I read this very passage just last night. I would have transcribed it myself if I hadn't shut down the computer for the night. I definitely thought of Holden while reading this.
That entire chapter was very antagonistic against the entire "work ethic" of the systemoidal gorts.
I could not help but recall how devastated I was two decades ago when I lost my job with the government (state parks service) after an arrest for eluding the police. It really hurt even though I used it as an opportunity to finally get a college degree.
Still, it was the shock of how that relationship with "my employer," the government, the actual system-in-itself, panned out, that left such an impression on me, that made me so jaded. I knew that I was a rather conscentious and devoted "worker." I felt betrayed that no one stood by me in my hour of trouble. Maybe it was then that I truly lost my desire to ever be a "good employee" again.
And yet, even sitting in a jail cell the months following my arrest (1997), I caught myself almost relieved that I was no longer obligated to empty the trash bins in the "Region Office," that I no longer needed to worry about any gossip about me or defend myself against accusations of "no longer being a GOOD WORKER". Now I shamelessly devote myself to my own autodidactic education, just as, for nearly 13 years straight, I devoted my energies to remaining inebriated ... high as a kite.
So, if Dostoevsky / Dostoyevski / Dostoyevsky is correct, the belief that any kind of "job" or "employment" is better than no job at all is a Big Fat MYTH that is not grounded in reality.
Side note: About the spelling of Dostoyevsky:
There are several transliteration systems - ways in which you can convert Cyrrilic (Russian) characters into English ones. Some are based primarily on letters, other systems pay more attention to sound.
Almost everyone agrees on the beginning of the name, but there are two middles and four endings.
i
Dosto evsk y
yevsk ij
ii
That makes for 1*2*4 = 8 spellings not including variations in other languages: Dostoevsky, Dostoevski, Dostoevskij, Dostoevskii, Dostoyevsky, Dostoyevski, Dostoyevskij, Dostoyevskii.
The most prevailing spelling in English form seems to be Dostoevsky, but I prefer writing Dostoyevsky because this is more of a phonetic form; that is, this is how I pronounce the name.
If Maughan should view this post, maybe he might share his thoughts on his preference. If I remember correctly, I think he studies the Russian language quite a bit, so he may have insight into the reasons for the diverse translations of the
Cyrrilic into Latinized/Romanized "English" alphabet.
Speaking of work ethics, my nephew brought to my attention a rather peculiar contradiction. It is something Senor Raul has pointed out to me in the past. While both Raul and I agree that laziness is not such a terrible characteristic to possess, especially in this over-industrious and pesky species, my nephew has pointed out to me that, when it comes to working through mathematics texts or writing some particular code, I do tend to move full steam ahead. I have witnessed myself over the past few years "working" extremely long days - although I am usually at liberty to take a nap if I so choose. It can't be compared to forced labor or being trapped in an office working on tedious tasks to keep wealthy owners wealthy, or just to appease some fascistic foreman, gang boss, or other such managerial slime.
While the author of
33 myths of the system, Darren Allen, may find my current obsessions with math and programming more than a little off-putting, I do share much of his disdain for the authority worshipping mob of gorts and their values.
My only reservation in reading this is that I no longer romanticize the hunter-gatherer societies (of today or of 10,000 years ago). Since discovering that little philosophical treatsie by Thomas Ligotti a few years ago, I have found myself evermore pessimistic about human nature, animal nature, and "the nature of all living organisms and all human socieites" in general.
There are those who would argue that my views are shaped by my experiences in the industrial world, but I have strong suspicions that, were I born into a pre-industrial, pre-agricultural, "pre-historic" tribe hundreds of thousands of years ago, I would have been tossed into a volcano as an "offering" to their Godhead. Or, even were I born a bird, I would be devoured by a large reptile while pecking in the dirt for a worm. Life is not a pic-nic, after all. It never will be, and it never has been.