The birth of the neo liberal bastard child
Conception
Hello fellow Steemit sentient beings (could someone let me know the proper name is for a collective group of Steemit users is ?). Let me take you back to around 2009 or 2010 somewhere around there. In my head I was a young rock n roll star. I had been lucky enough to play some music touring around Europe and USA. However once I had done this a few time I felt unfulfilled. I had played some great shows, drank many beers and made a lot of cool friends . Unfortunately there was not much sex anyone in a proper ground roots touring band will tell you this , either that or i'm ugly. For some reason I could hear the beating hooves of times chariot breathing down my neck. I could feel the teenage dream of rock n roll stardom going down the drain and only misery and further years of being broke lay before me. Like the aftermath of a great party that you were never invited to. All you left with is empty beer bottles, beds filled with former lovers and a dirty house to clean.
Gestation period
Anyway before I lose myself in poetic nonsense I basically needed a change in my life, a hedge against this rock n roll dream. The thing I got interested in was Economics and Politics. I think one of the reasons for this was that I found it to be the antithesis of the cool assholes I had met in the rock n roll scene. Start talking about quantitative easing and watch those cool people glaze over and fuck off quicker than you can say…..FUCK OFF !!!. The difficulty I found was that I found it hard to get into the real nitty gritty of economics text and in general social science. I basically needed some way of learning more. Fortunately I found the way by signing up with the Open University and applying to study a degree in Philosophy,Politics and Economics. I could afford the fees with my full time job and this would help me to force myself to learn difficult philosophical,political and economic concepts. Paying to study yourself is a great incentive as if you don't do it you waste your own money.
While studying and working I was buoyed by the fact that I would finish and then rise from the ashes of my current working situation (working in the print and mail section of a law firm) and stride into a job where I used my brain and loved every minute of it (excuse me I just made myself sick).
Well the day finally came when I was to write my last exam and graduate and would you believe it just before this happened I accepted a role as a Business Analyst. Studying this degree part time had been the best decision ever and now I was ready to shed my rock n roll print mail boy image and become a hunched over greying business analyst. I was to leave my current job and start work for a small company (just me and the owner).
Birth
It all started so well with smiles and handshakes even a free outing to a rugby game. This new boss, sorry manager (there is only one boss and that is Springsteen) was awesome. Well let's fast forward to my first week doing this job. I was shouted at , sworn at and also witness to some racist language. In addition to this I found out that this manager has had a lot of previous employers who have either left or are so scared of him they work from home. It then dawned on me that I was not hired for my keen acumen and shimmering academic brain but more for the fact that I was probably one of the only people left on the roster. A keen starving graduate in a field of office corpses. Therefore after two weeks I stood shook his hand and left. The anxiety of trying to get new work briefly washed away by the elation of never working for a bastard like that. It was tough and really scary but an awesome decision which I would encourage anyone to do so . Following this incident I did temporary work for a while and finally got a new job doing print mail work but for less money.
Neoliberal bastard
I know that my story and definition only form a loose nod to neoliberalism however this is the point of my story. I guess what we have been led to believe is that if you work study hard you will reap the financial rewards buy a house, shit out some kids, travel and die. However what this shows is that there is extreme competition for jobs where people with degrees are beaten to lower paid jobs by people with a masters degree. I am not looking for sympathy and my story is probably one of a millions of stories like this. I believe my fundamental conclusion is that platforms like Steemit can be a good litmus test for social projects like universal basic income where you can be rewarded or paid to do what you intrinsically want to do. In my case upload music and write biographically about the birth of my alter ego the bastard neoliberal
I hope you enjoyed the conception,gestation and birth of the bastard neoliberal .