Thursday, October 8, 2009

is an idea an idea if there is no one to hear it?


With the exit of the Bylers, I have been left without an appropriate audience for rambling rants. What is an appropriate audience?
(1) the propensity to listen and remember. Asking pertinent questions is a plus as is an occasional summary. Example: "So you don't feel good about selling your future descendants into economic servitude by saddling them with Chinese debt to ensure the steady growth curve of the investment portfolios of the capitalist overlords and their subsidized libertarian lackeys on wall street?" An easy laugh and a short beard to pull on are also recommended.
(2) THEY MUST LIVE NEAR BY. Or relatively near.
(3) The audience must demonstrate a working knowledge of science, journalism, bob dylan, the history of western civilization, economics, anti-globalism, the history of western china, mormonism, blue collar jobs, editing, mandarin, ethnography of the amish, photography and composition in various media.
(4) They must have time to come visit. This is the short list.

So, what happens to an unheard idea. Does it dry out like a raisin in the sun, or simply go away? On the odd chance anyone is listening, here are my recent ideas.

How to live in a "bad economy"

Try to be paid less than you are worth. It might not sound flashy but when times get tough, you are not first on the expendable list. Another way to say this might be; make sure you are worth more than you are paid.

Try not to work at anything that can be unionized. Not that I object to unions. Submitting to a union is accepting that you are a small, easily replaced, cog in a big wheel. For example in a hospital the people who clean are unionized, the people who feed patients and perform routine assistance are unionized, the people who read and make charts are unionized, the people behind the desks are unionized. Who is not unionized? The people making the actual decisions, the Doctors. If you make yourself replaceable, you probably will be. The economic ground may shift under your feet and people in China or immigrants from a less economically developed country than yours may be available to take your place. When was the last time you were in a hospital without nurses from the Philippines. The proud unionized GM workers who thought they were organizing a secure future are now panhandling the taxpayer. Learn to do what others cannot, not what they can.

Avoid management. If you have a longing to manage someone, be self employed and manage yourself. Management is a passport to the land of the mundane, meetings and creativity crushing boredom.

Avoid debt and consumption. Contrary to the ideology of the last two administrations, mindless consumption is not the path to anything positive. Do not "go shopping so the terrorists won't win." Do not buy a car you cannot pay for because of a federal subsidy. If the President sends you "stimulus money," stimulate your own economy by paying down debt. Avoid debt and consumption, it only encourages them.




9 comments:

  1. I don't really qualify as an appropriate audience but I'm not going to let that stop me. according to your points I am in pretty good shape. I am not paid at all for my job (it's pretty hard to be worth less than that), am not a union member, am not in a position of management and am working hard at point 4.
    please publish more handmade rants.

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  2. Wow Harlan, I think you're right that an unheard idea might either dry out like a raisin (does this mean that it becomes more focused/concentrated?) or simply go away. Either way, I'm happy to see few here!

    I agree with your sentiment regarding unionized work. The danger of non-union service work for infirmed people and machines is that these workers will be undervalued and treated "unjustly" for their lack of "skill-set" development and test-taking ability. Someone needs to drive the trains and buses and take care of the menial needs of the sick if we want to have a well functioning society. And sometimes being a fantastic bus driver doesn't translate into a great salary. Creative work, though, should be the aspiration of those of us who have the opportunity to imagine outside the grids of the modern plans which we(perhaps worship or at least) call human Progress (technology/economies/politics/sciences etc).

    What you are calling for is the embrace of difference. That is, carving out for yourself a role that provides the right (the better and always better) response to a given situation.
    There probably is a place for community building (management?) and collaboration, but such enterprises should be those that push you toward the new and possible not that which pulls back toward a dogma through coercion or fancy pictures.

    Of course, buying junk from the man is not a good idea. Although evaluating objects, choosing good things to buy, is an important way of giving sense and meaning to the material world, "mindless consumption" (which is automatic consumption?) which follows senselessly the cues of the signs that surround us in this power-perverted society is almost automatically ridiculous.

    A good audience (I think) hears an idea and turns it around like an upturned mirror toward the next plateau where it can be knocked around again. I don't know if I managed that, but I did at least admire your handmade saw again and think about what you said as though I was part of an odd chance!

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  3. This is amazing. I have four "followers" for so little effort. I wonder what that says about social media.

    Mathew, I suppose parenting is the ultimate example of being worth more than you are paid. No wonder it's so valuable.

    Darren, I agree there is a place for unions. They can, and have, provide a counter-balance to unrestrained capitalism but they also become a channel for dehumanization by repressing individualism and creativity.

    "Automatic Consumption", good one.

    -Harlan

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  4. Unions, despite the heady Marxist theories of equity, are nothing more than an attempted monopolization of the labor market. Their unfortunate attempts at economic and physical, historically often violent, coercion have not secured what they intended. Coercion never does. They have helped usher in the current economic unsustainability and state-capitalist currents we are facing. (Oh and they protect incompetence at the expense of the most vulnerable among us, the children)

    This from some-one who has been to more union meetings than most and has been a card carrying unionist member for nearly a decade now. And part of one of the strongest unions in the USA. There is nothing a like a good dose of union involvement to get a pretty clear picture of what they have accomplished.

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  5. You have four followers already because your one post is a rare intersection of practicality and idealism in blog-land. You make a good point about unions; but maybe we should also ask why we can't value the work of bus drivers and machinists and maintenance workers even if they are replaceable. Maybe we need to question the logical end of a society where every person, every service is ultimately valued in terms of dollars...hence, a mere cog and not a human being?

    I come by way of Jenn's link on Facebook. Not to play the Mennonite game or anything, but my sister Rachel has been to NYC to teach VBS for the last three summers. It's been a fantastic experience for her!

    -Naomi

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  6. When will you be starting a blog "for me"?

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  7. riddle me this one. what sort of rights does an audience have? can they demand more raisins or is that inappropriate?

    while you're thinking, check out these paintings of tools from my man jon in poulsbo :http://jonsart.blogspot.com/

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  8. Justpeachy,
    Thanks for the kind words. I doubt this blog is going anywhere, it was mostly a joke for Darren. I think you are right about putting dollar values on people, what are the alternatives? Doesn't free-market captialism ultimately assign a monetary value to everything?

    Coleen,
    I don't have a blog for you but I do have a nice quote that somehow reminded me of you.

    "Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things."

    Peace,
    Harlan

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  9. Harlan, enjoyed the blog. While I agree with most of your points, the example of physicians not being unionized is not a good one. Physicians are not allowed to unionize or strike by federal law. I have heard many express a desire to do so in order to gain more traction against the insurance company and medicare behemoths that have slowly been chipping away at physician reimbursement since the 1980's.

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