that time I went viral. this series of tweets goes around periodically.
[Image ID: A thread of tweets written by @madlori. They read as followed.
When discussing universal basic income, inevitably the retort comes: “So you just want people to not have to work, is that it?” Accompanied by a smug smirk, expecting you to backpedal and hem and haw, say “Of course not, that’s silly.” Except Yes, Yes I do.
1 out of 11.
People shouldn’t HAVE to work, people shouldn’t WANT to work. Sharing in the labor of building and maintaining a society because it benefits everyone should be desirable, not forced. It shouldn’t be something we do because we’ll die otherwise.
2 out of 11.
Imagine society where survival didn’t depend on a job. Imagine how that would alter the fabric of… everything. Imagine you could leave a job without fearing the loss of income or healthcare. Imagine the power of the worker in that society.
3 out of 11.
If a person could survive without a job, imagine what employers would be like. They’d have to treat workers fairly, and make themselves attractive to entice workers. They’d have to offer a better option than other employers, and make people want to participate.
4 out of 11.
Places that offered UBI have seen the results: most people do want to work. The people who choose not to are generally young parents, students, people with disabilities, and the elderly. People have a desire to contribute, for our lives to have purpose and be useful.
5 out of 11
And before you say it, yes, some people will take advantage. That is true for absolutely everything ever. You think people don’t take advantage of the economy we have? Like, say, the 1% who grow wealthier while their employees work three jobs and use food stamps?
6 out of 11
They can only do that, by the way, because people are so terrified of losing a job and the destruction that would follow, that they tolerate mistreatment, disempowerment, the destruction of their unions, healthcare, retirements, and even their bodies, to avoid it.
7 out of 11
That would not be the case if everyone were gauranteed a baseline survival income. Your boss couldn’t treat you like shit because he knows you can’t leave. You CAN leave, and you will.
8 out of 11
What if desperation didn’t motivate everything? Imagine the impact on health, relationships, parenting, well-being, crime, violence, progress. When you aren’t scrabbling for rent, you can spare a neuron to contemplate long-term problems.
9 out of 11
Imagine a society where terror of destitution wasn’t a constsnt thrum underneath everyone’s existence. Imagine the creative works that society could produce. Imagine the children it could raise, the elderly it could care for. Imagine the inventions it could produce.
10 out of 11
Now, imagine knowing all this and thinking “NOPE, we can’t have all that, because someone I dont like might benefit from it. So, to avoid that, the rest of you can all hang.” there you have Modern Conservative Thinking.
11 out of 11.
End ID.]
[correction in the ID: “1 out of 11. People shouldn’t HAVE to work, people should WANT to work.”]
