Sunday, January 30, 2022
Episode 191: An Apology For Idlers
Play Now!Today’s society values industry and work, specifically hard and grueling work. This has happened before. We should look to 1877, where good advice was given in an essay, the title of which I've stolen for this Episode 191: An Apology For Idlers.In this episode, I read from: my computer's quickie dictionary; the original 1877 essay bearing the title "An Apology for Idlers" by Robert Lewis Stevenson; Daniel Markovits' book, The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite; Annie's Box* by Randall Keynes; Passionate Minds* by David Bodanis; The Big Test by Nicholas Lemann; and tiny, unquoted bits from Evolution's Captain: the Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World by Peter Nichols, and one of Jane Austen's books (probably Pride and Prejudice).I play throughout a snippet from Episode 1, Season 1 of Jeeves and Wooster, starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Musically, I play: Podington Bear's "Gamma Ray". KMFDM backs Douglass Rushkoff in the beginning*; and I close today with Julie and Rolf and the Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow".[NB: My local library did not have two of the references, and I carelessly misplaced the source for the new Rushkoff intro. I regret my oversight. I will edit this and include it as soon as possible. I doubt I will be able to do anything, though, about my library's oversight, since they are really good books that people in Seattle really should read.]
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Amazing episode. This really hit home. I have been criticizing overwork, as you may have noticed, since I too went to grade school in Palo Alto. (I knew people who went to the high schools there, although my parents sent me to yet a different elite, high-pressure school in San Jose. Even back in the late 70s, suicide and stress were known problems in that area. It's only gotten worse since then. The trend of suicidal students and conformity was satirized in the movie "Heathers" with Winona Ryder, excellent movie, many people are too young to remember that movie now.)
ReplyDeleteI think you have uncovered a secret which has vexed and utterly befuddled the sclerotic government officials and the over-educated economists for a couple years now: they have cut unemployment benefits, incentivized employers, and even suggested with various degrees of seriousness that the Police or the National Guard should round people up and force them to go back to their jobs after the Pandemic... Why aren't people working? Asking the question in a purely technical sense, not getting into the motivations why people don't _want_ to work... the answer is because we had to re-learn idleness during the lockdowns, when people were _prohibited_ from working. And re-learning idleness, for a lot of us, also included re-learning how to survive and find food and shelter without actual wage employment. Having re-acquired those long-lost skills, we have a different relationship to wage employment, after the pandemic. And as you point out, it _is_ still possible to eke out survival in an organized and urban society, without working for a wage... despite all the best efforts of those sclerotic and over-educated windbags.
You kinda touched on this in the episode, but cultural anthropologist Philip Slater wrote very explicitly about how all known past, "primitive" societies had at least a certain large segment of the population who didn't really do much work at all. Not only was the normal daily toil and pace of average citizens of past societies around the globe, before the Industrial Revolution, not really comparable to the stress we put ourselves through today; but also, if you add up the elderly, the immature, the artists, and the shamans/priests in a typical "primitive" tribe, you find that something approaching half the tribal members did not do work that directly contributed to survival at all.
DeleteSlater draws a bit of a parallel between those non-working classes of "primitive" societies, versus the people who do "Bullshttt Jobs" today. Office workers like me are generally not contributing, or contributing very little, to people's direct survival, as we tap away at our spreadsheets and post on FkkkkkBook whenever our bosses aren't looking. It just seems a very sad, unfair parallel, though, because at least the non-working artists and shamans of old contributed beautiful artwork and fascinating legends to their societies. I find very little of real interest and value in the type of job I've held for decades.
"Fuck me gently with a chainsaw, Heather…."
DeleteStill one of the best lines in all of cinema.
—Jim
One last comment... since you mentioned (as I already knew) that you had worked transit and/or union jobs most of your career...
ReplyDeleteMy experience in the private sector, as an Engineer, has been:
raises have been off-the-table for 30+ years. Ever since Reagan. Apart from one-offs like a Christmas bonus, the companies I worked for would _only_ ever pay you more money if you tried for (and won) a promotion. Of course, a promotion always means additional responsibilities in some form or another, which is not the same as a raise. In my experience, only government jobs have given me periodic raises for doing the same job description. That and Union jobs. For some reason, every single Engineer besides me absolutely hates unions. The only times a union has ever been available to me, was when I worked government jobs.
The glossy job magazines always advised me, "Don't be afraid to ask your boss for a raise," but whenever I do, the boss always asks "Why are you worth more money than before? Are you willing to take on extra responsibilities?" Which is, again, a promotion, not a raise. Sometimes the added responsibilities were things I was tacitly doing already... for example, I took a class and began managing engineering drawing folders instead of only doing the drawings. But when I asked for more money, the boss formalized my responsibilities to include managing the drawing folders. Which is, like I say, a promotion not a raise.
So of course, the cost of living constantly goes up -- but in my experience, raises are a thing of the past. Therefore you must earn more money, which leads right into overwork, as you describe. Standing still in your current position is not an option. This is by design.
In fairness I should mention one company which gave me a $6 per hour raise -- right as I quit, to become a Peace Corps volunteer. The boss very kindly said, we're giving you this raise for the next two weeks so that you can tell your next company you got paid $33/hour. So they kinda didn't give me a raise, and yet they did. My next company (after the Peace Corps) did not actually pay me the same $33, but they were impressed. My next job was for the government so there was a specific pay band, but they gave me the high end of the pay band.
Hey, Kevin!
Delete…you had worked transit and/or union jobs most of your career...
I was about to say "not most," then I realized in 5 days I will have my 20 year from hire, so, I guess, yeah.
I've worked lots of other, non-union jobs. This is the only Union gig I've had.
For some reason, every single Engineer besides me absolutely hates unions.
I think it was Markovitz's The Meritocracy Trap that pointed out engineers used to be the most reliably Republican of professions in the '50s; today, they are most reliably Democrats. Still, much of the culture of the Cold War seems to remain, right?
Good distinction between "promotion" and "raise."
"Dude, I'm not asking for extra work, just extra money. Duh."
Later!
—Jim
Geez it looks like Blogspot keeps deleting this third comment I have typed. First of all I really enjoyed the episode. Hmmmmmm, second, I mentioned in passing the common word for self- well, "offing", y'know, ya-self. I wonder if that's why Blogspot keeps disappearing my comment. Let me try this one and see if it sticks.
ReplyDeleteThis is the fourth time Blogspot has disappeared my comment. Unless mention of a trigger requires Admin approval or something.
ReplyDeleteNow it's personal. I'm going to say my piece if it kills me.
The "forbidden" section of my comment merely noted that I, myself, grew up in Palo Alto, so the issues of student stress were known even back in the late 70s. It's only gotten worse since then.
Gotcha covered, Kevin. I've restored the original comment from the "spam" designation.
DeleteSpam. Yeah. Right. All because you used the word {(piggy slop call) + side} word.
Silliness incarnate.
Later!
—Jim