paid work is voluntary servitude #4

Today we met to discuss the final structure of our presentation, like what order we would present, making sure the power point contained all the necessary props (pictures & quotes), and generally discussing what questions we may be asked.
Alex is doing the intro, Dave is next explaining Rousseau’s theory which runs nicely into my segment as Dave glances upon the relevance of custom which I give a more detailed account of, and finally Blair provides the example of how the female gender of humanity have resembled slaves which emphasises the role of society on restraining choice.
It must be noted that our presentation refers to a general account of our presentation question and that there are individuals who may volunteer to be subject to rules in order to develop themselves, or in other words, just as society uses humans as instrumental means humans use society to achieve certain goals. For example there are people who love their jobs like an engineer who loves to make things. Paid work actually allows an engineer to carry out the work they love and affords opportunities to be involved with projects which they otherwise might not of had the chance to do like being part of creating an extravagant building or working on a vehicle which may break world land speed records.
What this presentation really focuses on are people forced in a way (external forces) to work a job which is unpalatable to them and which also offers no real enhancement or development of human life for the sake of earning money.
Here is my script for the presentation constructed from my readings and combined with my own thoughts, which compliment each other.

- paid work is not voluntary servitude on the grounds that it is not voluntary. It is not voluntary because we are not volunteering as human beings, but rather we are acting out of conditioning or custom of society.
- a human being acting voluntarily is when a human being has exercised his capacity of rationality, as Aristotle would say, in making a choice there has to be deliberation
- but where people act out of conditioning or custom there is no deliberation, but instead a mechanised response.
- my argument is that the general masses act not as evaluative creatures who exercise human faculties (perception, judgement, descrimative feeling and mental activity), but act from conditioning, custom, what the norm is.
- let us apply this to the subject of work;
How many of us discuss the reasons why we work? If you ask someone, the general answer given is to earn money, to buy food, to buy a car, pay the mortgage.
But these are reasons which have not been critically analysed by people as individuals, on the contrary, these answers have simply been slapped into us every day by the doctrine of society. As if disciplining a child to be aware of a rule, the child takes it as a given, that the child must not do such or such because it is not allowed.
Because we take the reasons to work as a given we tend not to discuss this, but instead discuss which job we would like to do.
- the point I’m trying to get across is that the hereditary perception of society is passively accepted like principles are accepted as the beginning point.
- when I say passively I don’t mean that everything society shovels us we inevitably accept, but when it is the norm it is difficult to reject.
- for example, the general masses have become consumers, no doubt from the endless advertising on radio, television, posters etc. designed to make you believe that you need all the crap they’re selling as they appeal to impulses which have been moulded by the ideals of society (for example status - recognition of status is what you own)
- but do we think, and say does this really matter to me as a human being? Instead the masses are fooled into becoming ‘by-products of a lifestyle obsession’ (Fight Club, chp11) where they simply work to increase material possession because this is the norm defining a worthful human life.
- the affect resulting from accepting the ideals of society without question we act out of conditioning or custom which is a mechanised response. Or as Mills describes it ‘we act like cattle rather than human beings’(pg72); we act this way but do not know why, it is merely accepted through conditioning instead of reason.
- what this means is; that because we do not reason as individuals where we exercise our human faculties to uncover truth or falsities, then we are not acting because of ourselves but because of custom, and if we are not acting from ourselves then it cannot be voluntary.
‘he who does anything because it is custom, makes no choice’ (Mills pg65)