
You are placed far outside your comfort zone, to do work that you'd really rather not do.
The value of your work is demanded from you by people who have the power to terminate you.
If you try to keep even a small piece of the value of your work for yourself, those who watch you get upset, call it theft, and may just terminate you.
You are fed/clothed/housed just well enough to keep you coming back to work.
Those who really reap the rewards of your labor are people you will never see, and whose names you have never heard spoken.
Only a lucky few escape the system alive, and fewer yet take the rewards of their work with them.

Comments??
Wow...compelling argument.
None of my business, but maybe you need to find a better job?
As much as I hate being a slave to the man, and I sure make them a lot more money than they pay me, the one difference I have perhaps over those forced into the blood diamond trade is I can always leave, and I do what I do because I choose to. Nobody can ever take that away from me. Ever.

[bobsticks]

Wow...compelling argument.
None of my business, but maybe you need to find a better job?
As much as I hate being a slave to the man, and I sure make them a lot more money than they pay me, but the one difference I have perhaps over those forced into the blood diamond trade is I can always leave, and I do what I do because I choose to. Nobody can ever take that away from me. Ever.

Yup.

And, for that ya need mad skillz.

Seriously, I feel as if many that make this argument refuse to put in the time to "pay their dues", as it were. You pay the cost to be the boss and then you're the man, as Kex puts it. If one chooses not to make that investment then one gets what one deserves I suppose.

It should also be noted that the US Government allows millions of dollars a year for small business grants and loans for entrepeneurs. I know because I've used 'em. The opportunities are there, you just have to grab them.

[kexodusc]

Yup.

And, for that ya need mad skillz.

Seriously, I feel as if many that make this argument refuse to put in the time to "pay their dues", as it were. You pay the cost to be the boss and then you're the man, as Kex puts it. If one chooses not to make that investment then one gets what one deserves I suppose.

It should also be noted that the US Government allows millions of dollars a year for small business grants and loans for entrepeneurs. I know because I've used 'em. The opportunities are there, you just have to grab them.

I sympathize with the plight of a lot of people. Certain skills and talents, even personalities aren't always rewarded by the system efficiently or fairly. Grants and loans help entrepreneurs, but that's not for everyone. There's only so much government can do though I suppose.



Little known fact: Bobby Styxx runs a chain of "chicken on a stick" vendors.

[bobsticks]

Little known fact: Bobby Styxx runs a chain of "chicken on a stick" vendors.


True so true, but it hasn't always been wine and roses. I needed bigtime help after my "Gator-On-A-Weck" franchise went under.

Congrats on 7k.

[trollgirl]

None of my business, but maybe you need to find a better job?


Maybe not, but I do need to find a better job. In case any of you are concluding that Laz has not paid his dues, I have been in the working word for about forty years, with two stints in the supervisory area (a bad fit). I have worked hard, so much so that there have been times when I literally staggered on the way home. I well understand that in this world, we must produce more than we are paid for us to be worthwhile, and I don't mind that. It does not alter, however, my observation that many managers are sociopaths - but then a lot of employees are lazy boobs. My analogy is just that, and the way the world looks from a certain angle. Other angles, other views. It might interest you all that politically I am a disgusted ex-Libertarian.

Laz

[bobsticks]

It might interest you all that politically I am a disgusted ex-Libertarian.

Laz

Can we conclude disgusted by the apparatus not the ideology? If so, I am in agreement.

[kexodusc]

Maybe not, but I do need to find a better job. In case any of you are concluding that Laz has not paid his dues, I have been in the working word for about forty years, with two stints in the supervisory area (a bad fit). I have worked hard, so much so that there have been times when I literally staggered on the way home. I well understand that in this world, we must produce more than we are paid for us to be worthwhile, and I don't mind that. It does not alter, however, my observation that many managers are sociopaths - but then a lot of employees are lazy boobs. My analogy is just that, and the way the world looks from a certain angle. Other angles, other views. It might interest you all that politically I am a disgusted ex-Libertarian.

Laz
Don't think anyone seriously meant you hadn't paid yer dues...we recognize how hard it can be to find that right fit. I've observed personally that artistic and philosophical personalities often tend not to work so well in our regulated capitalist society for whatever reason. Maybe that's closer to your description than ex libertarian

[trollgirl]

Can we conclude disgusted by the apparatus not the ideology? If so, I am in agreement.

Many years ago I read an article critical of Ayn Rand, and the author described her as a sort of Joan of Arc figure, carrying the standards of Truth and Liberty. He then said that in the midst of the battle [speaking Philosophically] she reversed her colors to reveal herself as the enemy of both. Something like that, and I don't remember the exact wording or who the author was, and I did not really appreciate what he was saying, but now it's in full flower, and I see that he was correct. A man collects some sorrows along the Way of life, and for me, Rand-ism and Libertarianism are two of mine.

Laz