“Anti-Work:” This Facebook Group Is Throwing Punches At Late Stage Capitalism, And Here Are 30 Of Its Best Posts
The subreddit r/Antiwork has gathered a lot of support over the last year, especially since the beginning of the Great Resignation. And even though not all of the attention was positive, the buzz has certainly helped to spread its message, and even take the movement to other platforms.
There's a Facebook group called Anti-Work. It's not connected to the subreddit, but shares a lot of the same values. The group's 'About' section says it welcomes "all things related to anti-work and late stage capitalism", and you can definitely see a wide variety of topics in its posts.
From specific things like burnout and student debt to broader discussions on salaries and personal finance, continue scrolling to check out the most popular ones.
More info: Facebook
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Actually, by over half the voters. It’s the ones who have a little and are afraid to lose it and therefore kick down on the poorer —- instead of demanding the obscenely superrich become just regularly obscenely rich.
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There is one reason and one reason only why the millionaires and billionaires are screaming for everyone to return to work early. They don't make their money. You do.
Under communism- you will be forced to work for free, if they think that you are "rich" they will come and take EVERYTHING: all of you food, cows, chickens, your grain that you were planning to use next spring, your clothe and shoes. That is what happened to both of my grandparents and their parents in the USSR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekulakization), then if you will resist they will send you to Siberia 10 days by train where 3 out 7 children will die due to cold weather ( -25C inside the train cart). Or you can work for 50 years on a factory and when you retire your pension will be so small that you would have to collect bottles so you can afford to but 1 chicken one a moths ( and yes that is a real story of my grandmother and millions of other people). Or your parents will try to save money and keep them in a bank- and one day they all will be gone because government stole them from you- that is my story...1991 USSR.
What do you want? Communism? It killed 100 million people in the twentieth century. Socialism was terrible too. My country tried both, it was pain in the ass.
No. In capitalism no one cares whether a billionaire gets richer or goes bankrupt. If the latter happens it only means that he must have made a blunder of epic proportion and faced its consequences. Capitalism is a purely economic system with no social component, so it simply doesn't care for anyone, beggar or billionaire. Of course, rich people want other to believe that if they go bust, something terrible happens. But truth is that if its happens, the gap will be immediately filled by another industrious individual, because everyone wants a share of this pie. If a large company goes bankrupt it might even be for the better - the void is filled with several competitors that might be forced to make better offerings for employees and customers to make sure that they come to them and not to their competitors. Nature abhors vacuum. So does the market.
Capitalism is not the real problem. The real problem is greed. Sheer unadulterated greed. Addiction to money is the only disease that affects others more than it affects the person with the addiction. If I was as rich as Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos then I would feel guilty about it and do something with it to make other people's lives better. One thing would be to give the people who helped to make me rich, i.e. my employees, a decent living wage, holiday pay, sick pay, a good company pension scheme, profit sharing schemes and bonuses and other perks that would have people wanting to work for me, not feel that they have no choice. The other thing I'd do is to pay my fair share of taxes. I would still be one of the richest men if I did that.
No one needs $1 billion. Any money accumulated over that should go into the public purse.
Thank you Martha. I thought I was the only one who feels that way. Obviously, we are socialists.
I think our terminology has gotten very mixed up. What are we thinking, that there are three fundamental economic systems (currently): capitalism, socialism, and communism? The lines are, and have always been, blurred. In the US we have the thin veneer of capitalism...but only for ideological reasons. In fact, it is socialistic..but not for the laboring and middle classes, but for the rich and corporations. Lumber companies and rich ranchers using federal land for free...banks bailed out of recessions...corporate farms subsidized and paid not to raise food...Wall Street granted low interest rates, while seniors who worked hard and saved get nothing earned through their banks.
Under socialism, everyone except the most brutal killers go hungry. Responsive government requires dissent, which requires independent means of production, which requires free markets. "Excessive profits" can only truly exist where government regulation restricts competition, otherwise new competitors would offer the same goods at reasonable profits. Competition is not a cure-all only where excessive infrastructure makes it impractical: roadways, electrical transmission, and water treatment. America is actually pretty weak at free markets, with a corrupt and excessive intellectual-property system, over-regulation, an over-reliance on government contracting and crony socialism.
Let's compare capitalism to socialism. We have the USPS a socialism program designed to deliver post. They reported a $4.9 Billion net loss for 2021. While UPS and FedEx, both capitalism, reported $3 to 4 Billion net profits. Three identical businesses, yet the capitalism businesses are making billions while the social business is losing billions. Need I say more?
No...no one thinks that's insane. The idea that they should pay 90%+ in taxes every year, under the guise that it would magically fix everything, is, however, stupid. In no small part because of how their wealth is calculated. Bezos owns 10.3% of Amazon stock. When the company was valued at $1 trillion, his wealth was presented as being $108 billion. When Amazon got valued at $2 trillion....his wealth was presented as being $216 billion. 10.3% of 2 Trillion is 206 billion...that is directly tied to stock. An amount that would never be realized, even if he was allowed to dump all of it, which he isn't. The total wealth of the 700 odd billionares in the US is $4.6 trillion, while the US yearly healthcare spending is $3.2 trillion. The top 1% of earners pay $540 billion in income tax The next 9% of highest earners pay $400 billion The bottom 90% of earners pay $460 billion, while 30% of the population pay ZERO income taxes. Everyone needs to pay more taxes, not just the "others"
No. Capitalism does not whether billionaires are rich or go bankrupt. If the latter happens, then it just means they were stupid enough to let it happen through some idiocy of epic proportion. Industry giants go bust all the time. Capitalism is just a purely economic system, it doesn't have any social component and so it doesn't care for anyone. Of course, it's the billionaires themselves who want people to think that their downfall will mean a catastrophe. But guess what? Other billionaires will simply take their places, because everyone wants share of this pie.
Because they convinced everyone in the 50's that any part of socialism was communism, when really you can take some socialist policies such as basic medical care..state run power provider, transport etc. and happily run those basic state services alongside more premium ones from the private sector too. we in the UK have a mostly socialist healthcare system (albeit constantly under attack from private healthcare lobbyists), yet we're also able to pay privately if we want nice meals, jump a queue or two, etc... .if we choose. the biggest lie the US was ever sold after wwII was that all forms of socialism led to communism. Hell.. I like the American people, I've lived there and worked with them.. but ones that know and appreciate the differences between democratic socialism and communism are few and far between in my experience - because McCarthy really did a number on them in the 50s largely and anyone with any sort of social conscience was under suspicion for being commie
It's pretty ironic that the kids and grandkids of a lot of those people that bought into that lie about commies under the beds etc. are the same ones that put Trump on a pedestal and yet seemingly he's a big fan of Russia and Putin. They're worshiping a guy that loves russia and doing damage to their own country... whilst shoehorning the concept of patriotism into that paradox.
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Taxing the rich leads to capital flight, which only hurts the poor even more. And besides, the rich do massive good to society? She typed that on, I presume, a computer or phone, which were only made possible by innovators such as Gates, Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg (who often end up rich). My point is that the rich are only rich because they benefit us.
There are ways to prevent or minimize impact of capital flight (excluding company products from the market without local representation/partnership does that in China for example). "Massive good" is questionable and up to the point: during expansion you see benefit of new technologies but as market share grows benefits start to evaporate (monopoly is not interested in massive innovations but in maximum wealth extraction). Excuse me, but technically all people you mentioned are not the ones doing all innovations but barely money bags who managed to hire right people to make them. The rich are rich usually because of 4 main factors: right place, right time, right people and access to wealth.
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So you never heard of rich loosing money ... or even having businesses going bankrupt??? Hmmmm
To learn more about the group, we contacted its administrators and moderators and they were kind enough to have a little chat with us.
"Fundamentally, the idea of Anti-Work is that people should choose to be productive on their own terms, not as a result of coercion or having their stability threatened," the team told Bored Panda.
"The underlying message of the Anti-Work philosophy is that the connection between survival and employment status or productivity levels must be eliminated."
"Our Facebook group is not affiliated with r/AntiWork," the people behind the group said.
While the subreddit is quite old (it was created in 2013), its Facebook spin-off is still fresh — it came about in October 2021 "as a result of needing to create a digital community tailored specifically for Facebook users."
"In our group, we have people from all backgrounds," the admins and mods said. "Writers, frontline nurses, school teachers, line cooks, truck drivers, forklift operators. To name just a few."
However, they pointed out that the Anti-Work group is explicitly anti-capitalist and supports the creation and expansion of unions and worker cooperatives, as well as believes in the need for workplace democracy.
“As a society, we have the ability to provide for humanity's needs, to give people a base layer of support and stability to encourage productivity without coercion," Maxwell Neely, the Anti-Work group admin and mod team's designated Press Liaison said.
This is the answer to employers that claim they "care about the employees mental health." They don't realize that crappy working conditions are part of the problem...or more likely they do and just don't give a flock.
The group is trying its best to remain civil. It condemns all discriminatory language and actions towards other people, including but not limited to racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, and ableism. Basically, if you want to shout at someone and insult them for disagreeing with you, this is not a place to do so.
However, as can be expected, sometimes trolls join to derail discussions, insult members, and generally be unpleasant. This forces the admin team to take action, but they say that most of the group members are "awesome people with valuable insights, and stories worth telling."
According to the admin and mod team, they aim to create a platform of inclusion and empowerment, and then pass the mic, so group members can tell their own stories in a supportive environment.
With nearly 25,000 members, they have a lot to manage. The group rules are designed to promote an environment of psychological safety, and are pretty similar to those of other mindful Facebook communities. "When in doubt, just remember, don't be a jerk," the folks concluded.
"Exit interview" my @rse. If I'm fired, I'm outta here. Please feel free to proceed without me.
Communities like this one seem like a natural response to the latest developments in the job market. Two years into the pandemic, people across the globe are tired. Poor mental health and burnout are common, particularly among low-wage and essential workers.
This prolonged period of uncertainty has made many re-analyze the role their employers play in making matters worse; record numbers of workers are leaving jobs in search of better options.
If that's how companies view their employees in the US, I think you guys need to remind these "bosses" about the reason behind your civil war and why your country fought the English for independence.
Too many people still feel that self-sacrifice is admirable or honourable. It's not, it's traumatizing and destructive.
'Unskilled jobs' (i.e. jobs that require no prior education) are still jobs that need to be done. Just because it doesn't require an education of four years to work at a waste company doesn't mean it's not REALLY important work.
“With Covid, there was an interruption of work as we knew it," Tom Juravitch, a professor of labor studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US, told BBC.
"In moments like this, people have time to reflect. Working has been degraded for so many people. The authority structures that we’re in have gotten more draconian and more controlling than ever. People really felt that in a new way.”
They don't want you to discuss your wage... because they don't want you to find out you actually deserve more.
Fundamentally changing the way employers think sounds unlikely, but we are experiencing an unprecedented shake-up in terms of how workers do their jobs and the kinds of conditions they are expecting in return.
It's obvious that many people are at their breaking points, and there are already signs that companies who fear widescale quits are starting to respond with improvements. But if groups like Anti-Work continue to gain numbers, who's to say they can't take us even further?
Note: this post originally had 71 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
The Simpsons analogy about Homer being able to buy a home on one salary, shows the low information, false deductions people make to push their agenda. Homer got the money from his father Abe to buy the house, by having his father sell his home. Then Abe was going to move in with them, but after a while was put into a nursing/assisted living home. THAT IS HOW HOMER AFFORDED HIS HOUSE
Yeah and no one in 1992 thought a one-income household was normal. Everyone knew that ended with the recession in the late '70's, followed by the Republicans' relentless campaign against the poor and middle class, which continues to this day.
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It’s good to see that people are questioning the pro-capitalist propaganda that everyone is brainwashed into worshipping.
My husband earns what should be decent money, but cost of living near his job is crushing is.
it should be pointed out that the subreddit r/antiwork is NOT generally supportive of the anti-work philosophy or related ideas such as basic income. whatever the mods believe, they are free to believe, but the membership is focused on people who have to work and want to work, and on exposing the injustices and hardships they put up with in today's workplace.
ive got a juicy screenshot of an antiwork facebook admin telling a co-op person offering resources to eff off
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I grew up poor, worked full time at Walmart while going to college full time surviving on ramen and sandwiches. Joined the Navy, got out and eventually worked my way up into a six figure career in the oil industry. There's always a way to be successful. Talk to a career counselor. Half the battle is just living where there's opportunities.
Irony is when this capitalistic system is what allows a company like Bored Panda to exist in a global market and why these people can criticize the very thing that enables them to speak freely
ive got a screenshot of an antiwork facebook admin telling a co-op developer offering free resources down in a not nice way at all😂
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You're an idiot Ryan. The kind of fool that dictators love. The useful idiot.
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I can't imagine thinking it is either American capitalism or North Korea with nothing in between and expecting to be taken seriously.
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The Simpsons analogy about Homer being able to buy a home on one salary, shows the low information, false deductions people make to push their agenda. Homer got the money from his father Abe to buy the house, by having his father sell his home. Then Abe was going to move in with them, but after a while was put into a nursing/assisted living home. THAT IS HOW HOMER AFFORDED HIS HOUSE
Yeah and no one in 1992 thought a one-income household was normal. Everyone knew that ended with the recession in the late '70's, followed by the Republicans' relentless campaign against the poor and middle class, which continues to this day.
Load More Replies... It’s good to see that people are questioning the pro-capitalist propaganda that everyone is brainwashed into worshipping.
My husband earns what should be decent money, but cost of living near his job is crushing is.
it should be pointed out that the subreddit r/antiwork is NOT generally supportive of the anti-work philosophy or related ideas such as basic income. whatever the mods believe, they are free to believe, but the membership is focused on people who have to work and want to work, and on exposing the injustices and hardships they put up with in today's workplace.
ive got a juicy screenshot of an antiwork facebook admin telling a co-op person offering resources to eff off
Load More Replies... I grew up poor, worked full time at Walmart while going to college full time surviving on ramen and sandwiches. Joined the Navy, got out and eventually worked my way up into a six figure career in the oil industry. There's always a way to be successful. Talk to a career counselor. Half the battle is just living where there's opportunities.
Irony is when this capitalistic system is what allows a company like Bored Panda to exist in a global market and why these people can criticize the very thing that enables them to speak freely
ive got a screenshot of an antiwork facebook admin telling a co-op developer offering free resources down in a not nice way at all😂
Load More Replies... You're an idiot Ryan. The kind of fool that dictators love. The useful idiot.
Load More Replies... I can't imagine thinking it is either American capitalism or North Korea with nothing in between and expecting to be taken seriously.
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