Thoughts I have

On David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs

Disclaimer: this post is not an effective book review. If it makes you curious then read the book and see what you take away from it!

It's worth paying attention to the things that make you feel envious. When the Youtube algorithms decide I would enjoy a video of somebody creating incredible concept art or building a synthesiser from scratch I often want to copy them - I find it inspiring because I can imagine carving out some time from my evenings to give it a go, even though it usually ends up being far too challenging to replicate and joins my now burgeoning scrapheap of ambition. But I only really turn green when I stumble across a vlog of some ill prepared optimists renovating a dilapidated house, maybe restoring depleted countryside, or planting a thriving permaculture garden. The lifestyles shown are so distant and unattainable to me that they feel as fantastical as an episode of Game of Thrones. Having recenty read Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber, I think I can better understand why I would feel that way.

A concept that stood out to me early on was that humans have a psychological need to be able to make something happen - really anything at all. As somebody who would absolutely press the electric shock button more than once if locked in a room with nothing else to do, this reallly resonated. The people in these videos are going out into the world and using their own two hands to tangibly improve their surroundings. There is nothing new about this, in fact I would guess that most people in human history have lived this way - so why am I jealous?

A little bit about my work: I am part of a small but scrappy environmental reporting start-up (please don't stalk my LinkedIn!). We take a pride in being thorough and accurate, and are all passionate about environmental causes. My role is essential to the team and there is no shortage of work to do, nor of bright young minds eager to pitch in. If I'm feeling any malaise around what we do, that must surely be a moral weakness to be kept to myself, lest it infect those around me! But although I am very motivated to convince myself of the work's value, I have been at this long enough to see the complete lack of meaningful action arise from our reports. The entire industry has no clothes seems to be a box-ticking exercise that enables our clients to continue as they are whilst feeling like they've done their part. It's quite transparent that if everybody involved on all sides would just stay home and maybe do some litter picking in the park it would do far more for the planet than our footnotes tucked away in an annual report ever could.

And so I battle the competing instincts to optimise myself and my career by searching for that 'one role' where I work hard and become my most productive self to Do My Part, against the daydream of disengaging entirely with the economy and joining a hippy commune. I've spent my whole adult life in large multicultural cities and my community is here, so the daydream has so far only been used as an escape valve.