this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2023
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Leftism

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 year ago (3 children)

If you honestly think you can man the cash register at McDonald's competently with the same level and scope of training required to say design an RF frontend for cell signals or maybe remove someone's Appendix, then you're insane or lying to yourself.

"Unskilled" or now "low skilled" is a defined term. It doesn't mean a goldfish can do it, and it doesn't mean it isn't important. It means that any reasonable human with a modicum of training can do the job well enough to produce valued output.

At my service jobs, I'd usually get an hour or two of training per area, and be watched for a few days or a week. Then let loose and that's it. The guys I know that design those RF frontends not only have 4-8 years of physics and math intensive academia, but then work under senior designers for 10+ years learning and designing before leading their own project.

If you swap the Goodburger employee with the RF Designer, the designer will learn to sling burgers. The burger dude will accomplish nothing of value and probably be a net negative.

Nobody is saying anything of importance or requirement or paying wages. Taking a defined term and weaponizing it for a side cause makes anyone that knows what it actually means, roll their eyes and ignore the message you're trying to convey. And in this case, it's mostly unskilled workers trying to sound important to highly skilled workers. This means your intended audience is tuning the message out.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Take an RF designer and have them man the till at McDonald's with the day or two of training that most of these places do. See how they fare. I'm an EMT. Peoples lives literally depend on my skills. I was a roofer and a taco bell manager before that. I struggled more and was far more stressed at taco bell and I'd rather die than go back to working fast food.

People aren't weaponizing the term. They're already weaponized against the working class. The meme is calling that out. Just because that term has a specific definition doesn't mean that's how it's used in the broader public. Years of propaganda went into cultivating a certain image and association with that term. You hopping in and saying "that's not what that means!!!1!!" isn't going to change that.

The only people that give a shit about your definition are economists and even they aren't immune to the propaganda that's proliferated since before they were kids to foster a negative stereotype around that term. Instead of being a contrarian butthole, why don't you take the time to understand class struggle? You're not helping anyone or anything with this inane bullshit

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Not wanting to do something because you have better options does not mean that almost anyone can do it.

Unskilled labor is hard labor. Nothing about it is emotionally easy or less taxing on your body. But you can be taught to do it in a couple hours, hence, requires no hard skills.

There are soft skills that make people better at working a register than others - but the difference is really at the margins.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Take an RF designer and have them man the till at McDonald's with the day or two of training that most of these places do. See how they fare. I'm an EMT. Peoples lives literally depend on my skills.

I'd guess the answer would be "be slow at checking people out and be super stressed, but be a net productivity boost to the team".

Meanwhile, if you made him an EMT with no prior training he'd either just be shadowing an actual EMT and at best be a go-fer, or he'd kill someone. He'd likely be a net negative for a while.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago

"Anything is possible if you put your mind to it."
— Dr. Jack Ripper