this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2025
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[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 5 points 12 hours ago

Plot twist: Graph was mad with AI

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago

Project Manager was #1 but they told the artist it didn't fit the scope.

[–] Shardikprime@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Graphics designer maybe, creative, probably

But artist?

Negro please

[–] HollowNaught@lemmy.world 9 points 22 hours ago

They were probably asked an open ended question. Artist is likely the most common answer given due to the simple fact that more people can think of that job compared to PR manager when asked

[–] Shard@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

A quick image search returned this

https://mothership.sg/2020/06/milieu-survey-sunday-times-essential/

So many commenters are missing crucial context to this infographic.

This was released during peak covid and I mean PEAK as in June 2020, global lockdowns, high mortality rates, shortages of essentials. In case anyone has a short memory, the world as we knew it practically ground to a halt.

Not to take away anything from artists but essential in this context meant essential to the basic human needs. Health, Nutrition, Sanitation.

[–] Zron@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

The world you knew ground to a halt.

I was working in healthcare at the time. I was doing 60 hours a week, home, work, home, work, home, work. Nonstop.

The world did not stop because you couldn’t go into an office to sit and work.

[–] Shardikprime@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Maybe they worked remote before and during the pandemic

[–] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 142 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Telemarketer should've been number 1.

[–] BossDj@lemm.ee 32 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Haven't you noticed? People love to be advertised at these days.

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[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 84 points 1 day ago (13 children)

You can tell this is a poll of what people perceive to be the important jobs because doctor is #1. The most important jobs by sector in order of importance for developed nations is

  1. power supply- we all need electricity and few of us have the ability to generate it ourselves

  2. water supply- getting enough clean water for your day to cook and wash is a near full time job. For Americans a gallon of water is roughly 8lbs and your average toilet uses 3-5 gallons per flush. It would take much of the day to get and purify the water you use

  3. sanitation workers- this the poll got right. The folks collecting waste do more directly for public health than most doctors could hope to do.

[–] knexcar@lemmy.world 7 points 18 hours ago

your average toilet uses 3-5 gallons per flush

I’m pretty sure toilets generally use 1.6 gallons per flush, and that’s a legal mandate.

Source: used to have an autistic obsession with them.

[–] 96VXb9ktTjFnRi@feddit.nl 8 points 1 day ago

What about the least essential?

  1. Tax consultants - helping companies avoid contributing to society
  2. Marketeers - manipulating people into buying worse products for higher prices
  3. Middle management - causing a lot of fuzz while doing nothing of significance.

Just to name a few. An artists contribution may be abstract but it's certainly there. There are others that actively sabotage society and very often they make a lot of money.

[–] EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm honestly surprised that cleaner and garbage collector are as high up there on the list as they are because those seem to be jobs that society generally looks down on.

At least the graphic has that going for it.

[–] candybrie@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Wonder if it was a poll during 2020. COVID really highlighted cleaners' jobs as essential.

[–] Takumidesh@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I wonder if doctors get elevated on these polls because people feel like it is a more unattainable skill.

I would imagine a lot of people (falsely) assume that it would be easy to plop people into power plants to keep them running, but harder to replace doctors.

My completely unknowledgeable take is that if we had to pick and choose people for the post apocalypse job hunt, we would want way more mechanics and engineers than doctors. Doctors need a lot of hard to obtain stuff to do the most doctor-ey part of their jobs, and if we aren't worried about laws and regulations, then we don't need them for things like prescriptions.

Most of what they would be needed for in that scenario to me seems like emergency care, like first aid, which you don't really need all the superfluous med school training for.

Meanwhile, the hydroelectric dam that the new post apocalypse group is forming at needs a lot of varied disciplines and specialties just to keep it running.

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[–] teegus@sh.itjust.works 88 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Art is important for people's well being, which is important for essential workers' ability to work. Weird thst artists are considered less essential than telemarketers.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 44 points 1 day ago

I recall watching a singer saying something like the following during an interview "If art and culture are so worthless, return all the time you spent watching movies and series, return all the time you spent listening to music, all the poems and lyrics you sang with friends or to loved ones. I won't ask you to return the stories you read because it's clear you don't read."

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 18 points 1 day ago

I can possibly see an argument that "artist" isn't an essential job because people make loads of art when it's not their job anyway. Nobody's doing telemarketing as their hobby

However I very much doubt that this was the actual context for whatever this graphic was trying to show

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[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 37 points 1 day ago (10 children)

Always remember, music is also art. Now imagine a world where theres no music. You can't listen to anything while driving, riding the bus, going shopping etc.

[–] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago

I don't listen to anything in any of those scenarios.

Many people are not listening music 24/7.

Music is nice, I don't say it's not. But you could 100% live without it.

[–] randon31415@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (4 children)

You can listen to things while driving, but it is either NPR, talk radio, or church sermons.

[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Not NPR, that's writing and journalism, which id argue is definitely an art.

Have fun with 500 versions of Alex Jones though.

[–] Glytch@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

No, there's even art in Alex Jones. Remember bad art exists and is still art.

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[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

the 23% of people who didn't vote for garbage collector... Are they hoarders?

[–] Jolteon@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

They're the people who just haul their own trash to the dump.

[–] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I know they meant painter but graphic designer is probably one of the most important jobs if we’re talking about business. A company without some sort of graphic is dead in the water.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] m4xie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 16 hours ago
[–] 2deck@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah? Well.. Who designed their font?

I think that font might be Proxima Nova, which was designed by Mark Simonson. When looking up that name, I learned that this design was inspired by "the roundness of geometric sans serifs like Futura" and "the proportions of modern grotesques like Helvetica.", so I suppose we should also tip our hats to Paul Renner (Futura), and Max Midinger and Eduard Hoffman (Helvetica)

(N.b. I am only moderately knowledgeable in typeface history. Any other nerds who enjoy learning may appreciate this random video

[–] postnataldrip@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Guessing this might be non-essential workers as per covid lockdowns, ie how important it is for them to attend a workplace in person, but it's definitely funnier if it is a ranked list of perceived importance to society, so let's go with that

[–] InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Its right about telemarketing

[–] Magister@lemmy.world 59 points 1 day ago (1 children)

non-essential jobs is about everyone with a MBA

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[–] BlueLineBae@midwest.social 32 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I used to think this was true while working for a B2B company as a graphic designer. Everything just seemed pointless like I wasn't contributing anything meaningful to the world. But I do think that art in its many forms contributes meaningfully to culture in general and can also be quite powerful when used well. History of graphic design shows just how influential designs were in Nazi Germany and how similar techniques are still used today. Then there is the matter of UI design and how it's increasingly become essential today. While most applications it's fine to have a frustrating piece of garbage, UI is rather important for things like medical systems, car displays, and other areas where getting it wrong could mean life or death. Unfortunately my job is still pretty useless to society regardless of these points made. I'll go back to my corner now.

[–] 000999@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 18 hours ago

I was thinking along the same lines - art is important for distributing information.

[–] trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I used to think this was true while working for a B2B company as a graphic designer. Everything just seemed pointless like I wasn’t contributing anything meaningful to the world.

You could say similar things about company doctors that just try to get people back to work without caring for their wellbeing. Companies do not necessarily bring out the best possible use of skills.

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[–] Haaveilija@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (3 children)

But what about telephone sanitisers, account executives, hairdressers, tired TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, public relations executives, and management consultants?

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[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (12 children)

Without art, what's the meaning?

Shareholder value

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[–] TorJansson@lemm.ee 9 points 1 day ago

Artist? I think the job was passed off to the first person passing the bosses desk.

[–] NocturnalEngineer@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (10 children)

Sorry, why is cleaner #2 in the list?

Farmers, Engineers, Police/Fire/Ambulance, Teachers, etc...

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