the Framework
So, I'm watching the Rita evacuations, with my professor's words still ringing in my ears:
"...between those who believe in institutions, and those who do not..."
E calls, to talk about some mini-drama at his gig, and we get into a long discussion about the potential for success in Corporate America. What it boiled down to is The Framework:
Beginning: our capitalist-agricultural society whose goal was the success of the individual farms (plantations) based on indentured labor, and leading to growth of society as a whole.
Evolution: mutated into a capitalist-industrialist society whose goal was the success of individual firms, based upon cheap labor, leading to the growth of the nation as a whole.
Now: our capitalist-technological society whose goal is the success of corporations (read: multinational conglomerates) based upon cheap resources, leading to the growth & viral spread of the capitalist market as a whole - to the world.
Now, given that framework, where do you "fit"? Where are your interests served? Who is looking out for you? Not you! ...you're working towards the success of the corporation, silly! And of course, the corporation definitely doesn't give a flying f&*% about you.
How do you then "succeed" within that framework? Hell, what is success within that framework?
As an employee, of a Fortune 100, I observe the machinations of the Corporation and its lower, middle and upper level managers, subjectively. I whine when my boss cuts my bonuses, or decreases my raise percentage, and I whine when "the Corporation" increases my health-care costs. However, as a business person, and an MBA student, I observe those same machinations, objectively. I understand why the Corporation does what it does, to preserve itself, and to increase its value. The machinations of its managers thus becomes amusing, because they do what they do to preserve their individual value, and to achieve some modicum of "success", even though it appears that within the Framework, their idea of individual success is impossible. We're all just slugs baby...a paperclip, a nut, a bolt, a screw. The Corporation views us all as resources, to be equally distributed to achieve its goals. Given that, it's not worth the cost of political manipulations, to "sell your soul", to achieve your individual goal.
With one eye on Fox News, E & I validate the Framework, testing one another's ears with examples:
his struggle with a back injury and his managers attempts to get him fired to save paying out disability as well as unemployment, GM's struggling with a pension plan that may undermine the company's long-term goals. Delta's (at the time) impending bankruptcy, China's regrowth as a super-power. We struggle to find an example that disproves the Framework, and in watching Rita's evacuees that also fled Katrina, understand that: yes & no, it is/isn't just about race and/or class.
For the sake of our discussion, our examples prove the simple truth - as individuals, no matter where you stand within that framework, your value to the Framework is only in what it can get out of you. Nothing whatsoever else matters. Parity, fairness, equality, diversity, social justice, empathy, corporate responsibility, integrity...they're pretty words that evoke emotion but have nothing whatsoever to do with the Framework. Here in America, that Framework has been extended outside the four walls of Business. That Framework has become our culture. Given all that, as an individual - you'd best do whatever really & truly makes you happy and serves you well.