Wednesday 18 May 2016

We are all concentration camp guards now. Jobs that do more harm than good to Christian goals - i.e. nearly all of them

A difficulty with living in a society run by an evil leadership class is that (from a Christian perspective) fewer jobs are good jobs; ever-more jobs do more harm than good.

Many jobs are explicitly and directly harmful (eg 'diversity' type jobs); but nearly all jobs - and essentially all well paid and high status jobs - do net-harm subversively and indirectly (which, in the long run, may be worse).

So the employee is rather in the position of a concentration camp guard: the harder he works, the more overtime he does, the more he studies to be effective: the more harm he does. The better he does his job, the worse it is for everybody.

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I went into medicine with a notion of being in a job that did good; but as a newly qualified doctor I could not shake the feeling that overall I was doing more harm than good by routine over-investigation, over-treatment, medicalizing people's problems and lives... Well, if that was so for a doctor thirty-something years ago, how much more for most people now, and in most jobs.

It is not a matter of simply getting-out of the few bad jobs (e.g. avoiding the state bureaucracy and NGOs), but that - as secular Leftism has infiltrated and subverted more and more of life - finding anywhere better than you are now. For most people in The West, a change of job is simply to escape out of one frying pan and into another. Non-government frontline productive jobs may be more harmful than government/ diversity jobs; when it comes to PC witch-hunting and wicked mission statements the private sector is usually as bad as the public, and for the same reasons.

There is nowhere to escape to; and this is no accident - but all 'part of the plan'.

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So, as Christians, we find ourselves in a situation where we our net efforts are directed to destroying that which we most value; and putting by-far the preponderance of our life efforts into the subversion, destruction and inversion of Christianity. And this is no accident but precisely the primary goal of 'teh system', and it becomes more so every year.

What is to be done? Firstly, and most importantly, we must be honest that this is our own exact personal situation - we ourselves are working against Christian goals - and must repent.

At present far too many Christians are defensive about the fact that they are paid to destroy Christianity and to oppose Christian goals (whether directly or indirectly). They solve their cognitive dissonance by lying to themselves and to others. They are eager to point-out that the work they do is 'at least' not as bad as X; or claim (perhaps truly) that they are always on the look-out for little ways in which to evangelize their co-workers, and 'do good' in a quiet way...

Fine and necessary, but it does not alter the basic fact of the case: A concentration camp guard may lay off the torture a bit, say a kind word here and there, may give prisoners a little extra treat from time to time - but he is still part of a system dedicated to torment and extermination.

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If we can't do anything to change the system for the better (and probably we, personally, cannot) - then we must at minimum stop trying to deny that the system is overall and ever-more opposed to Christian good; and stop trying to convince ourselves and others that the system is not really all that bad.

8 comments:

David Balfour said...

Depressing stuff, Bruce! *Almost* despair inducing if things really out of our control to the extent you describe and that there is little wiggle room and no escape! But worse still than that is if any other readers have young children then what kind of future will they be awaiting based on what kind of world we have prepared for them and are preparing for them now?! How on Earth can we possibly guide them towards a decent, valuable function in their work lives (lets face it, most of their actual life) if its as hopeless as you say?

The only response I can think of not to get too despairing about your words would be to simply 'love God abd let go' and not worry about these things too much but consciously remain hopeful and joyful! Worrying never helps and we are explicitly told by the bible not to worry about these kinds of things. Repentance, yes, hope, yes, joy, yes, worry? No! Despair? Certainly not!

Have a *good* day. It is possible :-)

Bruce Charlton said...

@David - The situation is no different from that which many Christians have been in, in many places, over the past 2000 years.

David Balfour said...

Yes. I suppose it is. A sobering thought.It's not an easy path to take thats for sure. I know this deep down to be true, but when one discovers just how hard, by daily reminders and harsh encounters with worldly opposition, as well as the hostility of other people towards Christians, then the seriousness of the situation really hits home and it is hard to remain strong and not be deflated or excessively discouraged. And yet that is what we must do. It seems like the only right choice available all things considered and despite doubts on the path that also must be overcome.

Brandon said...

You nailed it down with this one, Dr. Charlton. The issue of "making a living" (ironically named considering most modern jobs slowly kill you) while trying to lead a Christian, virtuous life is the most difficult challenge I face as a young man. Us moderns are so mired in dependence on corporations, jobs, and government that I'm sure only those who are willing to starve (yes, literally) will not fall away from the faith in the future. My biggest issue is having children. I know it's what I'm called to do, but it just seems hopeless without a "good" job.

Nathan said...

Brandon - I don't want to go off-topic, but there are a lot of resources online about dramatically reducing living expenses. There is in these a lot of cross-over with the "early retirement", "minimalism" and "green" movements - but there are many cases of families making due with much less than what me might cynically call a debt-laden consumerist lifestyle entails.

(We have two kids and live on about 140% the "poverty level" in the US, but there are others who do it for far less).

https://thegoblinchief.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/spending-below-the-poverty-line/
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/01/16/exposed-the-mmm-familys-2014-spending/
http://rootofgood.com/april-2016-financial-update/

Andrew said...

Sorry, we "can do it for 140%", but our annual expenses are higher now because of the "Affordable Care Act" government mandated insurance. At a lower income though, or in "early retirement", subsidies would almost entirely cover that expense.

Bruce Charlton said...

The current situation for Christians is rather like being in an occupied nation. Anything done to harm the occupying force will harm the occupied citizenry even more; yet working hard and being obedient multiplies and tempers the chains that bind you.

However, in this instance, the occupying nation are not primarily trying to rule and exploit, but deny their own legitimacy and aim to destroy the occupied nation, and simultaneously to pull the whole structure down around their own ears, and also hand it over to a third part; which complicates matters.

Catechumen said...

Yes, exactly, and it's not just the jobs themselves, but the tax system...the more successful you are, the more tax money you feed into the system, which is then promptly and cheerfully utilized against you and all that is good and decent.