You exaggerate the consequences of simply quitting your job/profession. You won't be pushed into the "margins of existence" if you don't have three months' salary saved up. People do it all the time. However you define homelessness, you won't end up without shelter or food. You'd even be better off than the guy you describe who doesn't read substack articles.
Are you hemmed in by fear of a bad credit score? Is that misery on the margin of existence? (Is your non-substack reader a miserable person on the margin of existence?)
See your point, and yes - perhaps I am being a bit too dramatic or too tainted by my "poverty mindset" of my early life. I grew up being told that we were one pink slip away from living on the street, and only later found that this was a myth that was intended to be "motivational" or "foster appreciation" in us children of the family (not sure this was accomplished). But I would add that different fields have different degrees of connectivity. Academia is uniquely toxic in that - even though your workplace isn't allowed to share your reason for dismissal/resignation/termination, so many connections exist across universities and so many meaningless "conferences" (paid vacations) are filled with water cooler conversations that amount to little more than plausibly deniable "gossip."
Add to this the newfound tactic of the woke to feel compelled to "name names" so as to "warn others about abusers" (what the threshold is for warning others, and who qualifies as an abuser is of course completely arbitrary) creates a sticky employment situation. Technically no one knows why I left one job, but unofficially...everyone will know. I could go back to working in the private sector, but I left that side because I was utterly burned out by a different kind of horror. If I just had to make ends meet, I'd find a way. But even if I was able to get some kind of soul-sucking job to pay the rent, this is still a punishment.
I'd also like to add just one thing re: your "bad credit score" comment. I know you were being a bit hyperbolic to prove a point, but I will say that I have a chronic medical condition that requires regular care, durable medical equipment, and has required 8 surgeries in the last 7 years. So while I'm sure I could do COBRA or get Medicaid or some such shit, I do think losing my job could have seriously deleterious effects for me, at least in the context of the US insurance system.
As always, thanks for the comment my friend - sorry it took me a bit to respond, it's been a week.
You exaggerate the consequences of simply quitting your job/profession. You won't be pushed into the "margins of existence" if you don't have three months' salary saved up. People do it all the time. However you define homelessness, you won't end up without shelter or food. You'd even be better off than the guy you describe who doesn't read substack articles.
Are you hemmed in by fear of a bad credit score? Is that misery on the margin of existence? (Is your non-substack reader a miserable person on the margin of existence?)
Which predicament is worse?
See your point, and yes - perhaps I am being a bit too dramatic or too tainted by my "poverty mindset" of my early life. I grew up being told that we were one pink slip away from living on the street, and only later found that this was a myth that was intended to be "motivational" or "foster appreciation" in us children of the family (not sure this was accomplished). But I would add that different fields have different degrees of connectivity. Academia is uniquely toxic in that - even though your workplace isn't allowed to share your reason for dismissal/resignation/termination, so many connections exist across universities and so many meaningless "conferences" (paid vacations) are filled with water cooler conversations that amount to little more than plausibly deniable "gossip."
Add to this the newfound tactic of the woke to feel compelled to "name names" so as to "warn others about abusers" (what the threshold is for warning others, and who qualifies as an abuser is of course completely arbitrary) creates a sticky employment situation. Technically no one knows why I left one job, but unofficially...everyone will know. I could go back to working in the private sector, but I left that side because I was utterly burned out by a different kind of horror. If I just had to make ends meet, I'd find a way. But even if I was able to get some kind of soul-sucking job to pay the rent, this is still a punishment.
I'd also like to add just one thing re: your "bad credit score" comment. I know you were being a bit hyperbolic to prove a point, but I will say that I have a chronic medical condition that requires regular care, durable medical equipment, and has required 8 surgeries in the last 7 years. So while I'm sure I could do COBRA or get Medicaid or some such shit, I do think losing my job could have seriously deleterious effects for me, at least in the context of the US insurance system.
As always, thanks for the comment my friend - sorry it took me a bit to respond, it's been a week.
Likewise your point is taken abouts health insurance. That's the main leverage employers often have.