When buying stuff, consuming media and picking jobs - where do you draw the line of considering something too evil? Among my peers there’s a lot of people who will actively avoid Nestle products, or who don’t eat meat. But none of them bats an eye at using Facebook or X. Nobody cares about using products made in China under awful working conditions. I have worked as a freelancer translating greenwashing for a few doubtful megacorporations, others work as lawyers or programmers supporting them.
Especially when it comes to work I find myself between a rock and a hard place. I have tried doing blue collar jobs instead to avoid this. My body tells me very clearly that it’s not a full time option for me and I have been running into the same problems of having to consider working for people who either get their money from evil megacorporations or and/or having to do stuff that actively causes some kind of harm, and being forever poor while doing so.
Where do you draw the line? How do you live your life in such a way that it doesn’t support evil directly or indirectly while being able to bring food to the table and pay the rent?
Vegetarian and ‘anti-establishment’ for 25+yrs
Work is hard. I’ve worked for souless corporations, it’s hard not to. Sometimes you just have to be servant class and have no other option. Just be sure that you are taking money from them without giving them any excess effort. You can always work towards other opportunities. If you want to do something else, learn to do it. You can learn so many things for free. I just recently accepted a new position with a local company that shares my values. Most of the skills that got me there were things I learned on my own over the last decade. I didn’t go to school for this, nor do I have any directly comparable job experience. Before my last corporate hustle I had a long term job with a local non-profit for many years. I also did not start that position by having the necessary experience. Don’t lose hope, there are always better opportunities in the future.
I control how I spend my money. If I don’t like a company or product I don’t give them any money. Sometimes that means I spend more elsewhere. Sometimes I just have to give up something. I do allow for guilty pleasures occasionally (chocolate).
My grocery bill is minimal because I don’t eat meat, I don’t eat a lot of processed food and I don’t over-eat. I also grow a lot of food (this time of year half or more of my meal ingredients come out of the garden).
The most important thing about HOW I LIVE LIKE THIS?
I don’t judge other people who can’t.
It requires some sacrifice and not everyone can handle that. But I do encourage everyone to try, even a little. If every single person put in effort to be 10% “better” the world would be much better.