I noticed people started to use the idea of “no ethical consumption under capitalism” to just be completely irresponsible and just stop trying at all. I don’t think the point of that is to give up completely lol

  • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
    ·
    10 months ago

    This one kills me, when I read the original definition and realized that people were studying the forced emotions required of customer service workers it felt good, like, almost relieving, that an academic, someone in a position of authority, recognized and took seriously the toll that that takes.

    Now it means like, listening to your friend complain about their boss or something?

    I'm not even upset that "the strain of hearing about other people's hardships" has a term to describe it, but why use one that was describing the way servers, baristas, flight attendants, cashiers and call center agents have to maintain a constant appearance of happiness while being degraded by the people speaking to them?

    • thebartermyth [he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Yeah, it also sucks because if you try to explain that "emotional labor" has a specific meaning it makes you the bad guy for invalidating someone.

      People also use it as a defense from having to do self-crit.