One of my favorite essay is Adorno's "Free Time" in The Culture Industry [0]. When someone talks of work and rest as opposite, I always think of this quote:
>I have no hobby. Not that I am the kind of workaholic, who is incapable of doing anything with his time but applying himself industriously to the required task. But, as far as my activities beyond the bounds of my recognized profession are concerned, I take them all, without exception, very seriously.
Free Time and Rest are actually what makes us intelligent and creative. Work is experienced within its own constraint while free time let us explore and make fortunate mistakes.
This is incredibly oblivious to the fact that we, the West, as consumers are enabling these awful working conditions. Do we need to buy an iPhone every year? Does Apple really need to release a new iPhone every year?
Your comment basically says: they're poor but they're not too poor. Is there a line where poverty becomes tolerable?
In a world like ours, where we are so productive, where we can mass produces practically anything, poverty should not exist.
>I have no hobby. Not that I am the kind of workaholic, who is incapable of doing anything with his time but applying himself industriously to the required task. But, as far as my activities beyond the bounds of my recognized profession are concerned, I take them all, without exception, very seriously.
Free Time and Rest are actually what makes us intelligent and creative. Work is experienced within its own constraint while free time let us explore and make fortunate mistakes.
[0]: http://xenopraxis.net/readings/adorno_freetime.pdf