There’s one thing that I have failed to realize in the past, that has been a recent revelation over the past year. I’ve been working at a large distribution warehouse for the past nine months, and what has struck me is the heavy reefer use of workers there. Now, this is nothing new, I worked at a warehouse for two years right out of high school, and the same thing occurred there. And at other jobs, I’ve had throughout the years, such as landscaping, and a deli. My first instinct was to write on how drug use keeps a worker submissive to their poor conditions. However, I thought to write that would be condescending, and would be ignoring the historical shift that has created the current condition of heavy drug use amongst the working class. Under the Fordist social democratic model, the biggest issue was boredom. Production lines and more leisure in new suburban homes engendered boredom. Capitalists took advantage of this boredom by offering road trips, television, and drugs, amongst consumerism. The left failed to combat the boredom that social democracy had created. As a result, the class consciousness that was built most notably in the 1930s-40s was diminished, and the majority-white working-class living off the fat of imperialism turned into individual consumers. And during the crisis of the 1970s in its last gasp, left working-class consciousness was destroyed. Because there was no left alternative, these workers, who grew up in a world of endless pleasures, took the neoliberal turn of more consumption– Baja boats, juicy burgers, sex, and drugs. Since then, capitalists have been feeding the proletarian’s boredom, from Howard Stern breaking radio norms, 24-7 television, the internet, legalized drugs, and smartphones. The 21st century has seen crisis after crisis, which seems to only increase drug use, whether you’re the worker losing a job or maintaining one. In a world of constant static scenes and drug legalization, it seems neoliberalism has created a society of anxiety and depression. The left must not fail in presenting an alternative to fixing these issues.
Signed,
Cody (Kern)
Normal Thoughts 