So much of The Office already looks antiquated to me, because all of my friends are either working in food service, freelancing, nannying, or communicating on Slack, as I do, with a network of coworkers they haven’t even met, let alone gotten to know well enough to develop nicknames for. It’s a lot more difficult for a 20-something to coast her way into a cushy full-time job like Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Hitchcock and Scully apparently did. In fact, I don’t know any mediocre workers my age, because they never last long in any particular position. That bastion of workplace sitcoms, the bumbling employee no one trusts not to f--- it all up, is a dying breed.
Remote working has transformed my own workplace since Covid. I don't like it. I've chosen never to work from home, except for when I had no choice during the lockdown. As soon as I could come back into the workplace full-time, I did so.
I'm convinced remote working is a bad thing, although I'd probably struggle to make this argument when faced with its enthusiasts (which seems to be most people). For as long as I've remembered, I've feared an increasing privatization of society. I like the formality of work.
The comments on mediocrity touch upon another of my longstanding anxieties. I really and truly believe mediocrity is important, that a society has to find room for mediocrity. Excellence is the peak that rests atop a mountain of mediocrity. The historian Paul Johnson made the observation, which I think an excellent observation, that anyone who really loves a particular genre or art-form necessarily loves the second-rate and third-rate examples of it. I love the horror genre. The idea of only having classic horror movies like The Exorcist or The Wicker Man is a dreary one.
For the heart must pause to breathe
And love itself have rest.
Dare I mention poetry again? The idea that we can have only the tiny sliver of attention paid to poetry that we have today, and that poetry can flourish in those conditions, seems ludicrous to me. Lots of people still write poetry-- it's the readership of poetry that has disappeared. When poetry was seriously read, there was a huge class of indifferent or forgettable poets who achieved a certain amount of success, celebrity, or simply publication. But so what? How else could it be? Do you expect the local multiplex to have a constant stream of five-star films? Do you expect every soccer player to be a George Best?
But these are the sort of things I usually don't say because I fear people will assume I'm just being contrarian.
Good points
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI have had similar thoughts about mediocrity. It has taken a while, but I have come to the conclusion that the way mediocrity and excellence is talked about is either just wrong or to the extent it is true, irrelevant to what it is being applied to.
ReplyDeleteWhat it comes down to at the most basic level is, do you respect knowledge and skill or do you not? Sure, there are different levels of proficiency. Someone who can design a shed may not be able to design a cathedral. But everybody already knew that anyway. The point is, if you can build a good shed, then that is worthwhile.
Is it the best? Well, who really knows? You have to know something about building first before you can evaluate that and anyway, there might be tradeoffs. For instance, there is that famous Samuel Johnson quote about Milton that he "could cut a Colossus from a rock; but could not carve heads on cherry-stones."
I'm all for excellence and admire it, but I admire it mainly because I value knowledge and skill. The word "best" seems to have become distorted to mean "most prestigious" or the fact that people are supposedly merely mediocre is used to justify replacing them or to argue for the ideology that people are just interchangeable economic widgets.
So, yes, I agree. And then there is of course GKC's famous quote about "anything worth doing is worth doing badly", that people should do things for themselves and everything should not be handed over to professionals or the state. And what actually happens in that scenario is that the professionals are the best by definition, not that they actually are better.
Thanks. It's very good to hear that other people have similar thoughts and I'm not totally out on my own. I think you've made many good points here, especially Johnson's comment on Milton. Not every excellence is the SAME kind of excellence. For instance (to keep on my poetry preoccupation) a traditional ballad has a rough, crude charm that a polished Elizabethan sonnet doesn't have-- they're not the same sort of excellence.
DeleteAnd yes, I also admire excellence because it reflects knowledge, skill, dedication, and devotion. I've often pondered on the irony that I find myself developing more sympathy for Marx's theory of labour value! (Without any scintilla of sympathy for Marxism...)
Is that the right link? It's an article about Space Balls.
ReplyDeleteThis is it, I think. If you scroll to the end of the article, the url changes to Space Balls.
Deletehttps://www.inverse.com/article/12344-do-classic-workplace-comedies-make-sense-anymore
Ha ha! No, I didn't mean to blog about Space Balls, old or new! I've fixed the link now. Thanks for that.
DeleteIn regards to the workplace, what are your thoughts on the increasing participation of women -- particularly mothers -- since the 1960s? I've noticed that many in the Internet Right sphere are quite hardline regarding immigration, but aren't particularly interested in this topic. Personally, I dislike it and wish to return to a time when a father's wage would raise a family. A 2006 survey conducted by the British Office for National Statistics showed that a full-time working parent spent just 19 minutes a day of quality time with their child(ren). I expect with the rise of social media and the smartphone the duration of time has since decreased. https://voxday.net/2006/07/21/mommy-wars-continue/
ReplyDeleteNo disagreement there! I don't have any problem with women in the workplace. My workplace is two-thirds women, which is fine. But I think everyone would agree that it's best for mothers to be at home with their kids, ideally. And surely we all want to go back to the one-income days.
DeleteI must admit I hate the phrase "quality time"!
As someone who grew up in the 2000s/10s, I am lucky that my mother stayed at home during the entirety of my childhood. It annoys me that nationalists and Online Right figures will complain about leftism, yet are indifferent or even support the concept of 'childcare', a policy fully endorsed by East Germany and the Soviet Union. The Republican politicians John Dewey and Richard Nixon were opposed to instituting 'daycare facilities' due to its association with socialism/communism.
DeleteOn another topic, what are your thoughts on the advent of streaming services over the past decade and the expectation that television broadcasts through an aerial and satellite will be entirely replaced by internet-driven technology? I was slightly surprised for some unfathomable reason to recently hear that a low-class 'trash TV' show in the United States was cancelled after nineteen-years of syndicated broadcasting, due to the overall trend of linear television viewing figures declining. Usually, I wouldn't give such shows the time of day (I would/still usually watch 'factual programmes'), but I couldn't help but feel somewhat sad that the programme was ending after a long duration on air, even though the series was brain-dead nonsense. If you are interested, the TV show is 'The Steve Wilkos Show', a spin-off from 'Jerry Springer'.
I'm not a fan of the term 'quality time' either. Americanisms particularly annoy me; I dislike the term 'awesome' and I prefer the term 'series' over 'season', in regards to media.
Actually I love the word "awesome" and I think it's typical of the best side of America-- their sense of awe and gusto.
DeleteI understand that reaction to a long-running show, I am favourable towards all institutions myself. However, I'm personally quote positive towards streaming and the end of the monoculture (as they call it). Yes, it's sad that we don't have decades now the way the West did from the fifties to the nineties-- as cultural entities with their own "zeitgeist". But those huge audiences were a very homogenizing force, and not in a good way. Growing up in the eighties I can remember how mindlessly people tended to follow the same things (whatever was on TV, mostly) and it was quite degrading to the human spirit, in my view.
I agree with your remarks on the conformist aspect of monoculture, although I can't help but think that it is good to some extent for a people to have a shared experience when it comes to cultural output. With the atomisation that is sadly present (particularly amongst young people), I would like for the odd programme or two to become a talking point amongst a large swathe of the general pubic. Obviously, excessive homogenisation is deplorable and the material contained in a broadcast that is watched by a large percentage of a nation is of importance: I don't think the progressive output pushed by Norman Lear sitcoms and 'EastEnders' has been particularly beneficial for the West; although other shows that are less subversive could be useful in regards to contributing to a collective sense of belonging in a nation.
ReplyDeleteExcept for England's football performances on the international stage, there aren't many other events that unified the nation in the past decade. The closest in recent years to some sort of a collective experience occurring was the controversial COVID-19 period -- a duration of time I despised -- and the death of Britain's longest monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.
Even though I watch little television nowadays, I quite enjoy the act of channel surfing, especially when I pick up obscure channels (particularly foreign news broadcasts) that aren't intended for a mainstream audience.
I guess my conservative nature makes me upset when institutions, whether it is the concept of hereditary principle or American 'trash television' shows are scrapped, despite the obvious moral objections that can be raised against the latter.
To return to the subject of broadcasting, some analysts suggest that linear television will continue, albeit through streaming services. As someone who has browsed live American television in the past, I hope there is a future for C-SPAN and The Weather Channel -- two channels that provide decent coverage in regards to important political and meteorological events like presidential elections and potential weather disasters like tsunamis and hurricanes.
https://www.mediaandbroadcast.bt.com/insights/linear-tv-isnt-dying.html
I was actually very intrigued by the recent controversy about Jimmy Kimmel and the refusal of some American TV "broadcasting companies" to broadcast his show-- I had never even heard of these entities and the fact that such gate-keepers could block a show seemed quaint and, oddly enough, rather endearing. One presumes everything is universally accessible these days (if it wants to be).
DeleteI completely agree with you about all the above. I'd actually never heard the term "linear television". I remember hearing a few years ago that streaming services had stopped "dropping" whole series at the same time, as people missed the anticipation of a new episode, and that pleased me.
It really is a shame about the lack of public events. Growing up in Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s, I've known a few, most especially Ireland's participation in the 1990 World Cup (our first), which seemed to shape a whole generation. There was also the "big freeze" of the 2009/2010, and the release of the Michael Collins movie-- thirty years ago! (You might have inspired a future post...)
I guess the only dates in the United Kingdom that can be expected to create some sense of a shared experience are related to those that are associated to the Royal Family. If it weren't for England's (fairly) decent international football team and the COVID-19 period, I struggle to think of a recent national event that wasn't related to the monarchy in some way.
DeleteIn the Republic of Ireland, I am aware 'Ivy Day' is celebrated by a small, but loyal contingent every year at Glasnevin Cemetery. Over the past few years, I have come around to the idea of local/regional bank holidays to commemorate a famous person or event that is linked with a specific area. For example, Lincolnshire could mark the birthday of native scientist Isaac Newton and Admiral Nelson's death at the Battle of Trafalgar could be honoured in his home county of Norfolk.
To return to the topic of television, I quite like the idea of finding and enjoying a programme that I wouldn't have discovered otherwise. BBC Four used to (still?) be quite good in that regard.
Sitting down to watch the channel broadcast a continuous stream of well-packaged programmes from the beginning of the evening's broadcast to its temporary closure in the early hours of the morning was (is?) a refreshing experience from the modern paralysis that can be a feature of streaming services.
On the topic of the BBC license fee, I'm actually quite supportive of retaining the 'tax', a position that puts me in a minority within the right-wing sphere. I would prefer an institution that is expected to have a duty to 'inform, educate and entertain, than relying on commercial streaming services that are mainly focused on increasing their revenues. Despite my general support of the BBC, I would like to see the institution undergo major reforms to curb its progressive biases.
I used to be on the side of reclaiming rather than abolishing public sector broadcasting. However, I've recently come to the reluctant conclusion that the poison has just gone too deep.
DeleteI'm amazed you've heard of Ivy Day. It is indeed a small contingent. I've been one of them for the past four years and I doubt there's ever more than thirty people.
As someone who takes an interest in Irish history and politics, I've been aware of Ivy Day for a while. Primrose Day was created to celebrate Benjamin Disraeli, although the date hasn't really been marked since the 1920s.
DeleteI am interested to know who attends the Ivy Day ceremony? I presume it is mainly aged republicans?
It mostly seems to be the descendants of the old Protestant Ascendancy. I've only really spoken to one of them, but that's the impression I get.
DeleteI'm surprised about the turnout consisting of members of the Protestant Ascendancy; I thought Parnell was respected amongst Irish nationalists and republicans? After all, Ireland's most famous rebel band, The Wolfe Tones, have honoured the "Uncrowned King of Ireland" in their songs.
DeleteIf you don't mind me asking: What are your thoughts on John Redmond and other similar 'ballot box nationalists' who weren't/aren't as harsh in their opinion of the United Kingdom? I'm aware that Redmond is badly received amongst those who support the 1916 Easter Rising for his rejection of 'physical force nationalism' and for his desire for Ireland to be intimate with the United Kingdom and her empire.
It is somewhat amusing that the Easter Rising makes strange political bedfellows: Gerry Adams agrees with Justin Barrett and John Waters in their support for the revolt; whilst Bob Geldof and Kevin Myers consider the attempted overthrow to be a mistake.
I suppose a British analogy would be socialists like Dennis Skinner and Arthur Scargill and right-wingers such as Peter Hitchens and Nick Griffin agreeing on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.
I have no respect for John Redmond and I look askance at efforts to rehabilitate his reputation. He encouraged thousands of Irishmen to be slaughtered on the Western front. Even in a purely pragmatic sense, it seems the height of naivety to think the British government would have reciprocated with Home Rule-- which was a long way from independence anyway. At this point constitutional efforts to free Ireland had failed for generations.
DeleteAs for intimacy with the United Kingdom, many of the physical force nationalists expressed their desire for a better relationship post independence. Erskine Childers wrote in one of his last letters: "I die greatly loving England." Only recently I read a memoir by Eamon De Valera's son where he mentions that, during the War of Independence, Dev came upon his sons playing with toy soldiers and one said they were the Irish fighting the English. "Don't say the English", he said. "Just say the enemy". Even then he was trying to avoid bitterness. Also Terence MacSwiney in Principles of Freedom.
As for Ireland's republicans (who are overwhemingly left-wing), their sentimental attachment to patriots of the past becomes more and more tenuous as their progressive ideology drives them ever further from anything Pearse or De Valera or Arthur Griffith would recognize as Irish nationalism (or even sanity). Parnell is actually one of the more secular and modern of Irish nationalist heroes-- which is why he's not one of my favourites, especially-- so it's a bit odd in his case. I just think Irish republicans are just not much interested in history (or Ireland) any more except as far as it can be used for sloganeering.
The left in Ireland also used to be anti-Europe, especially Sinn Féin.
Thanks for the considered reply.
DeleteI knew Redmond remains a controversial figure in Ireland, but I wasn't sure whether nationalist historiography that has been produced post-independence has unfairly treated the former IPP leader.
Similarly, the likes of Peter Hitchens have sought to rescue Neville Chamberlain's reputation and policies from the condemnation of history.
A few months ago, I read the book 'Unhappy the Land' by Prof. Liam Kennedy who forwards a perspective of the Irish constitutional crisis that is equally scathing towards the 'hardliners' on both sides of the constitutional divide: the Ulster Covenanters and the participants of the Easter Rising.
I suspect the Irish historian's personal support for the SDLP and his public denunciation of Sinn Fein (Kennedy stood as an independent in the Belfast West seat against Gerry Adams in the 2005 General Election) is greatly connected to his 'small-l liberal' perspective in regards to Ireland's complicated history during the 1910s/20s.
In regards to Sinn Fein's opposition to the EEC/EU, it is forgotten that until recently the group's position on abortion was far more conservative than that of the British Conservative Party. During the late 1980s, Margaret Thatcher's government refused to grant extra time to allow Liberal MP David Alton's bill to reduce the termination period from 28 to 18 weeks, despite the proposed measure receiving support from a majority of MPs.