Dismantling the Work Behemoth
Dismantling the Work Behemoth
Why do we submit to the idea that work is all there is — that our worth is tied directly to our ability to labor?
Think about it. If you’re lucky, you get maybe 80 years on this planet. Right off the bat, 12 or 13 of those years are spent in the education system, which is really just prep for the workforce. After that, another 4 to 8 years — sometimes more — go into higher education so you can chase a “specialized” career. During that time, you’re expected to work and rack up massive debt just to keep the cycle going.
Some people skip college altogether, heading straight into the workforce. Either way, the result is the same: you’re bound to work yourself to death for roughly 43 more years, struggling all the while. Then, if you’re lucky again, you get maybe the last 15 years for “retirement.” By then, your body is breaking down, you’ve likely collected medical debt, and your energy is gone. You’ve barely had time to live — to see the world, to be in the world — and then you die.
Why do we do this? Why have we accepted this as normal? Why aren’t more people furious about it?
People say, “Well, that’s just the way it is.” But why? Just because it’s always been this way doesn’t mean we shouldn’t question it — or dismantle it entirely. Life is short. Precious. And that 80-year lifespan? It’s just an average. Many don’t even make it that far, especially under the strain of this system.
Here in the United States, we’re so deeply indoctrinated it’s disgusting. We love to talk about propaganda in North Korea or China — but we rarely acknowledge that we’re living under our own brand of capitalist indoctrination. The powers that be have lulled most of us into compliance.
But people are waking up.
Hear me out: look at MAGA. Not the openly racist, xenophobic, white nationalist part of it — but the core group of people who are angry. A lot of them are waking up to the fact that we’ve been sold a lie all our lives. They just don’t know who to be angry at. That misdirection is intentional. The people guiding them — the politicians, the pundits, the billionaires — are masters of redirection. They point the finger at immigrants, LGBTQ people, Black Americans, leftists… anyone but the corporate overlords who hoard the wealth and keep everyone else economically enslaved.
Let’s zoom back out for a second.
Your first 22 years (give or take) are spent in education. 43 in work. 15 in retirement. That breaks down to roughly 27.5% of your life being educated (or indoctrinated), 53.75% working, and 18.75% in retirement. And that’s before factoring in sleep. When you do, those numbers shrink even more.
I don’t call that living. And it doesn’t have to be that way.