[MD] How are people controlled?

[David M]

Arlo

Critical thinking, creativity, quality, sounds good to me.
What do we do? Do we not need to spread the word?
Do we need MOQ art?

David M

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ARLO J BENSINGER JR" <ajb102 at psu.edu>
To: <moq_discuss at moqtalk.org>
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 1:32 AM
Subject: Re: [MD] How are people controlled?


> [Arlo]
> I no more prefer my life to be based on what Washington or Franklin "said" 
> than
> on what Yahweh  or Jesus "said". We take the Good, scrap the bad, and move
> forward.
>
> [David M]
> Made me think about control. None of us want to be controlled. We want to 
> make
> choices for ourselves. But how much choice do we have? Do we know what 
> choices
> are available?
>
> [Arlo]
> This is a big problem. And I think a lot of it has to with social 
> habituation.
>>From early on, as far down as elementary school, we begin shuffling people
> towards particular trajectories, and all the while reinforce expected 
> behavior
> and outcomes. People learn to accept their lot in life. I also feel it 
> stems
> from a lack of critical thinking, which is devalued and ignored (mostly) 
> as a
> skill set. Until a problem can be understood, a solution can never be 
> found.
> All to often, habituation leads to both diagnosis and solution. By 
> fostering
> creativity and critical thinking from early on we can combat this in large
> degree.
>
> [David M]
> Take work. Most of us start out with only having our labour to sell. We 
> take
> ourselves off to the labour market and see what there is to offer. We find 
> an
> employer, offering some work we think we can do, we sign some contract, if
> there is anything in the contract we don't like we usually can't get it
> changed. Off to work we go, and find that the way the work is to be done 
> is all
> set out for us, that there is a command structure to the form of 
> organisation.
>
> [Arlo]
> What Marx wrote about labor alienation is particularly illuminating today. 
> There
> is strong parallel between the dissonance revealed in modern labor in ZMM 
> and
> the disjointedness Marx saw swelling from the implementation of industrial
> technology. While Marx lacked a language to see that the problem was the 
> result
> of an S/O culture more than determined by technology, the way labor has 
> been
> alienated reveals the depth of S/O dominance continuing through modern 
> day.
>
> [David M]
> All very lacking in choice. Could we imagine better forms of organisation 
> that
> were more flexible and recognising of the freedom of the individual? 
> Should we
> not have to co-operatively negotiate every step in the process. What hours 
> you
> work, where you work, how you do your work, what work is imprtant and 
> needs
> doing, etc? Do most of our current social forms reflect force, control and
> bribery rather than choice?
>
> [Arlo]
> I would hope (and I truly believe) that the adoption of a metaphysics (on 
> a
> cultural scale) that recognizes Quality would lead us towards what you 
> imagine
> here. But until we lose the S/O dominance, the labor alienation it induces 
> will
> likely not change. Some employers are starting to get it. Look at Google 
> for
> example. Holy Cow! And Starbucks. But our markets today (overall) are not 
> about
> people, they are about money, and people are just another commodity to be
> bought, sold and dispensed with to maximize profit. Its changing, but 
> it'll
> pour like molasses until more people "see" Quality and stop seeing dollar
> signs.
>
>
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