Competition in the Workplace and the Human Condition

Do you notice where you find yourself competing with your other fellow employees, because you can’t all ‘win’, you can’t all get the bonuses, and this puts you in a position where you’re against each other, instead of working together toward the common goal, you’re now working in separation for ‘potential rewards’. And the only reason this competition exists, is because there are these possibilities/opportunities to get more money, but not for everyone. That means, very simply, it’s either ‘You or Them’. So now your focus is distracted from the task at hand, and now focused on ‘beating everyone else’ to get to that prize. And for many people, this is not something that sits well, as most people don’t want to be against one another, but would much rather get along well and work together on things, but find oneself torn now between one’s own personal well-being/income and everyone else’s. In this, one will have to find whatever way one can to cope with or justify having to compete against one’s fellow man, like coming up with reasons like ‘why I deserve it more and they don’t’ and ‘I have to look out for myself/my family’.

What hasn’t been considered within this is the simple solution of giving to all equally, and giving enough that each and every individual can have a dignified life, the best quality life possible, where there is no worrying whether you will be able to get the healthcare you need, or the food you need, or adequate housing, education, etc.

If everyone gets the same support, competition will cease, because you won’t have to compete with others to get what you need and to have a dignified life. Then we can really focus on the tasks at hand and the productivity of humanity will not diminish, but will be of a higher quality, as when we work together on things, we are capable of so much more than when we’re all ‘on our own’ and having to work against each other.

What’s really incredible is the extent to which competition has been and is accepted as a ‘normal’ part of life, and it’s essentially forgotten that competition had to be conditioned in – we aren’t born with it. It’s something we learn through our family structures and in school, especially in sports for example, where winning is emphasized, and you’re separated into ‘teams’ instead of everyone being on the same ‘team’ and working together.

Some will argue that competition builds character, and it sure does – the question is, just what kind of character does competition create? The kind that has justified and accepted turning against one’s fellow man and seeking to ‘win’ no matter if it means someone else loses. And that is the very basis of our current economic system and our relationship toward/with it, in which we’ve accepted that only a few can ‘win’, while most everyone else has to ‘lose’, and never considering the option that everyone can win, and that if you winning means someone else losing, that is not really ‘winning’. The real way to win is to have a world where we’re actually supported to live in the best quality, and none are denied access to what we need here to live and thrive, that none are allowed to suffer for no good reason in order to make profits.

And it’s actually thought that using ‘incentive’ actually ‘increases productivity’, and you’ll have things like ‘quotas’ to meet at work, where what happens is this actually limits growth and productivity, because once you’ve met the quota, there’s no motivation then to go on any further, as your movement was dependent on that incentive. And where in the case of meeting a quota, the reward is usually actually the ‘avoidance of some form of punishment’, so your goal becomes totally removed from the actual task/job you’re doing. And that begs the question, why does what you’re doing require incentive to get you to do it? Is it not something you would do otherwise? So that really calls in to question the nature of what it is that we require incentive to do, and whether it is really the kind of jobs that are of benefit to ourselves and each other, and all of life here, or whether it’s jobs that only exist for the making of profits, without concern/regard for life?

See, we wouldn’t just naturally abuse ourselves and our home the earth and nature, but we had to be incentivized to do so, so that we won’t question what’s really being done and what are the actual consequences and outflows we’re creating, and why it is that we’re doing it, because we’ve been given a reason, it’s for a reward, which for many the ‘reward’ is literally one’s survival, and there is obviously no freedom in that. So it’s slavery, we’ve enslaved ourselves to/within this capitalist system where we must work within what’s available to us just to be able to survive, and thus there is really no free will in this reality, no ‘free choice’. Because not everyone can become, say, president of a country or a business. I mean, it’s obvious no starving child is ever going to be a wealthy business owner. And that even the majority of those in elite countries who are surviving in relative comfort, and living paycheck to paycheck, are not going to become world leaders or big-time CEO’s.

Obviously a system based on competition is not working, with most of the population living undignified lives, lacking even the most basic of needs, when there is plenty for all to live the best quality life. It’s as simple as no longer accepting a system that is based on us competing against one another, and instead one where the starting point principle is to work together, as the world we can create through cooperation is one in which no one starves. Where no one suffers from lack of clean drinking water, effective education, proper housing, or effective healthcare. I mean it really makes you wonder why haven’t we done this already and established an Equal Money System, so that we can give ourselves the best life possible, and All of us, not just a few with the most money in a system that doesn’t give enough to all, through which we’re allowing people, children to starve every day, when it can be prevented. Time to give ourselves the life we’ve always wished for – join us today at http://equalmoney.org.

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What Mises Missed- Ludwig von Mises’ ‘Slight’ Oversight

Somebody recently brought up the topic of Ludwig von Mises and the book he wrote titled “Human Action”. Since I was not familiar with this book, I set out to investigate. I easily found a pdf and began reading from the very beginning. Now, I didn’t even make it through the forward, and already have found an obvious point of dishonesty, which brings into question the validity of what’s to be presented within this book, as it shows the starting point is of deception. Here is the quote-

“The liberal champions of equality under the law were fully
aware of the fact that men are born unequal and that it is precisely
their inequality that generates social cooperation and civilization.”

What’s being said here is that inequality creates cooperation- the ignorance of this statement is appalling and could only come from a person who has never been on the losing side of inequality-and what do you know- he was born to a wealthy family.

In fact, inequality is the result of the lack of cooperation- it is the result of competition with one another- wherein we seek to gain at the expense of another.

When you look at what inequality means- that some live in lack of their basic needs which cause extreme physical suffering- to suggest that this is acceptable because it apparently ‘creates cooperation’ is quite a misconsideration and quite delusional- unfortunately this happens as a result of the fact that one tend to only understand what they have actually experienced and are not aware of what they have not experienced themself in their particular life- if you’ve never experienced what it’s like to not have access to your basic needs, only then is it possible to justify such an experience and accept and allow it to exist.

Obviously it can’t be said that ‘cooperation actually exist when inequality exist- if actual cooperation existed because cooperation implies that we’d be existing here in such a way that we’d all thrive and none would be allowed or made to suffer. That is the result of cooperation- so if ‘real’ cooperation was going on- no one would be allowed to suffer.

Any ‘cooperation’ that require inequality for it to happen is obviously not a desirable or effective ‘form of cooperation’ as it doesn’t lead to actual cooperation, if it still allow inequality to exist. As long as we accept a system in which we must compete against one another, real cooperation cannot exist- because the design of the system is actually to pit us against one another- it is the epitome of non-cooperation. You can see this manifested everywhere- look how businesses must compete against each other driving each other to have to make products as cheaply as possible, companies having ‘patents’ on things to ensure that they are the only one who can develop a product, and thus be the only one to profit from it, etc. How much farther in terms of technology could we be if businesses could work together? If all humanity worked together as one- what could we accomplish? The possibilities are daunting. The only way we’ll find out, is by ending inequality and giving everyone the equal support to life that only a few currently have- no one should suffer.

When we have a system that’s based on equality, real cooperation will actually be possible for once- we will no longer be individuals competing against one another for survival- or one country against another, all here on the same earth- sharing the same planet. This is what we stand for at Desteni- real cooperation. This is why we are busy working on and researching a new system which will be based on equality- so that we’ll actually be able to live here in a way where we can coexist and work together and combine our efforts- as many hands make light work.

See our Destonian Wiki on Wikipedia to find out more about Desteni and the Destonians and the equality-based Equal Money System

Studying American Government – Our Government Is Like What??

Competition and Fighting is actually fundamentally ingrained in our governmental system. No wonder things are so fucked up.