Work
Fig. 1. The spectre of Death, in the form of a large skeleton, rises with the smoke and flames of the burning Asch Building during the Triangle fire, as people jump and fall to their death. Artist unknown, from International Ladies Garment Workers Union Photographs (1885-1985) at The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
In principle, I guess I should support the rail workers. Sick leave doesn’t seem like such an unreasonable thing.[1]
But I guess it’s hard for me to get worked up about it when I’m denied any labor protections whatsoever in the neoliberal wet dream “gig economy” and employers can so consistently refuse to consider me for a real job (it’s been over 21 years).[2] What’s needed here is a conversation about why it’s even become acceptable, let alone seemingly existential to treat human beings so badly.
Katy Stech Ferek, “Congressional Leaders Commit to Quickly Pass Legislation to Avert Rail Strike,” Wall Street Journal, November 29, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/congressional-leaders-commit-to-quickly-pass-legislation-to-avert-rail-strike-11669744002
Gilead
Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[3] fair use.
Through all the chaos at Twitter, my follower and following counts have barely budged. In theory, these folks are all still there.
But it’s like they’ve all gone quiet. Mostly what I’m seeing are posts on institutional accounts; these are often automated posts or posts by people paid to manage organizations’ social media presence. I’m inferring that the humans have left and Elon Musk now has his white Christian nationalist wasteland of a social network.
It’s more than a little astonishing to see something crash so quickly.
- [1]Katy Stech Ferek, “Congressional Leaders Commit to Quickly Pass Legislation to Avert Rail Strike,” Wall Street Journal, November 29, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/congressional-leaders-commit-to-quickly-pass-legislation-to-avert-rail-strike-11669744002↩
- [2]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
- [3]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩