Hype for the Future 68C: Benefits of Degrowth

Overview

While society has indoctrinated the community into believing collectivism is evil and the burnout of individualism is essential to a functioning society, degrowth has been accepted, if not proven, to provide the following economic benefits, even when the numbers are intentionally down:

• Acceptance of living within planetary limits; degrowth avoids the stigma of refusing infinite growth on a finite planet
• Acceptance of living in chosen family and LGBTQIA+-friendly arrangements; degrowth avoids the stigma of assumed performance of heteronormativity or compulsory heterosexuality.
• Acceptance of living beyond single-family homes; degrowth avoids the stigma of communal living arrangements as well as of apartment and “missing middle” living.
• Redefinition of “essential” and “nonessential” services; degrowth ensures that the essential services are, in fact, available to everyone regardless of employment status, title, or other factors.
• Acceptance of arts and crafts; degrowth avoids the stigma of freedom of identity and expression, even in countries that claim to have a sense of “freedom” overall.

Hype for the Future 68A: Is Work a Symptom of Capitalism?

Preamble

In the vast majority of modern corporate jobs, income streams remain unethically minimized, and upward mobility is largely restricted in the same manner. However, what if work is a symptom of an overall hostile and unethical economic system?

Introduction

While not every job is a symptom of an unethical society, far too many people are working in corporate chains, many of which are unethical to begin with. Regarding even the essentials of food and drinks, profit is served over humanity, thus dehumanizing the entire population under capitalism. Since mutual aid and related safety nets are not guaranteed, capitalism in the United States is unfortunately permitted to run rampant, resulting in further unethical tendencies toward the entire population.

Solution

While work may not intrinsically be considered a symptom of capitalism, the consequences of the lack of mutual aid and the hyper-commodification of essentials result in the capitalist drive toward repetitive and wasteful jobs, measuring “productivity” in terms of conformity and not in terms of true productivity. Therefore, heteronormativity continues to ensue under this arrangement, resulting in reduced LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 dignity as well as reduced dignity for populations rejecting the idea of compulsory wage labor, as modern wage labor is effectively institutionalized into wage slavery and punishment.