• Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    Yes, let’s treat these people who have lost all hope for the future like bratty children, I’m sure that will work.

    Fuck these articles.

    To any gen Z reading this, don’t fall for the shaming. They did the same shit to us Millennials and all it did was make us work for nothing and burn out. Your boss just wants more production and profit at the cost of your body and mind.

    You are worth more than what they’re offering. You deserve a future.

    • Tunnelvision [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      I fully support NEETism if that’s what you call it. I’m a Zillennial or whatever the fuck and I’ve worked my entire adult life in the trades. FUCK WORK. There are no jobs that pay enough, the hours are long, and no one gives a fuck about you. Never feel bad for not having a job, you deserve to live however you want. If I was born even a few years later than I was I’d be a fuckin NEET too. There is no incentive AT ALL to do ANYTHING it’s crazy to think people wouldn’t act this way.

      • TheWurstman [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        Literally had a bastard who is my “friend” give me the I should flip hamburgers and make people smile line. I’ve flipped hamburgers it’s hard work (not even in the bad way) but mother fuckers rarely smile at you. They just complain about you forgoting their pickles or that the burger is slightly over done or some dumb shit…

    • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 days ago

      I’m a millennial with a PhD and more disillusionment than ever. I hope that gen z keeps fighting the good fight, and I’ll help them wherever I can. It can only make my life better.

  • Zodiark [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    Calling 15-18 year olds “NEET” is a wild one.

    I think it’s okay to take a gap year after high school, and take breaks from employment, education, and training now and then.

    Just don’t do it for too long or you’ll turn into felix-linus

  • duderium [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    We talk a lot here about how pointless it is to vote but it’s way worse for capitalism if we are unemployed, simply because we refuse to generate labor for the capitalist class. I’ve been thinking about this because I’ve been working full-time for almost three months after being unemployed for years and it just sucks to be aware that even the wages I get eventually end up back in the Cayman Islands, where they are then reinvested in blowing up Palestinian children.

  • heartheartbreak [fae/faer]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    Thats crazy its almost like its a rational response to the only options in life as a worker which are to work and destroy your mind and body for the worst jobs humanly possible for the worst pay legally possible for the opportunity to have marginally more money to spend in a dying society on a dying planet or do that as little as possible

  • Droplet [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    This is very true. Was just talking to a friend the other day who went back to China after running a lab for nearly a decade in the US.

    Some interesting tidbits:

    The attitude between American Gen Z and their Chinese counterparts is night and day. He complained about the fact that the quality of his graduate students has gotten significantly worse over time. Even a decade ago, the millennial kids were still rather passionate about science and put in an effort to impress, these days the Gen Z kids straight up showed very little passion about what they’re doing, one of his students literally left the lab during the middle of the day to “go home to play video games”. Incidentally, the best students were foreign students who came from outside of Western countries.

    In China it couldn’t have been more different. Young graduate students would work 6-7 days a week, many are full of curiosity, all very keen to learn more about the science they are doing. Some labs in China have their lab meetings held on Sunday! Imagine doing that in the US lol.

    There is no way the US can catch up with China over the next 1-2 decades. In fact, it is already falling behind in terms of scientific output. Like, how are you ever going to compete with them?

    • BobDole [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      Ask your friend about the literal state of American university labs versus everywhere else. They’re dirty, disorganized, dysfunctional, and everything comes down to potential profitability

      • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        It’s funny because back in the day you had all the “gentlemen scholars” who had the free time to read and invent new science. Sleep all day because they spent all night watching the skies etc. Nowadays you pair every lab endeavor to the question of making maximum profit in the shortest time and then the people at the top of the pyramid wonder why other countries are catching up or overtaking us in science and tech.

        It’s like the same shit as them asking about why kids have short attention spans while you can’t even watch a 3 minute video on youtube without it being bookended by ads shouting at you and blasting you with light and color so that the people who make Mt Dew Cheeto Taquito Chewing Gum can make 1.2% more next year.

        Like goddamn, guys. If I was younger I wouldn’t give a fuck about perpetuating the misery machine, either.

        • TheWurstman [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          What’s sad is I’ve met some of them and they do care but they obviously feel overwhelmed by it all just like I did when I was a dumb ass teenager.

          • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            2 days ago

            They lack experience and education on the matter. Given what they do know I’d say they’re making the best choice possible. They don’t know how to make things better so they’re choosing not to contribute to making it worse. That’s fantastic! I am proud of these young people.

            • TheWurstman [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              2 days ago

              I met one who was a nice kid who even liked working he was just drinking himself to death. I told him to drink a little less and I’d tell him about an awesome strip Club in Atlanta he could go to (I think Bryan from the guys podcast) mentioned it once. I bet that dorky white kid would love it there.

              I went down the NEET path and society predictably fucked me. Almost nobody is there to look out for you so as I said I don’t blame the kids regardless of what they choose to do. We all collectively let them down.

    • TreadOnMe [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      Yeah, there is very little incentive to do well. Especially for U.S. graduate and doctoral students. Even if you do do very well, the best thing that will happen for most of them if they stay in the U.S. is that they will be taken and paid alot of money to not do research for the competition, because no-one really works on anything interesting anymore. All of the cool chemistry and industrial technologies stuff comes from China and Europe.

      The problem is that the assumption is that if you had to go do a doctorate, you weren’t smart (or connected) enough to dropout and become an entrepreneur. It’s a really really bad system that creates huge disincentives from learning about things and pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Instead it the incentive is to learn how to do marketing and graft better.

    • oregoncom [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      What percentage of rent for a 1BR is the American grad student making lmao. Probably around 80%. Also if his field is CS then they’re not really representative of gen Z.

  • DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml
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    2 days ago

    Could it be that entry level positions require 12 years experience and don’t even offer a living wage? No, it must be because the kids these days are lazy.

    • DragonBallZinn [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      It’s rich that they have been spouting that “young’uns are lazy and will never be as cool as us boomers!” for almost 12 years and won’t see the irony. It’s the same tired mental masturbation I’ve seen all my life.

      Maybe they will get real answers if they actually let gen Z and millennials speak rather than have another baby boomer speak on our behalf.

  • FeelThePower@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    I was a neet for a couple of years. honestly with how little I work these days it still feels like I am one sometimes. feels like there’s no point in participating when the country doesn’t want to give anything back to you.

  • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    If there was a future worth planning for they might behave differently. What’s the point in saving up cash or buying a house or having kids when during education you’ve sat in classrooms discussing the upcoming literal end of the world through climate change?

    All these kids have looked at the evidence for it and come to this conclusion.

  • Procapra [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    I guess I would qualify as a NEET. I don’t work and never got a degree or certification in anything. I’m also gen Z. My fiance pays the rent currently, but if it ever came down to a “work or lose your home” situation I’d get a part time job at least.

    I’ve spent most of the last 4 years or so making shit attempts at organizing (mostly adventurism if I’m being honest) spent some time in some orgs, but otherwise I’ve been pretty lost. I fucking hate reading, but I manage to read something theory related every month or so. I feel like I have to do something, but I realize all the time that I am woefully ill equipped to change my conditions and that leads to me getting a tad defeatist.

    I’ve found many of my peers are in similar situations, wanting the world to change but not having the tools to fix it.

  • blindbunny@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    Someone once told me every hour and American works they make $90 for the economy. So if, let’s say, they had to give $30 of that to income tax and $30 for the business why does the worker at minimum get $7.25?

    • roux [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      I was told by family that I no longer associate with that a minimun wage was meant to b a “starter wage.” Like they were implying that working as a teen/young adult was meant for practice. I’ve also been told by another lib that “both sides”, as in Dems and Reps, need to “come to a compromise on minimum wage.” Which means, of course, still less than a minimum living(last I talked to that guy, he was selling his second Corvette since he didn’t need it but obviously was an authority on minimum wage). The thing is that people that are only slightly smarter than these 2 I mention run this country. Everything is fucked Death to America.

      • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        The whole “starter wage” idea makes sense if it’s paired with shit like on the job education, training, grace periods for fuck ups, schedules that encourage them to finish school etc. But it doesn’t. If somebody can’t live off the wages what the fuck are we starting? Debt peonage?

        • TheWurstman [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          Yeah exactly. Guess what your shitty “starter” job does if you are a good worker. Try put you in as many shifts as legally possible because they can squeeze the most excess value out of you. Making it harder to study and generally make time to better yourself.

          You’re only young once they say: That’s why you should let capitalism exploit you the most at that point in your life.

        • Zodiark [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          I suspect that’s what it used to be, and that’s how boomers came of age under or how Gen X recall their parents career trajectory.

          • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            2 days ago

            Pretty much. That’s why they believe in things like being loyal to your employer. They would not believe in such things if it hadn’t been practical at one point in their lives. It even goes way back to ancient times. Apprenticeship is how you get artisan crafts and carry experience forward.

      • TheWurstman [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        I was arguing that the us worker should get a wage increase when I was 19 or some shit……That was 12 years ago or something they’re still arguing about that fucking number honk-enraged

      • blindbunny@lemmy.ml
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        It’s actually only like eight hundred and six people they’re not smarter nor are they worth as much as they make but what they do have is unbreakable class solidarity to decide the rest of our standard of living.

        I know it’s meme but you had me until the doomerism. America is every man, woman and critter that has worked to make sure my family has electricity, clean running water, healthcare and shelter just as I work for their families to have the same. So I can’t in good conscious wish to end that.

        But hit me up when we’re ready to dismantle the owning class that decides who has access to these standards of living.

        • fox [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          2 days ago

          Death to America means the termination of the imperialist, colonialist, capitalist socioeconomic structures that sit between Canada and Mexico, not the literal killing of its people. The State of America is that of an emotionless machine that turns human potential and bodies into numbers on a spreadsheet from which dollars may be extracted. The Nation of America is the people that live inside that machine and are in part its imperial beneficiaries but are mostly its marginally luckier victims. We want to destroy the machine.

          • blindbunny@lemmy.ml
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            2 days ago

            Yeah, that’s a nice definition and all but others aren’t going to interpret it that way.

            I’m not a political or socioeconomic major but I believe if the working class dismantled the owning classes with economic reparations. The structures that oppress the “economic south” (I use that term with a vague understanding of what it means) would follow.

            But I’m also aware that this is a very pie in the sky belief. I apologize if I’m speaking from ignorance.

            • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              Think it along the lines of someone saying “fuck the police.” They don’t actually want to fuck the police, they want to see the police stripped of power and immunity. Nobody should be having sex with cops. It’s just more fun to say and this is a place where everyone will understand what is really meant.

              Also consider that most of the time when “America” is invoked it’s not on behalf of the people living in its borders. For example, the bipartisan criticism of the war in Gaza that “America” is supporting. The American people’s interests are barely considered by our elites. If anything, saying “death to america” is using the ruling class’ definition of America in that sentence. Consider that when an American bomb blows up a house and the lone survivor blames America they are not blaming a retail clerk in Nebraska or a teacher in Tennessee or a stay at home mom in Oregon.

              Our ruling class and the people they oppress have a shared definition of America and that is the America that needs to die.

              • blindbunny@lemmy.ml
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                2 days ago

                Thanks for making an approachable comment.

                Also consider that most of the time when “America” is invoked it’s not on behalf of the people living in its borders. For example, the bipartisan criticism of the war in Gaza that “America” is supporting. The American people’s interests are barely considered by our elites.

                If I may, dismantling this structure would also be liberating our neighbors to the north, south and the greater economic south. Do I understand that correctly?

                If so getting people to recognize class consciousness would be a step forward to getting there.

                • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                  2 days ago

                  Yes, nationalism is a negative force. International working class solidarity is the greatest threat to the ruling class. Capitalism is a global force with global influence and power. It will require an international movement to combat and defeat it.

    • Xavienth@lemmygrad.ml
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      2 days ago

      If you get $7.25 why would $30 go to income tax? Shows the disparity is even greater than you outline.