In the early 1980s we all laughed and sneered at the Yuppies. They seemed the perfect example of strivers bent on getting ahead regardless of method and heedless of consequence. They were looked at as the scummy turd balls rolling out of the Me Generation ideals. In other words very anti-public spirit/effort, very self involved and self centered. (The economic idea of Disruptive Economics that created Uber and AirBnB came in that time. Aka no regard for existing systems, go in make a load of dough just by having the balls to go in and take it.) To the generation of Hippie minded and young wannabes that followed, the idea of Yuppie (Young Upwardly-mobile Person) was antithetical to the direction of the Evolution of Humanity that was thought/hoped to be in the middle of being created.
Then we all realized we wanted to be in on it. We all became Yuppies. This is not the beginning of the Poverty of Discourse, this is part of the reason why the grand Discourse started always flutters to naught. Most of us have grown up with better moral values than what the USA lives by now, and they feel outrage and anger at the horror show we allow. But at our foundations of this kind of thought, whether you were of the age or came of age under new thinking, is something more profoundly American, and this is what stops us in our tracks.
One of the mainstays of American Thinking is the Philosophy of Pragmatism developed by William James. Regardless of specific textual details, Pragmatism has been a huge core value of Our thinking. If it WORKS it’s GOOD. It is not necessarily a moral judgement of Good, it’s a more rationally based judgement of circumstance, but because it nevertheless is a pronounced judgement, it has a good deal of overlap into morality.
This leads to all kinds of other value judgements. Businesses that succeed are ‘good’ businesses. The popular notion until recently was A Bad Business wouldn’t succeed. We know after the REIT and Mortgage fraud businesses and hedge fund shenanigans, that Bad Businesses can succeed or at least by a certain set of measures of success.
This idea that functionality and practical workability is the basis of Good, creates a lot of issues for the human mind on a very fundamental level. It has given rise to the idea that Computers are better at things than humans. The proof being stated in the terms of digital printouts more than in the analog results. The examples once you see the root are more numerous than the exceptions. A whole host of intellectual sins finds their roots in this basic judgement of Good. Yet these are judgements based on shaky ground.
This fundamental idea we uphold means that ‘in a way’ we can see why corporations raking in the profits is ‘understandable.’ Or why powerful people try to hold onto their power, we would do the same, because functionality reflects and implies good. On the converse, someone who is not working, is not good. He doesn’t ‘work’. Naturally thousands of other influences on our thinking occur as we grow and mature into adults, but if this foundational idea is not challenged, it stays down there not really festering (because in itself it’s not UnGood,) but sitting unchallenged in it’s scope, it gets grandfathered into a lot of other ideas.
Ask this, is it Good not to work? You’ll answer Yes, but the caveat will be that you’re wealthy enough not to work. You’ll answer no because work means productivity, and that is good? Therefore to not work is unproductive, thus not good. So how would we on a deep unthinking way have any real sympathy for a beggar or an unfortunate unemployed person? The metaphor of Work is Good is fine, but it has a deep effect on our judgement calls regarding many other aspects of life including, if the business is profitable, it is good.
It’s a twisty shadowy idea, and I’m still working it out, and if you dig it, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Knowing ourselves is the only way to understand how to change ourselves.
DaveA
