Discussion: Where Public Holidays Come From and Why That's Important, at Larvatus Prodeo.
There's a good discussion going on at Larvatus Prodeo about a recent essay at Online Opinion, called "The Postmodern Left" by Niall Lucy and Steve Mickler, authors of The War On Democracy.
The general tone of the discussion started off harsh, in part because of a very unsatisfactory performance IMAO by some pro-postmodernist people in this long discussion a month or so ago. The essay by Lucy and Mickler is not very clearly written and provides no clear 'call to action'.
However, Adam Gall turned the discussion in a useful direction when he explained, better and more clearly than Lucy and Mickler themselves, why he liked their work.
There was some discussion of class politics and how you would best make it popular, and Adam Gall seems to want to make some T-Shirts that prod people into understanding that even things like public holidays are only won because organised workers are powerful enough to win them. Or at least along those lines.
Worth a read.
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2 comments:
Hi - thanks for your kind remark at La Flatus rodeo:
Oh, and GoAwayBrownie - you’ve worked in a Centrelink call centre? My commiserations.
The burnout rate was very high.
Surviving the selection process was like climbing Everest.
The training was based on KGB techniques.
The office culture was repulsive.
We were required to refer to callers as 'clients'.
There were obscene calls all the time - VERY SCARY - and no, one would NOT dream of reporting same, because of the subsequent interrogation etc.
Over at LP, there are too many nasty commentors, always anonymous, for my liking.
re various stressful jobs: of course the PM has the worst stress, but his stress has an UPside,
* car with driver at front door at 7am,
* refreshments delivered pronto as required
* salary & super, full board. etc. whereas the person who catches the first tram of the day, has only 'Payday & Quitting Time' for joy.
re easter: workers who want a HolyDay, should have to produce evidence of church attendance first.
Thanks goawayplease (which sounds quite blunt).
It's a real worry especially if there is a culture of not reporting obscene phone calls.
When I'm on benefits I know how much I resent the system, so I can imagine the hostility you must come up against.
Looking at the 'stressful job' comment I made at Larvatus Prodeo (it means "always go masked", apparently), I've seen a lot of argument that makes me think I got that first point wrong.
I still think I'm right when I say that bosses are not lazy and idle, but often busy and driven.
Yes, there are a few people who are nasty often, and quite a few who are nasty at least now and again.
But I also found that Mark was genuinely committed to debate over this last summer, and I've been allowed to argue some pretty unpopular things there without having my work deleted or censored.
Yes, there are some regular commenters I actively dislike, and some regular posters whose threads I almost always avoid. There's also too much use of the 'Asshattery' category - it's become almost meaningless.
But I've found that (for a start) Mark, Kim, tigtog, Adam Gall (just recently), glen and (sometimes) Katz will at least bother to engage with a good argument. That's enough reasonable people for it to be worth me arguing my opinion.
As far as Easter goes - as an atheist worker, I disagree entirely!
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