To Die On The Job Is To Die For America
https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2022/01/to-die-on-job-is-to-die-for-america.html
To Die On The Job Is To Die For America
by C. A. Matthews
The only things certain in life are death and taxes--and dying struggling to make ends meet while paying those taxes.
Okay, I made up that last part, but it works, particularly for Americans. We've been indoctrinated (programmed) to believe we must give everything of ourselves to our employer--our time, our creativity, our talent, our family life, our social life, our health. It's sad when you consider that in other parts of the world workers don't have to make such difficult choices. They don't have to decide between whether to keep the heat on this winter or pay for a family member's vital medications like Americans routinely do. Workers in most other countries can do both and still have money left over to spend on their guaranteed six weeks of yearly paid vacation.
How did it ever come to this? When did Americans become so brainwashed that they actually believe their employers have their best interests at heart? Why are Americans willing to work until they drop over dead in their tracks? This odd behavior didn't happen overnight. It was centuries in the making. But now that the corrupt economic system called "capitalism" has become a part of American secular religion, why haven't more apostates cropped up?
My thought is that our limited public educational system has made sure young Americans are taught that "democracy" is synonymous with "capitalism," but perhaps the confusion between these words is changing in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The propaganda line that our employers (and our government) are somehow always looking out for us has crashed and burned in the most spectacular fashion over these past two years of needless death and illness.
Waking up from centuries of brainwashing in such a rough manner has thrown lots of people for a loop. But it's not as hard to convince workers in the year 2022 that their bosses are selfish, greedy bastards. The news--or at least the social platforms--abounds with stories of bosses firing workers for not reporting in to work while suffering from a potentially lethal illness. The Centers for Disease Control blithely changing their "tested positive, stay 10 days at home policy" to only five days at the request of Delta Airlines (among others corporations) further demonstrates that the federal government exists only to serve the capitalists at the expense of the workers.
"Essential" workers like nurses, janitors, daycare workers, teachers, grocery cashiers, restaurant workers, etc., have discovered they are "expendable" workers now that mandatory lockdowns are a thing of the past. If employers can't make the profits they'd like from their workers, then bosses threaten to hire other workers to take their place. Forcing sick employees back to their stations while forcing young students back into plague pits (a.k.a. "schools") so their parents can go back to work in person has fueled the pandemic and sent more adults and children into ICUs.
Is it any wonder why the US hasn't vaccinated 100% of our population? Why should American workers trust government officials who change COVID policy at the whim of an airline CEO whose lobbyists keep stuffing filthy cash into these same government officials' pockets? Why should anyone trust private Big Pharma corporations who are making billions from selling life-saving drugs and vaccines when they won't even share the formulas with the rest of the world, especially the Global South? Are workers simply guinea pigs to test out new forms of pharmaceuticals and new forms of work coercion on?
The only bright side to this horrible mess we're still in after almost two years is this: More and more Americans clearly see how capitalists do not care one measly bit about the welfare of their workers or their workers' families. And more and more Americans want to see the capitalists pay their fair share of taxes, stop exploiting their workers, and stop destroying the planet with their insane need for profits over peace and life itself. And some Americans are using their skills to provide a patent-free vaccine with the world.
That it had to come to this to open so many eyes is sad, but at least perhaps now we can all rest easy knowing that the almost one million American COVID-19 victims didn't die in vain.
The CDC Says It's Okay For Workers To Die...
The “individual responsibility” narrative of vax, mask, shut up, and work is beneficial for the ruling class as it exploits our labor and our deaths for profit. In addition to vaccination, there are other safety measures that could reduce risk of infection in a pandemic, such as providing people with housing, workers’ democratic organization of their own schedules and working conditions, and paying workers to stay home if exposed. The ruling class, however, would never allow any of these options because they would cut into their profit margin. --Ending a Global Pandemic Should Not Rely On Individual Responsibility, Mike Pappas and Adnan Ahmed https://truthout.org/articles/ending-a-global-pandemic-should-not-rely-on-individual-responsibility/
Politicians of both parties have jumped on the COVID-19 money train. According to Business Insider, “as the pandemic raged, at least 75 lawmakers bought and sold stock in companies that make COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests.” That includes Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who grandstands as an anti-vaxxer while buying vaccine manufacturer stocks. --Should Biden Resign Over COVID-19 Deaths? Peter Dao
Related articles:
Texas Team Applauded for Giving What Big Pharma Refuses: A Patent-Free Vaccine to the World https://popularresistance.org/texas-team-applauded-for-giving-what-big-pharma-refuses-a-patent-free-vaccine-to-the-world
Delta Cuts Paid Sick Leave for Workers With COVID After Lobbying for CDC Change https://truthout.org/articles/delta-cuts-paid-sick-leave-for-workers-with-covid-after-lobbying-for-cdc-change
Flight Attendant Union Criticizes CDC For Decision Pushed by Corporate America https://popularresistance.org/flight-attendant-union-criticizes-cdc-for-decision-pushed-by-corporate-america
Seen on Twitter:
"They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don't care about you at all -- at all -- at all."
― George Carlin— General Strike (@WhiskersCrowley) December 30, 2021
BREAKING: The Federal Trade commission has approved a merger between the CDC and Delta Airlines. The new entity will be known as the Centers for Delta Cash and will offer free mileage points for every 5 boosters you receive.
— Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) December 30, 2021
If I die from Covid after being vaxxed, boosted, quarantined, and masked, please put “capitalism” as my cause of death.
— Tyler M. Tully (@TylerMTully) December 29, 2021
— genxgmom (@genxgmom) December 30, 2021
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In a near-future dystopian world, hope blossoms where mutual aid and democracy begins...
Zonta’s world is turned upside down when Jake arrives at the commune to investigate the disappearance of agents of the Authority. Can she persuade him to switch sides before the Protectors (antifascist fighters) take action?
Available now from Extasy Books: https://www.extasybooks.com/Where-the-Bodies-Lie