Monetisation: A Question of Requirement

 Greetings,

I have previously discussed the question of what my time is worth, and also a post about whether or not my time at university was a waste of time. I have been happy cruising along with my payments from Services Australia, under the auspices of the Department of Social Services. Yes, regardless of their re-branding, change of logo, or whatever, they are still the Department of Social Services, or DSS in Australia. However, more recently, there have been comments about what advantages I have, what privileges I have, and quite frankly with the way that the government has been managing the country, I have been feeling the squeeze on the more social/comfort parts of my life.

The result of all of this consideration? 

There needs to be a little background before I get to that. I write four blogs at the moment, this one, "A Fencer's Ramblings" my fencing blog where I discuss fencing and training in fencing, and all of the details that go along with that pursuit; "A Life with Fibromyalgia" where I discuss some of my medical history, and how I deal with my chronic illnesses, primarily fibromyalgia; and "Olde Wordes: An Examination of Elizabethan English" which began as a foundation for writing the Elizabethan portion of one of my books, which I published, His Practice in Modern and Elizabethan English. This was the second book that I have published, the first one was a book version of a series of my fencing blog articles, plus some extras added in, entitled Un-Blogged: A Fencer's Ramblings.

I write a lot most of my writing does not see the light of day, unless I find that the articles are of particular interest to a particular group. You can find a profile of me on academia.edu with more of my articles; these are more of a scholarly bend to them, though at least one of them is a bit of fun. The point here being that I have written a lot and seen very little in the way of financial recompense for the hours of work and the thousands and thousands of words I have written.

I have begun a profile on Patreon. I will be putting my more considered and researched articles on this site where people can pay me for the effort that has gone into producing the articles. I will not be removing articles from sites where they are already held, unless I do updates or improvements. In this case the newer versions will appear on the Patreon site for access to those people willing to pay me for my time and expertise.

I have no doubt that there will be some who will scoff at these efforts and who will make comment about the monetisation of my writing. To these people, I will say that I am simply expecting to be paid for the work that I am putting in, for the information that I am supplying, for the expertise that I am supplying in the process. If that is not sufficient explanation, then they can simply go elsewhere, as they are not my concern.

I will still put articles on my various blogs, but they will not be of the same size or quality that they used to be, they will be shorter, and likely pointing to more significant articles on the Patreon site. If you want someone to blame for all of this, you can blame the government; all the rich individuals who don't want to pay their taxes; and all those who still believe that people with disabilities choose not to work, and choose to allow their disabilities to impact their lives so much that the government keeps disability payments low, so low that they are under the taxable threshold, while the prices of basic food and accommodation rises.

Cheers,

Henry.

What is My Time Worth? Or Get a "Real" Job

 Greetings,

I have been sitting on this subject for quite some time and it is about time that I write it. We have all been told this idea that there are "real" jobs and there are jobs which are somehow not real. We have also been told that the time of those with "real" jobs is much more valuable than those who don't, and especially more than those who do not "work". This is a piece of capitalist propaganda which has been shoved down our throats so we go and find jobs that will pay money, to keep the capitalist system running, more to the point it will keep the politicians happy because it keeps people off welfare.

Of Politicians and Politics of the Social System

Politicians, especially those of a slightly right-wing persuasion, i.e. not Nazis, but those with who believe in free-market economies, where people should fend for themselves, and with no government interference, they believe there should be little, if any, social welfare. They admit that there will be those incapable of work, mostly the elderly, they make some consideration for veterans, very little for the disabled, and even less for the unemployed. So far as these individuals are concerned the unemployed are lazy, and the only reason that they are not employed is because they have not looked hard enough.

These same politicians tighten the disability evaluation for pensions so it is more and more difficult to get a disability pension, which only increases the length of the unemployment lines. Of course, they don't see it that way, all they see is people who are trying to feign being sick so they don't have to work. In Australia, the disability pensioners are counted in amongst the unemployed. In some other countries, their statistics are lower because the same disability pensioners are not, or are encouraged to study and given the money, so are not counted in those figures. They squeeze the disability pensioners, but leave the aged pensioners mostly alone, because they are a big voting base.

They claim that people should be contributing to their communities by becoming employed, getting off social benefits of every kind that they can and stop being a drain on the system. They don't mention the big tax breaks they promise to their fat-cat friends who give them election contributions. Tax breaks which enable large corporations to pay the smallest amount of tax, and the richest to pay very little. The smallest amount of taxation of these individuals 1%, even 0.5% would pay for the entirety of the social welfare system, and then some. This is what the politicians don't like people to know, and don't want people to think about, especially at election time. Instead they take from the middle and the bottom of society, rather than from the top, where they should be.

"Get a "real" job."

The heading of this section has been used as a line usually spoken by an elder individual (usually male) to a younger individual, who is following their dream, in some movie or sit-com. It is a line which many people will laugh at, and some will even agree with. I will ask the question, what is a "real" job?

Most often the individual who is following their dream is following an occupation which is not of the standard pattern; they want to become a musician, an artist, an actor, or an author, and these are some of the more mundane examples that could be given. There are occupations which are far more extraordinary which could be named. How are any of these less "real" jobs than the person who sits at a desk in an office as a clerk, or office assistant, or similar more standard occupation?

Think. Every time you listen to a piece of music, there was a musician who played and wrote that piece of music. Every time you watch a movie, there are actors on the screen, in all the roles. Every time that you pick up a book, there was an author who wrote that book, indeed every single word you read in a published article of writing, it is the same story. Unless the author waved their rights to that article, they got paid for that piece of writing, just like the musician and actor got paid for their work, because it is their job. A job which they take as serious as any other person takes theirs.

There are other jobs, many of them which we don't get paid for. There are people who are not employed in standard occupations who don't "work" as others do, but their time is valuable.

The Price of Time

There is a depreciation of the time of those who do not "work". In this case, I point to those who do not go to a "nine-to-five" regular, or shift-work job. They don't have standard hours. I point toward the individual who stays at home and performs "home duties". There are many hours of "work" which are not logged because they are not at an official place of business, or because the individual is not officially employed, or because they don't have a "real" job. This is across the board.

The time of these individuals is simply seen as less important. People who work seem to have more pressure on their time so they seem to be more important because they work, and they disregard those who do not do standard occupations or who do not work. Times are changed to the convenience of the individual who works, sometimes to the detriment of the one who does not, with a lack of consideration for their time; it is simply depreciated. Not as much care is taken for those who do not work in such timings. When it comes to the consideration of skills, the same can be said.

There is a depreciation of skilled people because they do not have work. In some instances people have left the workforce to pursue life at home and due to this their skills are somehow depreciated because they are no longer a part of the workforce. Why? Have they somehow lost the skills that they had when they were in the workforce because of this change? Is just because the individual does not expect monetary compensation for their time, the skill worth any less?

Why is it necessary to have a monetary value for a general appreciation of a person's time, effort and skills? This has a lot to do with the enculturation that we have all become accustomed. When something is paid for it has some value attached. Is something which is paid for in time and effort worth any less? We need to reevaluate what people's time, effort and skills are worth. For if people who do not expect payment for such effort suddenly expected such monetary reimbursement, then there would be a great shock by many as to just how much certain services would cost them.

In my case I have three different skill-sets, which I perform, three different occupations. I am a writer, historian, and historical fencer/fencing master. Depending on which one of these skills is employed will decide exactly how much I could, in theory, charge a prospective client. I have, and do, perform many of these as a free service, I write three blogs (including this one) for free. I perform historical investigations for my own interest in various subjects and assist with others that friends propose, for free. I also perform training as a historical fencer/fencing master in group sessions, for free, and as a barter-system with some friends in private.

I could, in theory, be charging quite a bit for several of the services which I provide and could be quite happily employed as an independent as per the occupations listed above. Indeed I have my own publishing company which I have published one book, and will be publishing at least one other book, with plans for a couple more. The purpose of this publishing is to get information out there, rather than making money; entirely not a capitalist approach. I would prefer to put the information in the hands of those who are interested. 

I know how much my time is worth. I heavily disagree with this notion of a "real" job, indeed I find it insulting. I think it is false and denigrates many occupations which are disregarded in our world. I think it is a symptom of a capitalist world where we are forced to only value what we is paid for in money. I think that people should appreciate those who spend their time, and value the time that they spend, for if they do not, it could come a time when they will be made to pay for such time, or they will be much less generous with it.

Cheers,

Henry.

Occupational Reputation: Painting with a Wide Brush

Greetings,

Today I have the question, why is there in every profession those who will follow the rules and those who will bend them to almost breaking? Those who will do their utmost to hold the good name of an occupation, and those who are simply in it for the money, any way it is to be gained?

Today, I had two taxi trips. The first, the driver followed the rules, turned on the meter and proceeded to drive at the speed limit to our destination, expecting the payment as read on the meter. The second was taken from the rank at a shopping centre back home. He did not turn on the meter, he did follow the road rules, but expected payment of some amount which he estimated, rather than what was displayed on the meter, as he had not turned it on. Needless to say, the second was more expensive than the first. This is not the first incident of this occurring.

It would seem that there are also those taxi drivers who are willing to accept cash payments also for an estimated trip so it is not recorded on their meter, thus depriving the owner of the taxi their fair share of the fare. What needs to be noted is that this is not all taxi drivers, there are those who do follow the rules, but there are those who do not follow the rules to earn extra money. The problem is that those who do not follow the rules make a bad name for those who do follow the rules, hence the rather poor name which taxi drivers have.

The phenomenon seems to be common amongst many other professions. Lawyers and politicians are a common target for these accusations. Lawyers have earned the name of "ambulance-chasers" and "leeches" chasing cases and taking advantage of people in need. Politicians have also become known as high-paid individuals who have become disconnected from the constituents who they supposedly support, taking payment from corporations and interest groups to fund their political campaigns and not staying connected with the people who put them in government. Some of these reputations are well-earned, but for some of them, they are not.

The real question is what do we, as the general public, do about these situations? Do we remember the taxi drivers who follow the rules and give them good reviews and complain about the bad ones? Do we write about the lawyers and politicians who give the others a bad name? For the most part, we do not. We sit back and let things proceed as they are. The most important thing to do is to remember that there are always people in occupations of all kinds who do a good job, along with those who do a not so good job. The ones who do a good job need to be commended for their diligence, while the others need to be pushed aside. Remember this in your interactions and considerations of all occupations.

Cheers,

Henry.