Bubblehammerblog

If I hear another politician or businessman use the words hard work, hardworking families, or hardworking Americans, I'll have to go & lie down.

Broon is particularly fond of it. Just listen, he slips in the phrase at every opportunity. What does it mean? It's a current buzzword, a dogwhistle word our rulers use when they want us to wag our tails in appreciation. It signals that, in an aspirational society like ours, wealth & privilage is the typical outcome of energy & effort. The greater the effort, the greater the reward. In societies with gross disparities of income, the notion that wealth & success is achieved simply through hard work helps to assuage discontent caused by resentment of glaring inequalities. Without this idea our grotesque celebrity culture, with its abject worship of conspicuous consumption & prestige, would not be possible.

Blair used the formula to great effect in his efforts to dismantle the Labour Movement & transform the nature of the Labour Party. New Labour, he declared, was less interested in equality of income than equality of opportunity. Under the new dispensation the country would become a meritocracy, leaving behind the outdated ideas of Social Democracy. Typically, it was Mandelson, who worked his fingers to the bone in persuit of the rich & powerful, who said that New Labour was the party of business, relaxed about individuals getting filthy rich. These ideas are characteristic of a period of sustained economic boom, which we've experienced for over two decades now. There are indications that the party might be over, but you'll be hearing the hard work mantra every verse end.

A moment's reflection will reveal the obvious truth that there's no simple link between hard work & financial reward. It depends entirely on the type of work you're doing. Certain kinds of hard work, having your photograph taken for a glossy magazine, or managing a hedge fund, are rewarded much more hansomely than others, caring for the sick & elderly, for instance. None of this needs saying.

And just what is hard work? A personal anecdote: at one time I was running both a pub & a restaurant. I worked from 10 o'clock in the morning until around 1 o'clock the following morning, some 15 hours a day, seven days a week. The rewards were adequate. You might admire my capacity for industry. (If you want to see a businessman smirk with self-satisfaction, call them a workoholic.) But my partner was at home all this time, doing housework & caring for young children. Half a day looking after kids & I'd be shagged out, much as I love them. I'd take 15 hours of pulling pints & cooking fancy food over that anytime. Why? Because making money is enjoyable, & can't be described as drudgery.

In the 60's I had a badge pinned to my jacket that said 'Fuck Work'. I wore it to annoy adults, which is the duty of all young people. But the idea was in the air that we were going to do away with the miserable Protestant Work Ethic. We thought we might see the birth of Homo Ludens, with technology as the midwife. How wrong we were. Know what happens when you put your nose to the grindstone? Your fucking head gets ground off.

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