As capitalism gets more and more mask off brutal and it becomes harder and harder to ignore that the democracy people thought they had is at best very limited and easily revoked, the paradigm shifts more and more to a sort of internalised existential self reduction. A very natural response to life under capitalism, after all, life under capitalism has very little meaning for the average proletariat so why wouldn't people come to the conclusion that life is meaningless? I see a very tired, nihilist society.
It's like watching someone in an abusive relationship. People have been conditioned by their abuser into a state of submission via exsaution and erosion of their identity, their agency and their self-confidence. They want to escape, but are controlled by their abuser via financial, emotional and even the threat of physical abuse. This works well for the ruling class, as such victims are understandably very hard to organize. There is an attitude of "I don't matter and nothing I do matters, how would organizing change anything. It's unrealistic, egocentric even, to expect better." That we have to contend with and keep in mind when we try to mobilize people living in these conditions. I've struggled with such thoughts my entire life, and it's very strange to see such a thing slowly become so normalized.
Anyway, don't ever let the ghouls make you feel like you don't matter. The workers of the world deserve better than this
One thing I've noticed when discussing the topic of working hours reduction, even with progressive people, is how their framing is almost universally "studies show it's more productive to work 34h". Like, why do you care what's productive? Riot and burn things until you get the working hours you want and deserve, not the "equally productive" ones.
Trvke.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to regularly point out how capitalism is just an overglorified bureaucracy and productivity can make the delivery of goods and services faster and cheaper, but also. Porky is well within his right to enshittify products because “well, I like money :)” and it’s seen as a good thing. I want to be able to enshittify my labor right back.