Misanthrope
Mage
- Oct 23, 2018
- 557
This post is written in response to seeing many people on this site viewing themselves as worthless failures because they fall short of society's expectations. It makes me sad to see people internalise the propaganda and lies and then flog themselves with them. More so when that reasoning is a driver of suicide. So I am going to deconstruct some of those lies in a series called, You Are Not Worthless. With a hope, you can rid the lies of the power they may hold over you. It is bad enough to be tormented by ourselves we don't need society kicking us while we are down. I will add a touch of advice and opinion here and there. It is generalised advice though, as I cannot account for everyone's individual circumstances. So make of it what you will.
It is important to remember, societies lies are no measure of self-worth.
I am Worthless because I am Unemployed.
This is a nasty one. Because society pretty much rams it down your throat that to be someone of value you need to be employed. If we lived in a 1950's waffle advert I would agree. However, we don't, and the standards of employment have massively shifted from what they once were. Society likes to make out it is your fault if you are unemployed for a lengthy span of time. Completely neglecting how the job market has changed in many ways that are entirely outside of your control to influence. So before you blame yourself for sucking as a human being because you are still out of work. Even though you have tried your best, and must obviously be a useless waste of life for getting no responses. Let me explain some of what you are up against.
In various countries, you hear optimistic explanations of how unemployment is going down. In a lot of cases, this is just not true. Because governments have their own definition of unemployment they use to arrive at these figures. These definitions honestly defy common sense versus what an average person considers someone being unemployed to mean. It is the equivalent of measuring ice creams being sold but disregarding all sales of vanilla flavour. Obviously, you end up with a reduced figure. The government often operates this way as it likes reduced figures in negative spheres, because it then seems like it is competent. Since they set the tone of society, be wary of their lies. Especially if those lies instil a sense of worthlessness. Honestly, if they tell you, you have five digits on your hand you should probably count them yourself just to be sure.
If though by some miracle you are being told the truth. Then you should bear in mind how many jobs were created. Because if people are taking up more jobs, but more are not being created, this is actually bad news in trying to get employed. These figures often suffer the same issue as vanilla ice cream. What definition of jobs is being used? How was the figure arrived at? Rather grimly inconsistent temporary work or work that is not at all a sustainable living wage. Is often lumped in with more stable work that does provide a living wage. Rendering the statistics down to a paraded sound bite that is ultimately worthless.
You may be being told there are countless jobs available, with politicians throwing around encouraging figures. So when someone is shaming you or looking down on you. They feel justified in saying, there is plenty of work around, stop being so lazy.
The Ball Bearings and the Wooden Board analogy.
I want you to imagine a large wooden board with small cupped holes in it. I want you to imagine yourself as a metal ball bearing seeking one of those holes as sustainable employment.
The first thing you are up against is there are likely many more ball bearings than holes available all jostling for position. This is even more true in deprived areas.
Some holes will never appear at all even if they are being measured in job statistics. Because a lot of companies hire internally. A person working there may contact their own associates and alert them to the position. So you don't even get a chance as the queue is jumped. If that hole is visible then other job seekers are merely a formality, as the favoured applicant is likely to land the position regardless.
Some of the holes are colour coded, only allowing in ball bearings that have painted themselves green via a field of education. If you are painted any other colour then that is more holes not available regardless of the availability aluded to.
Lots of green ball bearings are coming out so those green ball bearings find themselves displaced by others. Ending up with nowhere to go then end up competing for any other hole going. Probably wondering why they bothered painting themselves green in the first place with debts hanging over their heads.
It gets worse, take that board and draw a small rectangular area. Within that area represents your local area. The distance you can travel and the holes available within that radius. There is going to be an element of sheer luck as how many holes are there in the first place.
Some rectangles have had massive swathes of holes vanish completely. Moved overseas or to other areas. Leaving more service-based industries behind.
Even those though are vanishing to automation. Self-checkouts becoming an increasingly common sight. https://newsexaminer.net/food/mcdonalds-to-open-restaurant-run-by-robots/ Many brick and mortar stores shifting to an online-only presence.
That same automation is also potentially assaulting your CV/Resume as well. Lots of businesses use software that scans through online applicants without even being seen by a living person. What the parameters are is hard to know but it more often than not searches for keywords relevant to the job and rejections based on spelling issues. This software is something to look into if you want to avoid the computer says no syndrome, because you did not meet binary standards. What the dominant software in your country is though, you will have to look into. No doubt there are many useful guides out there.
Other difficulties involve discriminatory holes, that will reject you based on age. Ageism is a very nasty force at work. The young face the catch 22 of needing experience to even be considered. However, if you can't get your foot in the door how do you get that experience?
Also due to the nature of low entry positions they can be inconsistent and terminated suddenly. Employees used like disposable cogs in a grinding machine that makes no allowances for exhaustion or life outside the workplace, which invariably causes burn out. This can create a spotty resume. Which looks bad, even though this is now the standard nature of working. Stable long term Jobs for a living wage are fast becoming a purple unicorn.
The old, face being called overqualified. But really this is code for, we do not want to pay you what you are actually worth. Or it means the employer is potentially intimidated by your knowledge and no one wants to look stupid. Or it could be meant as an awareness that as soon as a job you are qualified for comes along you will leave anyway. So why bother hiring you.
There are other discriminatory practices at work but they are difficult to meaningfully prove.
You would think that with the advent of the internet that billions more holes would have opened up. Although they have, there is a slight problem. If you are a brilliant programmer based in the UK. You are competing with an equally brilliant programmer in a country whose living standards are far lower. As such they can offer a cut rate for the same work as to them it is still a good quality of pay in comparison to what is in their local area. Employers are out to make a profit at the end of the day. So cutting costs is at the forefront of hiring decisions. The programmer example is repeated across multiple sectors. You are no longer competing in your own backyard with your skills to distinguish you. But instead with the entire world where your skills are rendered ordinary because brilliant is not exemplary enough.
The other issue is people are not retiring so soon any more, likely due to the erosion of pensions. So holes that would ordinarily appear in time just are not doing so as frequently.
(There are likely other issues I have missed, feel free to raise them in the posts below. If you can couch it in the ball bearing analogy I would appreciate it.)
It is important to remember, societies lies are no measure of self-worth.
I am Worthless because I am Unemployed.
This is a nasty one. Because society pretty much rams it down your throat that to be someone of value you need to be employed. If we lived in a 1950's waffle advert I would agree. However, we don't, and the standards of employment have massively shifted from what they once were. Society likes to make out it is your fault if you are unemployed for a lengthy span of time. Completely neglecting how the job market has changed in many ways that are entirely outside of your control to influence. So before you blame yourself for sucking as a human being because you are still out of work. Even though you have tried your best, and must obviously be a useless waste of life for getting no responses. Let me explain some of what you are up against.
In various countries, you hear optimistic explanations of how unemployment is going down. In a lot of cases, this is just not true. Because governments have their own definition of unemployment they use to arrive at these figures. These definitions honestly defy common sense versus what an average person considers someone being unemployed to mean. It is the equivalent of measuring ice creams being sold but disregarding all sales of vanilla flavour. Obviously, you end up with a reduced figure. The government often operates this way as it likes reduced figures in negative spheres, because it then seems like it is competent. Since they set the tone of society, be wary of their lies. Especially if those lies instil a sense of worthlessness. Honestly, if they tell you, you have five digits on your hand you should probably count them yourself just to be sure.
If though by some miracle you are being told the truth. Then you should bear in mind how many jobs were created. Because if people are taking up more jobs, but more are not being created, this is actually bad news in trying to get employed. These figures often suffer the same issue as vanilla ice cream. What definition of jobs is being used? How was the figure arrived at? Rather grimly inconsistent temporary work or work that is not at all a sustainable living wage. Is often lumped in with more stable work that does provide a living wage. Rendering the statistics down to a paraded sound bite that is ultimately worthless.
You may be being told there are countless jobs available, with politicians throwing around encouraging figures. So when someone is shaming you or looking down on you. They feel justified in saying, there is plenty of work around, stop being so lazy.
The Ball Bearings and the Wooden Board analogy.
I want you to imagine a large wooden board with small cupped holes in it. I want you to imagine yourself as a metal ball bearing seeking one of those holes as sustainable employment.
The first thing you are up against is there are likely many more ball bearings than holes available all jostling for position. This is even more true in deprived areas.
Some holes will never appear at all even if they are being measured in job statistics. Because a lot of companies hire internally. A person working there may contact their own associates and alert them to the position. So you don't even get a chance as the queue is jumped. If that hole is visible then other job seekers are merely a formality, as the favoured applicant is likely to land the position regardless.
Some of the holes are colour coded, only allowing in ball bearings that have painted themselves green via a field of education. If you are painted any other colour then that is more holes not available regardless of the availability aluded to.
Lots of green ball bearings are coming out so those green ball bearings find themselves displaced by others. Ending up with nowhere to go then end up competing for any other hole going. Probably wondering why they bothered painting themselves green in the first place with debts hanging over their heads.
It gets worse, take that board and draw a small rectangular area. Within that area represents your local area. The distance you can travel and the holes available within that radius. There is going to be an element of sheer luck as how many holes are there in the first place.
Some rectangles have had massive swathes of holes vanish completely. Moved overseas or to other areas. Leaving more service-based industries behind.
Even those though are vanishing to automation. Self-checkouts becoming an increasingly common sight. https://newsexaminer.net/food/mcdonalds-to-open-restaurant-run-by-robots/ Many brick and mortar stores shifting to an online-only presence.
That same automation is also potentially assaulting your CV/Resume as well. Lots of businesses use software that scans through online applicants without even being seen by a living person. What the parameters are is hard to know but it more often than not searches for keywords relevant to the job and rejections based on spelling issues. This software is something to look into if you want to avoid the computer says no syndrome, because you did not meet binary standards. What the dominant software in your country is though, you will have to look into. No doubt there are many useful guides out there.
Other difficulties involve discriminatory holes, that will reject you based on age. Ageism is a very nasty force at work. The young face the catch 22 of needing experience to even be considered. However, if you can't get your foot in the door how do you get that experience?
Also due to the nature of low entry positions they can be inconsistent and terminated suddenly. Employees used like disposable cogs in a grinding machine that makes no allowances for exhaustion or life outside the workplace, which invariably causes burn out. This can create a spotty resume. Which looks bad, even though this is now the standard nature of working. Stable long term Jobs for a living wage are fast becoming a purple unicorn.
The old, face being called overqualified. But really this is code for, we do not want to pay you what you are actually worth. Or it means the employer is potentially intimidated by your knowledge and no one wants to look stupid. Or it could be meant as an awareness that as soon as a job you are qualified for comes along you will leave anyway. So why bother hiring you.
There are other discriminatory practices at work but they are difficult to meaningfully prove.
You would think that with the advent of the internet that billions more holes would have opened up. Although they have, there is a slight problem. If you are a brilliant programmer based in the UK. You are competing with an equally brilliant programmer in a country whose living standards are far lower. As such they can offer a cut rate for the same work as to them it is still a good quality of pay in comparison to what is in their local area. Employers are out to make a profit at the end of the day. So cutting costs is at the forefront of hiring decisions. The programmer example is repeated across multiple sectors. You are no longer competing in your own backyard with your skills to distinguish you. But instead with the entire world where your skills are rendered ordinary because brilliant is not exemplary enough.
The other issue is people are not retiring so soon any more, likely due to the erosion of pensions. So holes that would ordinarily appear in time just are not doing so as frequently.
(There are likely other issues I have missed, feel free to raise them in the posts below. If you can couch it in the ball bearing analogy I would appreciate it.)
