Why the West is Fucked: Exhibit A
There are many reasons the current incarnation of the west is fucked and in irreversible decline. I am not going to spend time theorizing and bemoaning the loss of a system which has little utility for someone like me.
Instead, I will use contemporary examples to explain a point. You, the reader, will have to read between the lines.
I saw this at Huffingtonpost- MySpace Layoff Letter Adds Insult To Injury
MySpace capped off their recent 500-person layoffs with a goodbye letter thanking fired employees for their help during a “unique moment” in history. An angry ex-staffer sent TechCrunch a copy of what is reportedly the “pink slip” note from MySpace CEO Mike Jones.
Although we can’t continue on this journey together–I hope you will all stay connected with MySpace and know that your contribution to the business was a unique moment in time and that you participated in something that few have been part of in our industry.
You see, the CEO used these people to work extra hard to redesign the site, so that he could sell it and fire them. That is what he means by “a unique moment in time and that you participated in something that few have been part of in our industry”.
Another person claiming to be a former MySpace employee penned a page-long grievance that had a different take:
Mr. Jones and his lieutenants knowingly *used* their employees, working them hard, making them give up time with their friends and families, knowing all along that no matter how hard they worked, and how successful their efforts, many of them would be rewarded with layoffs.
MySpace’s continued losses have troubled parent company NewsCorp, who purchased the site in 2005 for $580 million dollars. MySpace accounted for $156 million in losses in the last quarter, a trend that COO Chase Carey called “not acceptable or sustainable.”
The problem with MySpace , just like almost every other failed or struggling company, was bad management decisions. But are those assholes going to suffer? Heck, NO!
It is the average worker who suffers the effects of bad management decisions. Unlike previous eras, the management does not suffer ANY negative consequence for their stupidity, incompetence or greed. They win either way.
How many of you want to volunteer for this shit? Even if you are naive, you will quickly figure out that the system today is set up so that you lose, whether you are a conscientious drone or slacker.
Comments?
“I am not going to spend time theorizing and bemoaning the loss of a system which has little utility for someone like me.”
As much as you bemoan certain aspects of present society, you do seem to derive a lot of utility from living in a modernized civilization — your posts on technology seem to indicate as much. I don’t think you can eliminate every feature of this civilization that you dislike all the while retaining the features that you do like. I’m also not especially interested in preserving a static and artificial concept of the “west” for its own sake either, and am fine with seeing characteristically “western” institutions decay due to obsolescence. That said, I do derive utility from this civilization, and prefer our current state of existence to any period of the past, at least as far as I can imagine it. The most that I can do is determine the best way to minimize the impact of what I don’t like about this civilization while maximizing my exposure of what I do like about it. I don’t believe it’s possible to create a utopia by universally abolishing everything that I dislike about this society, as many of the benefits that I do receive may be either directly or indirectly dependent upon those things.
Also, we still live in a world full of people. As a person who does think there’s such a thing as human nature and who doesn’t care for the company of most people, I can’t take any utopian visions seriously.
For Godssake, leave a job which you don’t like. Then there will be no such grievances. Your reason for taking a job is you yourself. They work you too hard? no time for family? then for Godssake, leave! Stop this whining. It has always been like this in history. How can you be so stupid to swallow that shit about loyalty? This is a commercial enterprise people! you trade your time for money. If the ask is too much, you leave! simple! please stop whining and complaining!