Video Ben Shapiro: "No one in the United States should be retiring at 65 years old."

[Racer88]

I have no plans to retire. Literally ever. Why would I retire from the work I love? Why would I quit? To do WHAT? Retirement is a social construct that makes no sense to me. Retirement = waiting to die, in my opinion.

View: https://x.com/joeroganhq/status/1971360926009024612

 

[Bongo Lewi]

I have no plans to retire. Literally ever. Why would I retire from the work I love? Why would I quit? To do WHAT? Retirement is a social construct that makes no sense to me. Retirement = waiting to die, in my opinion.

View: https://x.com/joeroganhq/status/1971360926009024612

Say those who have never been a plumber.

No reason to retire if you are a Poindexter. But a man who does physical work - pounds nails, crawls around on his knees doing plumbing, climbs ladders, pounds fenders, etc. may not be ill but jobs like that over a 30 some year career takes a toll on the body.

I sat at a desk as an engineer and did a great deal of field work in nasty, noisy, hot industrial and marine environments, but mostly I walked around telling people what to do. I could do that until I could no longer walk. Fast forward to carrying a gun and being responsible for protecting others... that requires physical fitness: Speed, agility, strength. These are not qualities your average 70 year old has or can still brag about. I am creeping up on 60 and in excellent physical shape but I am not the same man I was at 45. Weaker but wiser.

A sole proprietor or craftsman who doesnt have to contend with physical work... like an accountant or gunsmith... can do that work for a long time. Until his eyesight. cognitive ability, or dexterity prevent it. Point is... retirement is not black as white as Ben Shapiro (who talks for a living) suggests. He's a Poindexter.

For me, retirement isn't about capitulation. It's about telling the world to fuck off and getting away from the assholes that I have had to deal with to make a living. No clients, no meetings, no email, no phone calls, no bosses, co-workers or employees, no drama.

 

[Racer88]

Point is... retirement is not black as white as Ben Shapiro (who talks for a living) suggests. He's a Poindexter.

I believe his point is exactly that... it's not black and white, which is the very definition of an arbitrary retirement age such as 65 years old.

Also, "retirement" from a particularly physical job does not mean one has to retire completely from all work. Obviously, depending on your physical condition you could transition to another type of work or another role in the same field. Or a whole new field.

I stand by my belief that actual retirement from ALL forms of work is a really bad idea in most cases. It's waiting to die. It creates a lack of purpose. Supposedly, a "study" showed that men, on average, will die within 5 years of retirement.

 

[Bongo Lewi]

It creates a lack of purpose. Supposedly, a "study" showed that men, on average, will die within 5 years of retirement.

Men who define themselves by their job probably do drop dead sooner after retiring. They quit working and feel useless. I don't suffer from this. I've already sort of semi-retired because I could. I would rather be fishing or hunting or shooting pistols or clays full time. All day every day. Shit... cutting the grass and tending a garden I'm so happy I'm whistling Dixie out of my asshole.

It's also said women go nuts when the kids are grown and the nest is empty. Some of my friends are wishing for death. The wife is driving them crazy. The kids are grown and living their own lives. So the wife begins micromanaging them.

When my old man retired, he quickly became the grumpy old man pissed off at the world. It didn't kill him. He lived to be 90. He was a very accomplished guy who pulled himself up by his bootstraps as they say. He could never understand why I didn't give a fuck about people thinking I was important. When I quit my engineering job, where I was being groomed for a somewhat prestigious management position, he literally had a fucking cow. I traded that for traveling to a lot of shit hole countries, occasionally being in danger, getting shot, and having little opportunity to become a 'big wheel' as my old man would say. I had no aspirations of becoming a government bigwig. Why did I do that? Because titles and craving the respect of others was not in my hierarchy of needs. Then I started a business protecting people, who with a few exceptions are elitist assholes I don't like very much. Same job I had before in a way. Except it pays a lot better. I shut down four years ago but dove back in because there was demand and good money waiting to be had.

When I'm done, which is coming soon, I won't miss it. Nor will I be bored for one second.

 

[no4mk1t]

For me, retirement isn't about capitulation. It's about telling the world to fuck off and getting away from the assholes that I have had to deal with to make a living. No clients, no meetings, no email, no phone calls, no bosses, co-workers or employees, no drama.

This.

3 months in.

Get up in the morning when I'm done sleeping, not when an alarm goes off.
Eat a leisurely breakfast instead of grabbing a bagel. Or go to the local breakfast establishment if I don't feel like cooking.
Being able to work on projects around the house whenever I want and not having to wait for the weekend and hope the weather cooperates.

Not having to deal with the woke drama at work and having to bite your tongue when the company insurance is paying for the kid to trans because he now thinks he's a girl and at the same time saying it's not in the budget when you ask for a new office chair.

Window dressing safety programs that look good on paper but are of no real benefit. Like the Stop Cards we had to fill out monthly. They finally asked me why my Stop Card had a number 8 in a circle in the upper corner. Well, that's how many months in a row I have wrote a Stop Card for the same issue that hasn't been addressed. It told me they were just counting the cards submitted for their stats and weren't actually reading them.
And when there was no corresponding reduction in the accident rate, instead of scrapping the Stop Cards, they made submitting one a weekly thing instead of monthly. Pencil whipping commenced and made the program 4 times as useless as it started out as.
Finally, a year or so later the Stop Cards went away. Upper management saw no value in continuing a program that had no effect on actually safety on the floor.

Or during Covid when they suspended the weekly safety meetings for over a year. No change in the accident rate but reinstated them afterwards.

So, like the BTO song "Takin' Care of Business", I love to work at nothing all day.
And when the wife asks me, "What are you going to do today?" And I say, "nothing". She says, "that's what you did yesterday." And I say, "I wasn't finished".

In reality, I have a "Honey Do" list, and enough back burner gun projects to keep me busy.

Oh, and being able to go to the gun club on a week day when there is no crowd.

 

[Bongo Lewi]

Not having to deal with the woke drama at work and having to bite your tongue when the company insurance is paying for the kid to trans because he now thinks he's a girl and at the same time saying it's not in the budget when you ask for a new office chair.

Welcome to the US Government.

 

[NavyVette]

Yeah, I cannot wait to retire so I can do what I want when I want - I can mow the lawn on a weekday if I want.

Right now I have a buig network project for the home on hold till next weekend as I am on call, and may need the current wireless working at any moment of the day or night.

I also cannot take my boat out this weekend, or go to the good grocery store which is 1.5 hours away.

 

[Racer88]

Men who define themselves by their job probably do drop dead sooner after retiring. They quit working and feel useless. I don't suffer from this.

It's fairly natural / common for men to define themselves (and others they meet) by their work.

I would rather be fishing or hunting or shooting pistols or clays full time. All day every day. Shit... cutting the grass and tending a garden I'm so happy I'm whistling Dixie out of my asshole.

I can do all that now. Though I don't think I'd want to be shooting ALL day EVERY day. I'd get bored with that pretty quickly. But I can shoot as much as I want now.

It's also said women go nuts when the kids are grown and the nest is empty. Some of my friends are wishing for death. The wife is driving them crazy.

Well, there's a VERY good reason to keep working!

When my old man retired, he quickly became the grumpy old man pissed off at the world.

Another reason to keep working!

Not having to deal with the woke drama at work and having to bite your tongue when the company insurance is paying for the kid to trans because he now thinks he's a girl and at the same time saying it's not in the budget when you ask for a new office chair.

Thankfully, I don't have to deal with any of that. But if I did, I'd likely be fired!

"What are you going to do today?" And I say, "nothing". She says, "that's what you did yesterday." And I say, "I wasn't finished".

LOL! I like that.

Oh, and being able to go to the gun club on a week day when there is no crowd.

That is nice. I do that now, though. I did it today, with my son (who heads back to base tomorrow).

 

[no4mk1t]

Thankfully, I don't have to deal with any of that. But if I did, I'd likely be fired!

And that's exactly what happened to one of our female welders who went to the plant manager (also a female) to complain about trans boy using the ladies locker room. The woke corporate agenda trumped the open door policy. The next day there was a one person layoff, and she was it.

 

[no4mk1t]

It's fairly natural / common for men to define themselves (and others they meet) by their work.

I dunno. Maybe for some. For me, work was a means to keep a roof over my head and food on the table.
I would say I define myself more by my interests than by what I did for a living. If you are fortunate enough to combine the two, then yeah, I can see it. But it comes with a downside.

I used to own a boat and liked going to the lake on the weekend and water skiing, swimming, hanging out.
But when I got a job at a Marine Dealership, working on boats all day, lake tests, demos, etc., I lost the love of boating. I'd rather go shoot.

 

[rodm1]

I'm going to Retire from working for others and only work for my self. I have a never ending list of stuff to do.