Does "work" set you free?

Question

They say we must all work to pay the bills, but is keeping our minds occupied the main reason we work?

Answer 1

In today's world of "Wal-Mart Wages," work is SLAVERY! And work is a DISTRACTION! Most people need to work a 40 hour week just to make ends meet and sometimes even need to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. At the end of the day, the average American is too tired to pay attention to what's going on with the corporations, with the government and around the world. And that's exactly the point! Keep wages low, keep them working a lot to keep them distracted keep the people tired and as a result apathetic. Keep them complacent and desperate. Keep them distracted with materialism and consumerism. And then they keep the power for themselves abuse the system and make as much money as possible with no regard for the poor and middle class! That's the way of capitalism and it's time we take the power back!

Answer 2

Its part of the vicious cycle called capitalism. Fear and consumption! Its what America is all about. This bullsh*t about the American dream has been forced down our throats by politicians and corporate entities even before the TV. You can just sit and watch commercials to see where our country is headed. BUY BUY BUY! Even if you cant afford it. And when you have more people voting for American Idol contestants than presidental candidates, we have a problem. If your happy with what you do than great, but alot of people are working 55+ hours a week just to get by. Everything in the country is about making money, money should be a secondary though and not the main interest and goal in someones life. How selfish have we become? If this country and its system was truely great, the gap between the rich and poor would not be as big as it is. So a big NO to your question. Working is like breathing, it has to be done or you die. If the top 1% and the aholes on wallstreet would care about people before the almighty dollar this country would be so much better and repected by all. Look at Japan and now China, their buying stuff up like crazy. In the end the world will be one giant shopping mall with no way to get out. Greed and selfishness will destroy all. How sad are some people?

Answer 3

well it depends on how you define work. If one is working a job out of necessity then I doubt it is very fulfilling, but if one is working for oneself working in something they love, because one is self sufficient and doesn't need to work for another to have their needs met, then I would say work is very fulfilling.

And when you work hard for everything you have and get it stolen via federal reserve via fed income tax, property taxes and such, and knowing your truly don't own anything, they can take it away anytime they want, then that is not very satisfying. When you don't own the real title, but the state has the real title, you just have a proxy title, then that really can make one hot under the collar at the injustice.

It is sad that there are always people trying to own another. that is why slavery has been a problem since man could have slaves. I mean a person would have to be very arrogant to believe even for one second he or she owns another person. I mean you can't own what you didn't make.

slavery somes in many forms, some have to deal with hard slavery like in germany concentration camps, and on some countries right now that if you don't work they will kill you.

here in the usa we have what is called a soft slavery or serfdom type slavery. you have more freedoms even tho you still don't have true ownership of the land or fruits of your labor, I mean if they can take your fruits of your labor by coercion (via laws, taxation, police force) then that makes you a slave doesn't it?

So in reality by driving down the wages and increasing the cost of living they literally force you to have to work above and beyond your ability to do so, thus exhausting you to much to have concerns for anything else. Tired people can't fight against an invasion.

RRR

Answer 4

Work is far from being free - it is a rat race. Many of us will spend our lifetimes working. Our wages will go to the government before it even reaches us. The main reason we work is for the "money" - notice the quotation marks.

Personally, I will never work for money. Money is an illusion. Let me put it for you this way - when a dog does a good deed, it is given a dog biscuit; when it does nothing it is left with nothing. Use that analogy in comparison to our society. I will work to learn. And that's the mistake many make - they work for money and end up in the rat race later on in life, but those who work to learn are given enormous wealth beyond the imaginations of Kings 600 years ago. Bill Gates, in his youth, worked to learn. He worked so he could create Microsoft. And it is here today - he is the richest man in the world according to Forbes Magazine. Why? Because he worked to learn, not for money. The poor and middle class work for money. The rich makes money work for them.

By rat race this is what I mean: You get your payday, your happy. You return to your wife who has been expecting you and she is glad that it puts food on the table. You notice that your house is rather empty. You work for more money. You can't be bothered and use your credit cards. You buy flashy cars and awesome appliances. You want more stuff. You work even harder. You then notice bills are coming to your house. You work even more harder. The bills get only higher and higher. You borrow a loan to pay it off and you are glad that you've bought time. Not knowing, the loan itself was a ticking time bomb. You can't afford to work any harder and the kids you have need more resources. You are then evicted.

Our minds are occupied. But not for any good reason. It is occupied to pay the bills. The richer will only get richer and the poorer will only get poorer. Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey - what do these people have in common? Financial wisdom. They sit back and hard money enters their bank accounts.

I haven't worked yet because I'm to young to do so, but already, I've analyzed some of the things that sets the rich from the poor. And until people realize that the government is enjoying the hardcore work of public citizens, then there will be many poor people worldwide.

Great question,
I hope I helped.

Answer 5

Must of us work to pay our bills. If we suddenly became rich, we'd quit immediately.

A lot of people claim to love their jobs. They talk about them incessantly. However, I think it is often a self-defense mechanism. People have to figure out a way not to let their jobs drive them crazy, so they try all sorts of mental tricks to try and convince themselves they don't hate their job.

I think work keeps us captive, and some people develop "The Stockholm Syndrome": they begin to identify with their oppressor.

How many people can really say they like their boss? In my experience, the most incompetent and unpleasant people are made managers. I've worked at companies where, those who weren't very good at their jobs were reassigned as managers, figuring that they couldn't do too much damage just supervising people who actually CAN do their job!

Our entire life is dominated by our job. We can't stay up all night if we wish, because we must be alert at work. We can't see a movie on Sunday night because that ominous Monday morning is right around the corner. During the week we're just too tired to go out. We fear taking a log vacation in January because we can't stand the thought of having to wait another year to have a decent rest.

I'm no longer working in an office, and my mind is so much freer. Thoughts come to me that I never would have had otherwise. It's liberating. It feels great.

As an avowed capitalist, I hate to say it, but in the modern office: work suc.ks!!

Answer 6

The wording of that question is chilling. There is a sign posted by the Nazis over the gate in the major concentration camp where many Jews were murdered together with other that when translated says work makes one free.

Work does have some benefits other than salary and fringes. There often is a social atmosphere at work. My son and his wife met at work. I have made many friendships at my job.

You can learn skills at work that will be used elsewhere.

Answer 7

There seems to be a few uncritical evaluations here such as "most people would go nuts if they didn't have something to occupy themselves with" and "well if none of us worked the country would fall to pieces". Read How to be Idle to be disabused of these foolish notions.

Answer 8

Depends what you do. If you earn a huge salary for doing very little (ie "daddy" gave you a CEO job in his company) then yes, it does set you free from poverty and debt and allows you to enjoy yourself.

If however, like most of us, you work very very long hours for inconsiderate bosses for a very low wage which only just about covers your essential living expenses (mortgage, bills, council tax etc) then no, its virtual slavery.

Answer 9

If you ever visit Auschwitz. there's a sign over the gate which reads "Arbeit Macht Frei", which means "work makes one free". Judging by the location of the sign, and the fate of most of the workers who read the sign, I would guess that it's not very true.

Answer 10

Work is a prison and as soon as I win the lottery I'm breaking out and never going back. So no, in my opinion work does not set you free.