Showing posts with label audienceless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audienceless. Show all posts
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.
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