Why "I Don't Dream of Labor" Doesn't Work 

Stopping halfway through to say that the John Henry story is the reason why I’ll always support people like Simone Biles who wisely choose to protect themselves instead of succumbing to the dangerous American ideal of martyrdom for a glory they may not be able to enjoy in the end

"Black women have never not worked in this country." What a great concise bit of commentary that says so much.

Name discrimination is definitely a thing. I had a discussion with my boss because he was literally passing on resumes based on the way the name sounded or looked. When I confronted him about it he said that he didn't want to talk to them and not be able to pronounce their name 😖

Im not Black but as a first generation latino kid whos mother kept inforcing that, "im her retirement plan", this video explains the grievences i have towards, "i dont dream of labor" so well. Truly obsessed with ur videos !

I feel like I manifested you, I needed black male thought from black men who do not call women 'females'

The actual story of John Henry is meant to tell the story black labor exploitation under black codes. Its basically our coal miner's tale. The way its commonly portrayed now is very minstrel like

I always loved the John Henry and Paul Bunyan stories, but I always thought of them as Tragedies. They’re stories about the rise of mechanization and the declining value of human physical labor. In the end, while putting up an admirable fight, they can’t turn back time.

I love this. I am 61, white, and I learned a version of John Henry in the 70's that had two verses about him having a wife, Polly Ann. When he drops she runs to him and his dying words if for her to be "true" and not remarry when he is dead. My mother, who taught me the song, hated this verse. She told me that it was entirely unfair for him to ask that of her because it severely limited her options for making a good life for herself in those days when women, especially black women, were so limited in what way they could make a living. So Disney didn't create these verses about Polly Ann. I haven't seen their John Henry because my kids were hitting middle school at that time and not as keen on Disney, so I don't know how there verse went. She also pointed out that it was stupid from the point that he killed himself and proved nothing and the steam engine was put into use anyway.

I cant speak about black experience when it comes to "I dont dream of labor" but I'd love to see this topic viewed thru a disabled lense as well. I CAN'T dream of labor, I dont even have a choice because it is impossible for me.

I don't really understand how "start a side gig/small business/side hustle" is supposed to be somehow an antidote to 'not dreaming of labour'.

The way I heard the John Henry story growing up, I never thought it could be read aspirationally. I never saw the Disney cartoon, so I never saw his duel against the machine as directly being anti organized labor. Instead I just remember the story as this bizarre, horrifying little nihilistic story of man fighting automation to the death, a meaningless victory that leads to nothing.

As an Indian whose family has constantly been surrounded by 'work hard and good things will happen to you' rhetoric, (both my grandfathers were the first in their families to become literate), it's fascinating to see how after years of colonization around the world, marginalized groups have been spoonfed the ideals of meritocracy when the game is rigged. Great to hear your perspective.

I know that these videos are primarily for black men and boys, but I just needed to let you know how much these videos mean to me. I’m a fifteen year old girl, my mom is white and my dad is black, but he hasn’t been in my life in a long time. The things he would have taught me when I was growing up he obviously never has, and my mom wasn’t much help in that department, as much as I appreciate her. You have no idea how much it means to have found a male role-model who CAN teach me about the world, it’s an extremely comforting thing to have. Thank you so much, man, I really hope more people can be exposed to your content :)

Do you know how frustrating it is trying to get my white coworkers to understand that working extra hours to be under paid is definitely not the wave? They find it odd that as soon as 4pm hits I'm out the door. One of them said that "you're paid what you're worth" and "if you bring more value you'll get paid more". It's an interesting form of brainwashing. Even our direct manager said he's being under paid. The average wage for my position is 64k and I make 55k. In the tech industry there is a heavy focus on not hiring Black Americans. There is also a focus on never giving raises. It's "industry standard" to have to jump ship in order to get a pay raise. That is why I do not agree with the jump ship method. I can't just find a new job at will. I keep telling them, if we don't show up they go broke, but they don't see how that means we should be paid more. It's pretty interesting. Definitely a deep brain conditioning.

My father was a bricklayer, and I saw him as akin to John Henry as a kid. He worked until his body was broken, all so his children wouldn’t have to work like he did, like countless of his ancestors did, killing themselves for a small cut of someone else’s profits. I saw John Henry as a kid, and I saw him as noble, a working class hero. Now I see that, like my dad, he was just another victim who deserved better, not a model to emulate. Thanks for opening my eyes to this.

I remember the first time I heard the John Henry story. It was taught to me in an elementary classroom in a way that presented it like he was some kind of hero for proving a man can do better than a machine. I was sad because he died to prove something that didn't even need to be proven so he could avoid losing a job he loved (that was the way his story was told to me though, I realize now someone like John Henry probably never got to choose his job the way I didn't get to choose mine; just there out of necessity to survive and nothing more. I realize as an adult that his story wasn't about a man fighting to prove he was better. It was a man trying to keep his job so he wouldn't starve.)

The Whole "I Dont Dream of Labor" mindset is in tandem with not having to work to simply survive. You shouldnt have to sacrifice your body mind and soul just to feed your kids, and give them access to some form of 'Normality'. You shouldnt have to work for a living only to have NO LIFE TO LIVE, and that extends to those 'Essential Workers' who deserve 'Danger Bonus' and dont even get that.

I never saw the Disney version of the John Henry story, but jfc how did they take a working class folk hero and turn him into an obedient servant of the bourgeoisie? The version of the story I've always been told is that, first of all, he's not married, he's just a legendary, solitary big man working on the railroad, and that he stands up for his fellow workers to prove that human labor is worthwhile. His race against the drill is a competition, and he's trying to prove that workers are necessary and he even though he dies, he saves the jobs and livelihoods of his co-workers.

I find it amazing how people are so afraid of CRT when it’s literally just an analysis of how race effects a thing

I'm honest to God shocked people did not view the John Henry folktale as a tragedy of American capitalism 😟 I watched it as a kid and it's burned in my brain cause I was like "bruh that's helluh fucked up he didn't have to die". Speaking of which the song "Polly Ann's Hammer" by Our Native Daughters is really great. (The whole album is fire if anyone looking for Black folk music.)

Absolutely insane that Disney just said "Yeah, John Henry was a hero because he protected capital" and didn't even try to conceal that message. And it always bugged me as a kid when I saw heroes react to a villain cheating or fighting dirty by continuing to play fair and working even harder -- like when your opponent breaks the rules, at least try to change the game or call them on it. You don't have to just accept it. Looking at it now, it seems like that messaging would be useful in training people to respond to exploitation and oppression in weak and ineffective ways.

When I say "I don't dream of labor" its always "I don't want to waste my life away at a job that exploits my time and doesn't pay me enough to survive, acknowledge that I'm a human, give me what I need to thrive not just survive, etc." I love working in the beer industry. I'm kinda spread all across my company right now but am in the process of trying to find someone to take over one of my positions so I can go full time in the one I actually enjoy. I literally have no complaints about scrubbing moldy kegs (other than the disrespect of the businesses that literally let our kegs get that way and send it back like there hasn't been a mushroom/shrimp tails/etc decaying on top of it for the past 5 months while a whole flock of birds use it as a bathroom), dragging thousands of pounds of product with a pallette jack as a 5'2 woman, and spending hours handling corrosive chemicals cleaning tanks, but I want to be fairly compensated for that labor. I don't want to work to live. I want work to just be a part of my life that helps me do what I actually want. No one should be juggling multiple jobs or even working full time at one job and just barely scraping by. This is why I'm a socialist. Socialism isn't about no one working. Its about workers owning the means of production and not deciding people's value based on how much money they can make some fat cat at the top.

Love this channel, but I will say sometimes leftists are talked about like we’re all in the ivory tower. Working class leftists with kids definitely exist and we can hate our stupid jobs while imagining a better world via socialism

I’m dead! You really inserted an image of the devil as Ronald Reagan 😂😂😂 I cannot stop binging your videos Sig. Love your content.

This is interesting. The only time I've ever heard "I don't dream of labor" has always been essentially anti-capitalist. As in, "I dream of doing what I want to do *for me*, and not for bosses or a profit." I didn't know there was this other pro-capitalist, hustler side to it. It was great how nuanced your critique was. Can't wait for the next one.

I agree, the premise of "I don't dream of labor" is a fine starting point, i.e. changing your attitude to divest yourself emotionally from the Sisyphean ideal of work as salvation. It was a revelatory and tragic point you made that Black people in America came to this conclusion centuries ago, given the many instances of Black economic prosperity being met with brutal suppression and terrorism by the State and civilians. I learned about Tulsa and Rosewood for the first time from Watchmen and Lovecraft Country, and it's still so sickeningly the inverse of what I was taught for my entire life about why Black communities are impoverished and have high "crime rates." Letting go of the classic American conversation stopper that is "personal responsibility" has been the most freeing thing for my mind. I think the "I don't dream of labor" trend seems to fall prey to the trap of individualism as the solution. The win state of this movement is working so hard (in addition to whatever job you do to survive) and getting lucky enough that you can eventually exploit other people to support a life of relative ease. I want to establish a culture of channeling that hustle energy into organizing: strikes, mutual aid, establishing parallel power structures.

I love that you clarified it’s not just hard work and persistence but also some luck plays into it. I hate when successful people only claim hard work but they don’t mention the luck that came about bc it creates a false narrative. It creates those people that work themselves to death bc they think it’s the only way

"CRT is basically just history" is a super effective one liner that sums up all the shit I ever try to argue with coworkers

Thank you for shouting out the "essential workers" that got brushed aside once it got convenient to forget the workforce that were basically chosen as the sacrifice to keep this ountry running in the most uncertain part of the Panda Express.

Another factor you aren't considering is parents. My black lesbian friend said there were times her parents said. "You CANT make it youre black" there's definitely a lot of racism and prejudice but imagine your own parents being against you...There's also generational trauma in the community that needs to be addressed.

I was always horrified at the ballad of John Henry. When they taught it to us in elementary school, they taught us that his wife, knowing that John couldn’t possibly go on, lifted his arms up and struck the last blow with him. That made me incredibly angry as a fifth grader.

I get why this statement gets a lot of hate but I always took it more to mean "none of the things that give my life meaning are tied to work" as opposed to "I don't want to work". Maybe it's a meaningless distinction. Like I don't draw my identity or goals form labor but acknowledge it's inherit to life.

"Always hydrate after doing a capitalism" 😭 I love how your criticism comes with respect and compassion. Thank you for sharing your resources and perspectives!

I’d love to hear about your feelings on how the folktale of John Henry changed as it moved from a black folktale to a folktale integrated into the predominantly white “American” folklore

I’m a white guy and remember watching and enjoying this short as a younger kid, the animation and music primarily, but being older and looking at things more critically, I agree with all the points of the video that I understand. My stepdad, also white, was a construction worker his whole life and served in Afghanistan. Basically his whole life was abusing his strength and body to earn his living. Recently, he’s decided that he’s had enough and found a stable career as an airport employee, but I’ve seen first hand how people will work themselves to death, especially with labor heavy jobs. It just sucks that the work of the artists behind the short is kind of lost to the flawed message. It’s a good fairytale, dramatic and well suited to being a short, but there’s real life history and stereotypes behind the story that have real consequences.

Now that I've finished the entire video: I must not be hanging out on the parts of the internet that you're talking about, because my understanding of the phrase "I don't dream of labor" is that it's a retort to the question "What's your dream job?", and an objection to the whole idea that our lives and identity should revolve around work. I (an upper-middle class white millennial) feel like a lot of people my age were sold this idea of a "dream job" as kids and have figured out as adults that it's not a realistic goal for most people - and worse, that even if you do get a job by "following you passion", that passion is more likely to be exploited than rewarded (like how people get mad when teachers and caregivers ask for higher pay because they're not supposed to be "in it for the money".) That being said, I'm not surprised that people have taken this phrase to mean "quit your job and live on side hustles!" because we live in a capitalist hellscape. -_-

I was wondering when America would have our own equivalent word for 'Karoshi' (working yourself literally to death in Japan) because I had never heard of John Henry before.

Literally fired my therapist partially because he asked me if I'd considered starting a yt channel or etsy store when I complained about work being difficult and unstable bc of poverty and disabilities. Embarrassing af. Thanks so much for this!! Really feel like a perspective that's considerate of folks with kids/families is DESPERATELY needed on the left as well as more POC's voices ofc.

"Critical race theroy, its basically just history." Too true, too true.

As a Hispanic kid where, most of my family members were handymen, plumbers, construction workers, gardners, and maintenance, the John Henry story always inspired me to follow my family and work my life in a more backbreaking career. I'm not sure why exactly, maybe my respect for my great-grandfather, grandpa, and dad who all worked in tough jobs their whole life and were permanently injured from it.

Thanks for the shout! A lot of food for thought in this one. John Henry is def gonna be on my mind as I start my new job lol, cuz I have an unfortunate habit of grinding myself to dust. Keep up the great work!

John Henry and Boxer from Animal Farm are kind of the same character portrayed from two different angles, one seeing such hard work without reward as romantic and the other seeing it as depressing. Both solve their problems by working harder, trusting that things will turn out right if they put in the honest work, and both die because of it. John Henry literally works himself to death trying to prove himself to a system that disregards him for the shiny new thing. Boxer doesn't exactly work himself to death, but he basically does. But their respective stories treat them completely differently.

as a white person raised by racists, hearing you talk about your goal to feed your children and give them a future, actually helps humanize you and black men in my subconscious. I do not get exposure to black culture at all outside of what I seek out online. My environment has been engineered to keep me from witnessing real black people. Of late, there are a lot more around my city coming from far away and it's changing the feel and the tone of the whole city (for the better) and giving me a whole slew of opportunities to see black people and see them as fellow citizens, not this mythical class of underdogs somewhere out there. Where do I live? Saskatchewan. It's damn cold here. Our racism is traditionally aimed at the first nations people, so blacks might get less flack than they might in other places. But anyway, keep talking, keep being out there, being natural humans, we are out here trying hard to fix the damage in our brains done by racist parents.

They played John Henry in class during Black History Month at my Christian school when I was in like 3rd Grade, and I always felt like there was something wrong with the story in that it conflicted with what our history lessons taught us about racism. This video definitely opened up memories I had about John Henry and was very informative. 👍

Hey everyone! This production was a bit... messy. I got it out in time but not unscathed. The angle is different, I kind of like it but you guys tell me if you prefer the old view. With the change in angel came some lighting and audio problems that I tried my best to correct in post. I think it's minimally distracting but for the eagle eyes out there (and I know you're out there) I know there's some kinks. This also sadly led to me having to cut doing a shout-out to all my new patrons in this video. I'm so sorry yall, I'll make it up to ya! That said I hope you all enjoy.

Great vid! I watched my stepfather and godfather work themselves to exhaustion in the steel mills near Chicago. Both, looking forward to returning home every evening to homecooked meals in pristine homes. To self medicate from the injustice, they both drank heavily Fridays and Saturdays. It was my godfather whom sat with me and explained all the horror stories of his daily life. Begging me to complete my education and be supportive of our community. My stepfather never wanted me to see him as anything less than a hardworking, tough, and great provider.

I love this video and come back to it all the time. At the last part, I always have to sit and think about how the capacity to work defines identity intersects with disability that impacts the capacity to work. How does a lifelong disability change the way identity forms? How does a sudden disability change someone who, until being disabled, was able to work? Also I always seem to forget the "east stl is about an hour drive from Chicago" line 😭 makes my illinoisan heart sink a bit each time

"Unlike the left's nebulous, never-ending, 'one day we will seize the means of production' -- (hustle culture / Black capitalism) directly engages with the reality of what oppressed people are going through." This was a great insight at the end. There's obviously a lot to process here (as always), but I think my main takeaway is how many people are already working so hard and just want to get by.

There's a heck of a lot of survivor bias from people saying "just become a RU-vidr."

My great grandmother was a survivor of the East St. Louis massacre. I heard many stories about those three days of hell. Black folk being dragged off the street cars and beaten and burned to death. Some of them so badly beaten if it wasnt for the clothes they were wearing you wouldn't have known if it was a man, woman or child. Folks running to cross the bridge over to St. Louis only to run into a mob of white men with guns hiding and waiting for them to step a foot onto the bridge so they can shot them down. The stories of how weeks later bodies would wash up onto the banks of the Mississippi river. Bloatted and unrecognizable. 😔 My granny lost two brothers and one sister during those days. They had to flee their home because white men set it on fire and while they tried to flee it,the white men shot at them. They had to hide in the tall grass of the field behind the house to avoid the bullets.

13:14 - I felt that "JOHN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" so deeply.

Please make the magical negro video. I feel like it's such a tired trope and they won't put it to rest. Again an excellent video.

It hit me right around the 43 minute mark that the message of this video, that the goal of black men is to provide for their family... is exactly what a lot of rural conservatives men feel. Hard work to the point of killing yourself all for family and the ideas of patriarchy. I don’t really have anything profound to follow that up with... just a thought.

I've said it once and I'll say it again- the level of nuanced critical thinking you bring to your videos, is so so so refreshing and needed. Keep doing the work, fam!

I'm an Eastern European white woman living in France so i have no theoretical way of relating to black male labour.... But i find your video(s)- quickly went through others diagonally as well - fascinating! Thank you!!!

I recognize that this video in particular and this channel in general is labor that you do, and that I benefit from. I have yet to give you money for this labor (which I hope to change in the near future) but I want to thank you for your thoughtful labor here in the comments.

I will say that "I don't dream of labour" has been helpful to me as a disabled person- everybody wants me to "get better", be "cured" try out all their little "magic fixes" (how many times have I been told "if you just try jogging, or maybe get off that birth control" I s2g) so that way I can get a job, be "a productive member of society" all that shit. Feeling like I'm worthless bc if I am not getting better, and i won't. If I get any better, it will likely be in a way that still doesn't give me a career, as opposed to like. $3.60 at goodwill (did you know they legally are allowed to pay disabled people below minimum wage in many states?). Just seeing a movement where the point is "your goal does not have to be a job. Life is meaningful without work." Has been really comforting to me, bc many of the people within it aren't even disabled. So it's not a "wrong" or "selfish" or disabled thing to wish for things in life that don't have to do with a job or career or money. Not to say the movement is without ableism, but yeah. I think its interesting how the usefulness of like the discussions in some movements really does depend on what society has grouped us into

(Edit: I don't care about your opinion about the term "latinx/latine". That's not the point of this comment and everything that needs to be said has been said.) I think mexican (probably latinx culture in general, but I'm only speaking for what I know here culture has a similar but very different reaction to "I dont dream of labor". I remember my grandfather working himself to death, turning to alcohol to survive under capitalism to raise five kids. Even farther back, my great grandfather had a barber shop out the back of his house and provided for 12 kids, my great grandmother having to stay home with them. He also turned to drink. My father was lucky/unlucky to die young suddenly, but even he worked up until his death to provide for two young kids. The cycle of generational trauma resulting from capitalism and patriarchy is staggering. My family is still reeling from the effects of alcoholism and absent working fathers. In Mexican culture, if you dont work yourself to death providing for your family, you're a weak excuse for a man. I mourn for the lives of the men of my family lost to capitalism.

Great video! The first thing I thought of when hearing the “I don’t dream of labor” discourse was really the fact that a lot of the people making the videos didn’t seem to be aware that other peoples labor enabled them to not dream of labor. What I mean by that is if you have a successful RU-vid channel that you’re able to make videos on and live off of while broadcasting your hobbies to millions you have to be able to acknowledge that bc those people are working and thus able to subscribe to your patreon and buy products from companies that sponsor you, you are then able to not dream of labor. A lot of them just didn’t seem to realize that they were still part of the system. I don’t know if I articulated my point well but I think y’all will get what I’m trying to say.

My father was at work and "fell asleep on the job" the night he went to the hospital for the last time and died a few days later. There were jokes that he worshipped the owner of his company that went kn for years. I had a real life John Henry. I don't know if he did this to set himself outside of "those other black people" or if he felt that work give him value and status, perhaps both. This has really helped to organise my thoughts about it and maybe understand who he was better.

"Carl doesn't work as hard as John Henry... but he does difficult work that hurts him to do." That shit hit me hard

Oh Disney…don’t even get me started on The Princess and the Frog. Tiana is basically the female John Henry. If only folks just knew how to work hard, then their dreams would come true. Sure Tiana, that was the problem for black folks in New Orleans in the 20’s…😐

14:40 I had heard the term "magical negro" before, and had known of a few examples. But your picture with Lucius Fox from Batman gave me pause, then chuckle and think, "huh, you know, you're right." Also kind of interesting thought that Morgan Freeman was so many of them.

Thanks for mentioning Anansi, the images from the book have been stuck in my head from when i was little but I had no clue what it was from, it really means a lot to me to learn it now.

"I don't dream of labor" means "I don't dream of doing work I have no share in, no say in, and do not inherently benefit from". We all dream of doing things, like writing a book or building a table or scaping a fishtank or training in a sport, or whatever else brings us personal fulfillment and satisfaction. The issue with today's society is that we are seldom, if ever, permitted to do that thing, that artistic and creative endeavor, without having to exchange our labor for money, which often takes the enjoyment out of doing that thing. In short, the concept of "I don't dream of labor" is a promotion of the idea of everyone having their basic needs met so no one _needs_ to exchange labor for money, and we can pursue our artistic and creative endeavors while still being allowed to have everything required to live. It is a condemnation of capitalism, because we can cover everyone's basic needs but are not allowed to because a handful of sociopaths won't let us.

I've mostly experienced the John Henry story as a cautionary tale (with the exception of an episode of the Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy.) I've heard his story sung as a work song with a slow tempo. People would use it to set the work speed so they wouldn't end up dead like Henry.

For all my fellow weed smokers if you ever smoked "9 pound hammer" that strain name derives from this John Henry story

So, almost 20yrs ago my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. He went through surgery and chemo and eventually surgery and chemo again when they found it had become Stage 4 Liver Cancer. After surgery, when he could drive again and be on his feet, and his insurance was only paying him about 65% of his wage, he went back to work. He was Union and had to have management, his Union Rep and HR all sit down when he decided to go back to work to make sure that everyone knew that this was not a policy that was going to be used elsewhere. He was still on chemo and we didn't know if it would come back. He said "I can't do this, we need to get some money coming in here." We're all white, Southern, and not poor, but not rich either. He lived, thankfully he was here to break my heart when I came out, but when he potentially had months to live. When we didn't know if his remission would take, he still spent that time working. I want to talk about class and race, but I don't currently have the proper framing to do a nuanced thing on it. I think I'll stop now I have something in my eye.

The part where he says hustlers actually work very hard is pretty important for me personally. I grew up in poverty and was raised around a lot of people who would be considered hustlers, especially my parents at the time. I can confirm that it is not easy, so many people have to work so hard just to survive and unfortunately it is very often overlooked

One comment on the interpretation of "I don't dream of labor" that I've held to in a socialist context is that the saying doesn't necessarily mean "I don't want to work." I believe it's a misconception that many people have about socialists and socialism, that socialists don't want to work. In my experience, socialists do want to work, they just want that work to be meaningful (defined as: useful to regular people in amd around their communities) and not exploitative. There is work which needs to be done which is being left undone because, under capitalism, it's not possible to have work done on a massive scale if it does not generate profit. We don't (all) want total freedom from labor, work, and effort, we want freedom from profit and exploitation. If people could sustain their lives, support their families, and feel satisfied in their labor while doing something actually useful (like picking up trash, planting trees, cleaning waterways, or working for social justice) many of us actually would. However, under a capitalist system that work is (intentionally or unintentionally) left unprofitable, and the very people who need that work done, and who would benefit most from it, are instead required to sell their labor in order to sustain their lives and the lives of their families.

11:36 how did he get such a high res picture of ronald reagan? My man time traveled

A big thing is seeing your parents working bone breaking jobs they hate. They do it for decades and their bodies keep getting weaker and sicker but even in their 60s they cling on until legal retirement, just to barely get by and having no way of life afterwards because they haven't done anything besides work for most of their lives

The Disney John Henry animation is a tragedy dressed up as a heroic folk tale.

I'm a black gay man in my 50's, and I am all about the 'I don't dream of labor' train. All of this 40 hours a week, or more is BS aka BS jobs. I might be heading towards homelessness really soon, but I can't do this anymore. I don't have any children, but I've got plenty to nieces and nephews so I am very concerned about the climate emergency, and I can't see the point in all of this hustle without thinking about how this will impact future generations. I really like your deductive reasoning, but I think this conversation is pointed in the wrong direction. I wish you & your children well.

Thank you so much for the link to Brillant! Enjoying working through the content and looking for ways to apply what I learn. Wishing you continued success on your journey.

Excellent video, thank you. I am neither Black nor American, so I was unfamiliar with most of this, and it’s really interesting to hear how that experience of labour compares to mine as a disabled person. (I’d also love to hear from Black disabled ppl about this!). So for me: I am severely mentally ill, autistic, and constantly in pain from my fibromyalgia. I have been almost entirely non-functional since I was a teenager. I have never even had a chance to enter the workforce, and even the times I have tried to, well… I’m in my 20s with a completely blank resume and no qualifications or degrees or anything. I used to dream of labour, in the kind of way that you dream of something you wish for but know you can never have. I used to dream that I could just somehow, some day, find some kind of job that would accept me, and that wouldn’t completely destroy me. But even then… it wasn’t labour I was dreaming of. It was the ability to actually live my life, and support myself, and have the freedom to exist. This really reached a peak when I first realised I was trans; I had no other option but to live with and be supported by my parents, but for *years*, they absolutely refused to accept me or to allow me to transition, and I just wished I could have the means to do that. But, since qualifying for my country’s disability pension a couple of years ago? Honestly, there is no longer anything that appeals to me about labour. Yeah, I am still paid beneath the poverty line, and yeah, living truly independently is far more difficult than it should be (both bc of my disabilities, and bc of not getting paid enough). But like… I have enough to live on now. I can live away from my parents, and even when I am living with them, I have the *option* to leave if they treat me unacceptably - both of which have not only improved my life and my independence, but have also significantly improved our relationship. Now, my university studies aren’t something I have to rush through as my only option for the future, thus burning myself out even harder and faster; I can study part time, take as long as I need, and thus actually cope with and enjoy my education. I have the time and the energy and the stability to consistently work on my music, and make more and more progress with it, instead of being too burnt out or stressed or desperate to get anywhere with it. And I mean. If I can have all of this freedom and stability and independence and opportunity. If I can do so many of the things I want to do, without having to destroy my body and mind extracting profit for some rich fuck in some meaningless task. And if all this is possible *even with* all the all the ways my disability (and transness) makes existing so much harder, with a sub-poverty level pay in a huge cost of living crisis. Well, for me, I no longer dream of labour. Instead, I dream of a world where *everyone* is taken care of. I dream of the day that *everyone* has this same support and independence and *nobody* has to grind themselves to dust just to survive. And I dream of a world where the basic ability to survive is not conditional, but instead a guarantee for everyone. So that’s what, I think. (Also, just a weird kinda addendum I guess: the discussion of crime/“illegal hustling” when neither labour nor revolution are possible for you, is also something I have a little experience with. I am/was a drug addict from the time I was 15, and combined with the inaccessibility of labour for me, that led to me having a lot of experience with the drug market, on both sides of the equation. However, this is much more complicated for me to talk about, firstly bc my whiteness protected me a lot from the police in ways that other people are not protected, secondly bc I can’t really get into it without talking a lot about drugs and drug laws themselves in a way that’s not really relevant to the main topic, and thirdly because honestly I don’t really wanna talk about it. But, I guess I’d feel kinda remiss if I didn’t mention that it was another thing that I found really interesting about this video, and that the topic of “drug-related labour” is a huge thing on its own that I wish was explored more often)

I think this ties into my own kneejerk reaction to this movement, namely, "okay, but even if we live in a communist utopia, labor will not disappear." It would be more accurate for me to say that I dream that my labor will be fulfilling. I dream that the product of my labor will meet my needs. I dream that it will serve my community. Most of all, I dream that my labor will not be exploited.

This is it, man. I know I'm with the rest of the late comers, but I've done most of your back catalogue, and hit up some of your recommended other channels I know you'll be bringing some awesome creators along with you. This is your job now. Enjoy it :)

I’m starting to watch your videos while I work on projects, it helps keep me occupied and I get to learn something important! Thank you!

I'm so glad someone finally pointed out the john henry thing. I saw this when I was a kid & idealized it, but now I'm 25 & have worked in high demand fields. Now I'm working part time & doing gig work because I consistently burned myself out. I'm currently trying my best to find a work life balance.

Growing up as a Mexican American in an immigrant community surrounded by a mostly white environment, black content and experiences are the closest thing I ever had as representation, especially in media. This whole work yourself to death of John Henry is the same as "I'll rest when I'm dead" thing I heard growing up. Thank you for providing some fantastic content as always 🇲🇽

Seeing Eddie Murphy get the respect he deserves on this channel gives me life.

I learned a lot from this, thank you! Also respect the commitment to the hustler dance clip👏🏻

It's just like when people say work hard and you'll be successful but what if you work hard and still fail while your lazy friend gets the job you desperately wanted?

I’m from StL, and East St.Louis still hasn’t recovered from those events over 100 years ago. Like most riots, it’s something you have to find out yourself, and our local history museum has one plaque dedicated to it.

I’d never thought about the Anansi/80’s Eddie Murphy parallels before. But I really like that.

You're the first Black person on RU-vid I've listened to talk about Black history and pieces of work pertaining to minorities that spoke with facts and extremely understandable explanations of how they correlate. I heavily respect that, because all of the other ones tend to focus solely on the victimization of colored people but not how they were bred to believe that this is the way of life for them. I actually walked away learning several things about history of Black people. I genuinely love learning American history even though I never use the knowledge I get. Your presentation is amazing and you earned my sub. 😁

As usual, you continue to really show an important perspective on things (along with Storyteller and StAndrew, love them). I think for me on this whole movement is that I have a different concept of what labour is than the "I don't dream of labour" movement. Probably because I'm a creative and if my needs were met I wouldn't stop writing. I'd write more, for free, for fun, I'd write whatever the hell I felt like instead of just trying to convince producers and execs that my idea is marketable. And it's not because I fetishize labour, it's because I enjoy doing it. When it comes to day to day, though, I would still want to work on things to help me figure things out. I like building things, I like to cook, I like to teach and practice martial arts. Any of these would be fulfilling to me as long as my needs were met, but if they were met, I could do all of them as I wanted to. THAT is what it is for me. If you'd want to veg out all day, I personally don't think you're wrong. But I've done that before, I've been living at home as a young adult with no goals or job and I hated it. Not because I fetishize jobs, I fucking hate jobs, but the part I hate the least is the tasks I work on. I hate the hierarchy, I hate the expectations, I hate the mandates and corporate brainwashing videos. If I express antiwork, it's not because I want to remove myself from the reality of having to work jobs. I'm a fucking custodian when I'm not writing. It's that I hate the way that work is controlled, I'm anti-that. If things were voluntary, I'd work in more things, learn more skills, do more with my time, and feel less exhausted. I'm a custodian now because it doesn't burn me out and stop me from writing. And I don't write to make money, I write because I love to write, I just hope I can make a living off that too. Maybe all of this is irrelevant nonsense. I just wanted to get my thoughts down. I'm a Criollo (White-Latino), just to be clear on where I'm coming from.

Here is the "There's even more to learn from I Don't Dream of Labor than you thought" video that I've been waiting for.

I love how our historic culture of trickster figures can be seen in our current culture

Thank you for adding all the sources too! They're very helpful!

What a great video! Again, it was eye opening all the way. Thank you so much for shareing it.

I always thought of I don't dream of Labor as a response to people literally asking people about their dream jobs. I looked at as an extension of when James Baldwin said "it is our duty to achieve the impossible"(paraphrasing). Like we have to reimagine what is possible and within that the largely unfulfilling labor that we take on within a capitalist system is what we dream of eradicating. It's a snappy comeback, at least it started that way. Amazing video as always fam!

It’s crazy how fast this channel is growing. I remember coming across a video last month and then just binging the channel. I never thought the Bo Burnham video was going to do what it did but the fact it did, not only shed light on your channel, but multitude of well done video essays on the channel. Love the videos

As someone who can't have the "black experience" (sorry if there's a better way to put that) I really liked this video. I want to learn more about these issues so I can try and help to stop them. The hardest thing for me is just wrapping my head around how some people can have such a lack of empathy that this even has to be an issue. It genuinely makes my blood boil hearinf these things because I know lots know of people (talking about employers) can be doing better, and it's not hard to just make the attempt. I'm definitely subscribing, keep up the good work

Every time I watch one of your videos. I feel like I have a voice. I really appreciate you doing this. Although I have no intention to touch on some of the topics that you cover, I feel like there's a chance that what I want to create won't be ignored. Thank you.

I’ve always wanted to find a grown black man leftist to listen to and you’re literally the perfect match.

You put into words so well why I couldn’t stand the John Henry short when we would watch it in class! I cried every time. It just seemed like senseless loss and hardship glorified, but it was 6th grade and I couldn’t understand why I hated it.

I clicked this because I anticipated seeing someone talk about something messed up in Disney and then this black dreaded man pops up correctly using terminology that ppl will twist intentionally to promote a narrative and at 0:47 I’m immediately hooked and subscribing…I wish I could express myself verbally in this manner

Thanks for continuing to raise your voice and to be vulnerable about your experiences. I became a little more aware today.