From: Arlo J. Bensinger (ajb102@psu.edu)
Date: Mon Jan 31 2005 - 05:44:32 GMT
Ron, DMB, All...
I hate to even pick a "highlight" of this post :-), but...
> What concerns me is the move toward Capitalism that is leaving the workers
> disconnected from the company they work for. The advancement of technology
> is a bit more serious than it was pictured in ZMM.
I have been devoting significant time looking at alienation in ZMM and how it
relates to many things Marx wrote about. I realize "Marx" cannot be spoken of
in America, lest one invision Russian Stalinists coming for your daughters over
the hills, but I think there is a lot of "collusion" between the alienating
aspect of SOM depicted in the workplaces of ZMM and the Marx's caution over
removing the worker from direct, primary "involvement" with his/her labor.
The use of computers for
> dealing with the employees as far as benefits and human relations and saftey
> training, etc., leave me with a feeling that the employee/employer relations
> are going in a direction away from Quality.
Yes, agreed. And connected to this is the euphamistic, de-humanizing language of
the workplace. I don't think "technology" is to blame, but I think we can look
to an idea of "structuration", in which technology does not "cause" a result,
but in contexts has certain trajectory. In the context of SOM, as Pirsig
lamented in ZMM, technology has an alienating aspect. I don't think the world
has changed much since ZMM, we have fancier technology, but I don't see the
environment as noticabley improved.
> More than just with the employees and the customers who must deal with
> computers to handle customer relations as well, and lacking in the customer
> service area, I also see a trend toward another area lacking communication,
> and this with animals, and society in general.
Amen. You know, I wrote recently in another place about the motive to ride
(motorcycling), using Pirsig's metaphorical description "in the scene". Pirsig
says: On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all.
You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is
overwhelming.
What I fear, is that the "frame" is becoming even more encompassing. People, in
their labor and leisure, are allowing themselves to be removed from direct,
primary experience in the world. "In the scene" could easily describle a worker
in contact with his labor, an artist in the midst of creation, a biker crossing
South Dakota, or a human resources manager consider that these are people, not
"resources".
You talk about animals, and I think this equates to comparing supermarkets to
automobiles. Everything is prepackaged, prefabricated and boxed. You, the
"eater" are completely removed from any primary contact with your food. Here in
central Pennsylvania, we are fortunate to have many local "CSA Farms"
(Community Supported Agriculture). Besides supporing local farmers, and eating
local produce (hell, i have started to really love kale and celeriac), and
supporing organic farming (all our csa's are organic here), we have access to
organic, free range animals. Several tims a year I take my daughter to go and
help out on the farm. I want her to have this "in the scene" experience with
her food. Moreso, I want to break her out of the "frame", the box, the walls of
alienation, whatever you call them. If you, or anyone reading this, can find
similar farms in your area, I think you will find them abounding with Quality.
And you will realize that Kraft boxed macaroni and cheese will become the same
"fake" crap that Pirsig lamented in Chicago.
> The small farmers also took care of the environment by rotating pasture
> areas and crop areas to manage the waste as natural fertilizer. The small
> 'One Light' towns are becoming Ghost Towns, and the farms waste land.
An interesting tangent to this: I ride often in the farm land around here, and
it is always the small farms where people wave and kids are playing. The large
farms are always like Pirsig's deathforce. No one waves, they just stare ahead
(like the cars Sylvia saw leaving Minnesota). Evidence that they are no longer
"in the scene", but alienated and removed from the world, and hence DQ is not
getting through.
> With 1% of the population holding 99% of the wealth, and no concern for the
> rest of the population, I'm wondering how bad it might be to live on a
> reservation ;o)
We are convinved by advertising that we couldn't live without all the "stuff" we
have. Our psychological distances to our neighbors are decreasing to near zero.
We spend very little time in "civic space", instead we live in boxes, drive our
boxes to other boxes, shop in boxes, and let our "things" placate us. Marx's
"opiate of the masses" may have been religion, but I think now it is safe to
say "consumption" is the opiate of our masses.
But think about it, what would you miss? The plasma tv? The cellphone? The 200
channels? What if you could replace it with a place where people and their
neighbors were family, and talked, and cared? I'd trade it in a heartbeat.
> I fear the technological advances that are based on bottom-line Capitalism
> is causing a loneliness throughout America. Corporate America is distancing
> itself from the little guy; the dispensible entity the machine uses up and
> tosses out. The little guy may be carrying the lonliness with him into after
> work activities of family and friends (or friendless society).
I could not say it any better. Very well said.
> I'm beggining to think my knowledge of motorcycle mechanics isn't going to
> help much in the technological world we have built.
You're wrong. And I take it you ride. If you are anywhere near central PA, we
should hit the backroads this spring. Only two months away!
Arlo
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