Recently a friend of mine talked about how cowardly the people at his work were. How they went along with every harebrained idea management came up with. Politically they were as Woke as anything the management could come up with. But their cowardliness extended to mismanagement. It was more important to do something badly then to confront anyone over their mismanagement.
Now nothing that I have written will be a surprise to most people, most of this could have been written and been true fifty years ago. Although not all. I think things have gotten worse and for good reason. Fifty years ago people had job security and they had the support of most organisations in society. The government, business and the unions wanted people in secure employment, today that isn’t true at all.
What changed?
Fifty years ago most people thought family was important, that a man who did not have a wife and children was in some way suspect. To use a modern term, he didn’t have any skin in the game. A father has to worry about the future because he has a stake in it. What’s important to remember is that this was the default position, not to hold it was rare. That means that at practically every level in every organisation this was true. It gave a stability that today doesn’t exist in anything like it did.
Fifty years ago most people thought that class was something permanent, at least for them, maybe their children could be a different class, maybe. Class solidarity was something real and true for all classes. Each guarded its rights and privileges jealously, the things that made it distinct, the things that gave it character.
Fifty years ago there was no such things as gender, there were two sexes, male and female and everyone was one of four types. A man, a women, a boy or a girl and it was unchanging and solid, a constant. Marriage was also regarded as permanent and the idea that a parent would be prevented from seeing their own children was something that happened in dictatorships. Family was forever!
Fifty years ago most people lived near where they were born. Immigrants certainly existed but it was possible to live somewhere and have no contact at all with an immigrant. Imagine that…if you can!
Fifty years ago people thought a job was for life, there really did exist permanent lifelong employment, that was true until the late eighties.
Everything and everyone had a place and most people couldn’t imagine a world in which that would not be true. That included the organisations that these people belonged to or whose purpose was to serve them. When people complained there was the idea that even if they were wrong they would have support, that they would not be a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Even that wasn’t always true, but it was much truer then than it is now.
Today people are taught not to stick up for themselves, not to create waves. Anti-bullying programs are not about protecting people, they are about keeping people in their place. In the past if you saw someone doing something weird you called them out, today that’s called bullying. Honesty is discouraged at every turn, don’t tell the weirdo that they are weird, because that’s not allowed. Instead you must learn to suppress what you think and follow the program and that has occurred at every level of society.
But why?
Why have people gone along with this?
Because there is no solidarity today, everything that seemed solid and permanent is crumbling before our eyes. You cannot count on people’s loyalty anymore, they might not be actively working against you, but they won’t protect you either. That lack of support has made people passive, scared of losing what they have. We all know the competition for jobs out there and it has been that way for decades. Each year there is more competition, more university graduates, more immigration. To keep what you have you need to toe the line, no outbursts, no unpopular opinions, no mistakes, no being human.
How long can people be robots?
Until we are replaced by the robots?
Courage is easy when it doesn’t cost anything, how brave will you be when it is your turn?
This all breeds incompetence and slowly things will begin to fail. The only answer is for us to provide support to each other. We need to speak up for each other and we need to financially support each other. Hire our own people and be loyal to them. Support people on our side who we know need our help. We need to stop being individualists and start providing solidarity to each other. To be men and to watch each other’s backs. Organise!
Originally published at Upon Hope. You can find Mark’s Subscribestar here.