Two workforces, two countries. At least that is what it seems like. It seems as if in Canada the middle class/working class divide extends far beyond the world of employment. Each section of our society really does seem to belong to a different country, as if there are two separate worlds in play. We all know that blue collar work requires an entirely different skillset than white collar work. Different skillsets, different minds, means different people. This is no exaggeration. There is a fundamental difference between the two classes’ personalities. Both are tuned to think in entirely different ways. Since blue collar jobs involve working with the hands, the worker needs to be a lot more spatially aware than a white collar worker. He has to be able to make keener judgements about what he’s doing physically and how it effects his physical surroundings. Blue collar work is more grounded and down to earth, just as the people who do it are more down to earth and less complicated. This leads to them adopting simpler codes of conduct. In other words they behave according to different belief and value systems that are less technical about what constitutes right and wrong. Imagine the difference in Canadian culture if the country was dominated by the working class as opposed to the middle class.
Working Class Culture
Keeping it Simple
The culture of the working class, from which all blue collar work is derived, embodies simple principles. Blue collar workers have an entirely different approach to work and living than people in the middle class. They approach a job as though it really is a job and work as though it really is work. The standard view of a blue collar worker is, “a job, is a job, is a job.” This no-nonsense approach to employment is why blue collar workers are the most reliable people for the task at hand when there is a job to do. As long as there is a job to do and they have been chosen to do it, that job always gets done.
If Canada were to adopt the working class, blue collar ethic to its society, we wouldn’t see so much wasted finances in government and all the excesses we see in our culture. If Canada were a blue collar country, things would be a lot simpler, people would work harder and they would expect to get full value for their hard work. It would be a society where people got what they earned, and expected no more or less. There wouldn’t be all this cutting corners, slacking off and people whining about not getting enough break time, or hanging around the water cooler all day.
We need a different culture in this country, one founded on simple principles and built from the ground up. From the political, to the legal, to the economic systems everything needs to be arranged in a much more orderly way. Our culture needs to be founded on principles we can understand and that make sense to us, not on pages and pages of obscure legal text and laws that it takes a genius to understand, all based on a constitution that is written in such confusing language that no one understands it. Politicians will spend months wrangling in the house of commons trying to pass a piece of legislation that should be a done deal right from the get go. And then, half the time it doesn’t even get passed. This just illustrates what a sorry state of affairs the middle class has gotten this country into. The working class deserves better.
You Deserve Respect
We need a system founded on truth and honesty, both of which are derived from a blue collar work ethic. No more no less. None of this cutting corners and doing things the easy way, especially when it comes to passing laws and enforcing just and sound moral principles in society at large. We need a country where what you see is what you get and nothing is hidden behind lies and half-truths. You should be on a first name basis with the man who signs your paycheck. It shouldn’t be issued by a huge, impersonal organization that treats you like a number. You want to do real work for real people. You spend a third of your day working. And you have to, just to survive. But don’t you want to be doing something that is actually constructive instead of a job that supports a system that doesn’t treat you with respect?
It’s a person’s right to be able to work for a system they believe in. When they can no longer do that, their work becomes meaningless. And since your work is the primary activity of you life, your life is no longer meaningful. That is the problem with today’s working class society. The reason there is so much blue collar crime and drug abuse is that people’s life has lost all meaning, and people just drift along until they get into trouble. If working class men and women do work, the work they do doesn’t bring them satisfaction because it alienates them from what is meaningful in life.
Just remember, “POWER TO THE CANADIAN WORKERS!!!” Wherever you see that call you’ll know you can find fellow Canadians who feel the same way about working class exploitation you do.
