What May 1 Means to Us (and to Many Others)
Some countries take May 1 (International Workers' Day) seriously. Some do not. Some people take May 1 seriously. Some do not. Some employers take May 1 seriously. Some do not.
To me, May 1 means something. Today we left the home early and tried to enjoy the day. No, not online. Offline. Away from keyboard (AFK), away from work too. We've thankfully finished the upgrade and post-upgrade tasks yesterday. Today we rest.
It's a Friday, not a weekend, but most people go to work today. Employers don't typically "recognise" May 1. The union at the EPO does, unlike the EPO's management.
Andy Farnell, in his latest very long (detailed) article, said: "I think this is a good place to start if we want to study the question of "What is work?" Work is religiously connected to moral competence. Work is not something that can be reduced to an economic statement of input and output. When great scientists, artists or social activists talk about "their work", it has nothing to do with salaried activity. There are never any jobs that are just pure fun, because the very act of focusing, taking something seriously, changes it. There is a corollary to the maxim "Do what you enjoy and you'll never work a day" It's something like, "Never do what you love for a job, because it will become just work". There's truth in both maxims and a synthesis that reveals an even greater truth. "Work" is always towards something that is morally harmonious. It's an expression of the authentic self that defeats fear. Otherwise it is wage-slavery, penury, and fit only to be overthrown by resistance or escaped by emancipation."
There seems to have been more open debate about this lately, but the reasons evade us. We added several stories to the same effect to Daily Links this week.
Remember that money does not constitute value and value need not constitute money. Likely, as the old saying goes, money does not buy [you] happiness (or health) but it [can] helps.
To tech people like us (the people who run Techrights), it's not about personal gain or money, it's about doing the ?right thing. Likewise for the sister site, which turns 22 next month (a community person will likely host the party this year).
Sites like ours don't have the concept of so-called "intellectual property" (misnomer; it means patents, copyright, trade secrets and trademark), the sites are a shared resource that many participate in with keys are passed between hands every now and then, for example if someone falls ill or becomes too old (like Susan). It's not about building "ownership". It's like asking who owns the birds in the sky or the earthworms below the soil. This site was never a business, it was always a community.
Why are we doing it and what motivates us? Maybe recognition, which isn't the same as ego or personal gain. It is immaterial and we want to leave the world in a better shape (than it was it when we were born).
Some people will always try to bring down geeks or clip their wings. Don't mind them. Many of them are addicts who fail to recognise hypocrisy.
"You are sitting way too time in front of a computer," say non-geeks to geeks despite spending 24/7 with a computer ("smart" "phone") even when they sleep and poop. Yes, we all know people like that!
Today we want to celebrate freedom. Money or profit isn't freedom, it pertains more to hoarding, which tends to be motivated by fear (of running out of money one day).
Live the day, strive for freedom, aspire to be good to fellow human beings. Don't be an opportunistic a-hole like Microsoft Lunduke, who obviously tries to imitate racist Ben Shapio in pursuit of an audience (without it, he's irrelevant, as he has been for years until MElon's X deliberately boosted flagrant bigots for clickbait).
Try to be kind not to corporations (in effect sucking up to oligarchs, hoping they'll share a shilling in exchange for the fawning) but to fellow human beings, as well as animals. This afternoon "sleepy" (the bird) is resting in her coconut basket and other familiar birds come to receive seeds. Unlike humans, they don't have tantrums. They're predictable and loyal. They don't suddenly attack you in a bid to "get ahead".
Communities are not workplaces; they're communities. So treating them as anything else is a recipe for disaster and ultimately abject failure.
May 1 is not about which political party you support. It's apolitical in the sense that it focuses on human factors, irrespective of "wings" or "factions". █
Image sources: Johannes Zinner
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