So, I need to write about this. I’ve mostly been staying out of online politics for the sake of my mental health. But I find myself drifting into the view that not only will things not get better, but better things aren’t even possible. And I think a large part of that is because I haven’t been actively working toward those better things.
I’ve stopped trying to influence public discourse because I feel like I’m just shouting into the void. But I need to write out my thoughts. To focus them. To actively dissect and tear down the terrible arguments that I hear multiple times a day, every day. Because if I don’t then those arguments sit unchallenged in my brain. And if you hear anything enough times without challenging it, you eventually start to believe it. That’s how propaganda works.
To that end, let’s talk about Vaush.
So, Mildred — a fellow socialist — made a video in which they say the following. “People literally, for fun, play video games about long-haul trucking. And you’re seriously trying to make the argument that without the profit incentive, nobody would want to do a boring job like trucking or cleaning public infrastructure or farming.”
Vaush replies by pointing out that it’s unrealistic to rely on hobbyists to do these essential jobs, and I agree. “So, basically, their argument, off the bat, is, ‘People make custom ROMS and edits of Nintendo games. So, obviously people will just clean the sewers when they want to…Literally, all of jobs and business and economy are all fake. And actually, if you just got rid of all that, it turns out that everyone is a die-hard hobbyist for every kind of work that needs to be done. Brutal construction work being done in the desert at ninety-seven-degree heat? There are people [for whom] that is their life’s passion.” He goes on to point out that modern society requires many jobs that are tedious, unsanitary or dangerous. And he has a point.
I’m sorry, Mildred, but it was a spurious argument. I may like to play Call of Duty now and then; that does not mean I want to go to war. Long-haul trucking and power wash simulators do not capture the physical strain and mental stress that go along with those jobs. You’re not going to smell sewage for hours on end when you play Power Wash.
That said, whenever you hear, “Someone has to clean the toilets,” or “Someone has to pick up the garbage,” you should immediately feel suspicious. Why? Because when a pundit says, “Someone has to do the dirty jobs,” it’s always with the understanding that they are not that someone. And I think that’s true for Vaush.
He is a pundit whether he admits it or not, and I think he’s fairly certain that he will never be the one who has to power wash the sewers or pick up the garbage or drive the long-haul trucks. Now, maybe he’s done these things in the past; I don’t know his history. But I think it’s pretty clear that he expects YouTube to be his primary source of income for the foreseeable future.
The point is that this is where the pundit stops. Whether it’s Wolf Blitzer or Destiny, they inevitably point out that, “Someone has to do the dirty jobs,” and then they go no further. As if this is some truism that need not be examined. Vaush, to his credit, did go further — yes, Ian, I did watch your video from start to finish — but I don’t think he examined the issue in sufficient detail.
Sticking with the example of power washing sewers, I agree that the job has to be done. But does someone have to do it? Or can something do it? Automation is a powerful tool; we have robots performing all sorts of complex tasks. It’s easy to imagine one that travels through the sewers, spraying a power washer. You’d be surprised by the lengths people will go to just to eliminate simple, everyday chores.
Now, I don’t want to get into the weeds of whether such infrastructure robots are technically feasible — especially since people are already trying to build them — so, let’s assume, for the sake of argument that it can’t be done. Let’s assume that there is some technological hurdle that we cannot overcome.
Automation works very well at performing menial tasks or tasks that require a limited degree of problem-solving. Where it tends to fail is in situations that require sound judgment. At the moment, AI simply lacks the capacity for creative thinking that humans possess. That’s why autonomous cars will sometimes just stop in the middle of the road. Because they’ve encountered a situation where they don’t know what to do. (Possibly because of a software or hardware glitch. Or possibly because nothing in the AI’s training has prepared it for this situation. And let’s not forget how AI can easily assimilate the biases of its creators).
So, let’s assume that — for whatever reason — that we cannot make a robot to clean the sewers for us. Could we make a drone? If a human needs to be present for this job, wouldn’t it be safer and far less unpleasant if they could simply pilot a power-washing drone from the safety of a computer terminal? If we can make drones that drop bombs on other countries, I can’t imagine why we couldn’t make one that cleans the sewers.
But I’m not an engineer. So, let’s go one step further. Let’s assume that there is yet another technological hurdle in our way and drones simply won’t get the job done. Well, if it absolutely has to be a human in a hazmat suit going through the sewers with a power washer, then maybe we all need to take shifts doing that job. If the dirty jobs are inevitable, how about we all take a turn?
Now, that might sound off-putting to you, but you should bear something in mind. Whatever the dirty jobs may be — cleaning toilets, collecting garbage, mopping floors — if everyone is taking a turn, your individual shift isn’t likely to be that long. You might spend a few weeks a year scrubbing public bathrooms, and then you go back to your life. Whatever that may be.
And of course, the people doing those unsavoury jobs need to have control over their work.
Now, we come back to the most basic tenet of socialism. “Those who work in the mills should own them.” Because they understand their working conditions. Instead of some asshole in a suit subjecting them to long hours for abysmal pay so he can drive up his stock price, they get to decide as a collective what their hours will be. How much they will charge for their services. What safety standards they will adhere to. A worker on the ground, doing the job with their own hands is much less likely to cut corners than some executive who’s trying to save a few bucks.
And if it’s a matter of public funding, do you think some Republican goon is going to skimp on proper sanitation equipment if he knows that he will have to spend ten days out of every year collecting trash or power washing sewers?
And please bear in mind that everything I’m describing here is several branches down on the decision tree. This is after we have exhausted all attempts to automate or otherwise ameliorate the dirty jobs. In many cases, we might be able to eliminate them entirely.
Vaush does offer some suggestions as to how to make life better for people doing the dirty jobs. Things like a UBI and a four-day workweek, both of which are good ideas and should be implemented. At the very least, I can say that he is genuinely concerned about the welfare of other people. And that he’s not just going to fall back on capitalist exploitation to make sure the pipes get cleaned or the trash gets collected. I feel that it’s only fair to give him some credit after my initial reaction to his video. I initially thought he was engaging in some status-quo-affirming propaganda, but a rewatch has changed my mind.
Now, before you descend on me with a host of other ideas, please remember one thing: my goal here was never to offer a blueprint for the future. I don’t claim to have the best solution. My purpose here was to demonstrate that we can and we must go beyond the shallow, classist analysis of “Well, someone’s gotta do it.”
The solutions are going to be different for every job. We won’t be able to automate all of them. (Not yet, but maybe one day). We will be able to ameliorate most of them.
The point of status-quo-affirming propaganda is to make you complacent. To make you think that the current situation is the best you can hope for. Don’t fall for it.
