Comments on Mature Landscaping: The Devil Wears Loafers; Or, Sticking It To The Jo...

WARNING This comment may offend if you don't r...

2010-01-11T12:36:21.667-05:00

WARNING This comment may offend if you don't read far enough!

In light of the many many corporate downsizing's I can't help but say its about time! With technology being able to perform around the clock more than one human, should these people have the right to question why they are gone? If a business is there to make money then why should they employ mere humans that cost them more money than the machines? It just doesn't sound like a good business practice. This is why we are where we are today.

OK OK before you get you panties in a twist let me say that while this seems to be a cheer leading session for the corporations let me say that I 100% disagree.The companies seem to have forgotten the wonderful circle of life we all live in. If no one has money, because no one has jobs then there will be no one to purchase their product. I don't believe that large companies should exist at all. I am hoping that we continue to have enough corporate lay offs to make people realize that Mom and Pop had it right the whole time. Marc and I hate chains and big business and with the exception of Wal-mart and grocery store for food runs we tend to shy away from the Big Box guys and the big corporate people. I am in no hurry at all to see the Baby boomers go (because with them goes you, Bill and my mom), but I am very interested in what we Gen X people will do with the environment and the economy when people like the Bush's are no longer in the political mix. I am hoping that your generation can help push my generation back to a more simple life. To embrace the ideals of a small town with local businesses, farmers markets and less plastic and smog. :)

Can I also say that this post made me crack up because I have often thought that in your retirement you should become a life coach for extra play money. :) Love you!

Jenny and I would love to feature you on Sensation...

2010-01-09T12:26:35.302-05:00

Jenny and I would love to feature you on Sensational Woman Saturday. It's easy and we'll promote your blog too. e-mail me.
Mary

Nance, your comment about his apartment made me th...

2010-01-06T16:34:43.131-05:00

Nance, your comment about his apartment made me think of why he was so comfortable firing people. It's because he doesn't get it. For him, being fired and moving on is easy because his whole life is in a suitcase, ready to go. For the rest of us, being fired is terrifying because it usually requires a change in geography - we have things to pack, families to move, finding quality places to live, etc.

For normal people, moving on is extremely difficult. For Ryan Bingham, it's just a ticket at the airport.

Ashleigh, welcome! I love your blog. The ads ch...

2010-01-06T15:28:07.218-05:00

Ashleigh, welcome! I love your blog. The ads change and cycle through frequently, so I hadn't noticed. The Google adbot just picks up on keywords, of course, but it makes me look as cynical as a corporate-sponsored coach. If I dumped on a Republican politician, I'd probably get ads for Palin's book. Most of the time, I just wind up with ads for tree cutting. I'll be trying to get the offending ads changed and thank you for pointing them out.

You make a good point, too, about your brother's experience. I have acquaintances who are coaches and friends who've been helped by them. In the movie, it's clear that some coaches work with agencies who contract them out to one company to fire and another company, with identical practices, to coach. As a contract coach, your coworker might fire Company A's employees on Tuesday and you might counsel those same employees on Tuesday night...and vice versa. I doubt that most independent coaches would recognize Ehrenreich's take on the history of their profession or would see themselves in this harsh light. Ehrenreich pans the view out and swings the camera around to point out something that's hard to see from close in.

Alan, thanks for contributing! Your point about th...

2010-01-06T15:02:55.762-05:00

Alan, thanks for contributing! Your point about the eternal growth model is excellent. I worry sometimes that, if the recovery happens too quickly, we'll return to business as usual and this opportunity for focus on values and ethics would be lost. I remember when the goal of it all was to make a living instead of a killing. Hope you'll try both the movie and the book.

I lurked and now I comment -- did you notice that ...

2010-01-06T10:32:52.326-05:00

I lurked and now I comment -- did you notice that the Google ads below the post were "Positive Thinking" and "Life Coaching" businesses?

My brother has used a life coach for years - for ideas on how to stay motivated and updated and upbeat in his self-employed-Realtor life. He's taken the suggestions and the superficial insights ("balance" is a big thing in that realm) and enjoyed the fact that the Coach is not prying deeper into his psyche to get him going.

As a retired social worker, I think he could use some insight..... but I'm glad SOMEONE is on his side.

Wandered over here from NDiN. Great Blog! Haven&...

2010-01-06T09:36:23.252-05:00

Wandered over here from NDiN. Great Blog! Haven't read the Book nor seen the Movie, but that won't stop me from expressing an opinion. (Sheria and some of your other readers are probably cringing at this point. As my wife is constantly pointing out, I am "often wrong, but NEVER unsure.")

The whole job crisis is not a product of souless corprate greed, but of the basic economic philosophy of growth. Our whole system is built on the idea of unending growth. It is totally unsustainable. If we saw unending growth in the natural world we would call it disease or cancer. There must be a balance point, and equilibrium. Our ONLY measure of success is GROWTH. If the company dosen't grow in some measurable way it is declining and worth less. No wonder employees are seen as cost units that we try to reduce. What is coming (in a probably very painful way) is a model based on sustainable equilibrium not growth. It will change how we live, think, and conect to the world around us. It won't be easy.

Pete, you might be writing the first chapter of Eh...

2010-01-05T19:20:06.654-05:00

Pete, you might be writing the first chapter of Ehrenreich's book. She first collided with relentless positivity when she was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. Is Marge as disenchanted with the joy mongers as you are? I wouldn't blame her, either way. It's not that positive thinking has NO value...it can get you through a tough hour by diverting your thoughts ..., it's just that, as you point out, it can't create external reality. Well said. And welcome to Mature Landscaping.

Welcome, Janet! That apartment was horrifying, wa...

2010-01-05T19:11:13.336-05:00

Welcome, Janet! That apartment was horrifying, wasn't it...like a used motel room without housekeeping, like his soul?

My wife Marge just spent a year getting past ovari...

2010-01-05T19:10:53.399-05:00

My wife Marge just spent a year getting past ovarian cancer. As it happens, the "positive thinking" crowd is all over cancer treatment, too. The message seems to be that if you don't make it to remission, it's your own damn fault for being "negative."

Marge's brother Ron, also a cancer survivor, has the right take on this. "A positive attitude will NOT get you well, " he says," Doing what your doctor tells you is your best shot at that. With a good attitude, however, you'll have a better day today; and you can use that." Check.

Basically, I'm sick of being told I'm "negative" simply because I won't knowingly engage in magical thinking. Here's the deal: as a matter of plain, observable physical fact, I cannot influence outcomes in the outer world by force of my "attitude" about them.

If you think, however, tha, unlike me you can, I suggest this simple experiment: while thinking positively, stand in the middle of the travel lanes of a busy freeway on a dark, rainy night. See if your attitude will prevent your being rendered into lunch meat by honest, hard-working truckers driving fast to keep from losing their jobs to someone faster.

I wasn't really bothered (much) by the movie, ...

2010-01-05T12:11:10.507-05:00

I wasn't really bothered (much) by the movie, especially the firings, since Americans have been making money by screwing other people over for centuries . . . instead of CEOs flying coach or cutting out hundred dollar lunches, let's fire some folks to save money! This just isn't anything new.

Two things did bother me about the movie: 1) the fact that they lied about knowing that the one woman was talking about committing suicide; and 2) women who cheat on their spouses. I believe that cheating is directly linked to insecurity (in that, I MUST be loved by EVERYONE or I don't feel good about myself) and I always think that men are way more insecure than women, so that always surprises me.

Othewise, it was an okay movie. I thought all the traveling would bother me, but since I wasn't actually doing it, I didn't much care. But his apartment was shockingly bare. That's why I fear unemployment so much - losing everything that I've accumulated over the years and that which makes me comfortable in life, keeps me connected.

Sheria, your comment is brilliant. You've art...

2010-01-05T08:51:58.787-05:00

Sheria, your comment is brilliant. You've articulated something about the reactionary right that I sensed but had not fully thought through. And, leaving the movie, part of my fury was the awareness that the motivation industry was, knowingly or unknowingly, bosun's mate to the corporate class that rules the ship.

As I contemplated retirement, I considered becoming a "life coach." I looked into it and found nothing...period. And yet, we are all so steeped in the tenets of positivity, neither we nor most of its practitioners, sense any cognitive dissonance at all. Folks are going to think we're attacking their very identity.

Thank you for your contribution. I must thank Jack again for the introduction.

Hi Nance, just hoping you're having a great da...

2010-01-05T02:18:57.130-05:00

Hi Nance, just hoping you're having a great day and that 2010 has been treating you right. All 5 days of it so far hopefully have been lovely for you :)

I haven't seen "Up in the Air," but ...

2010-01-05T01:32:15.319-05:00

I haven't seen "Up in the Air," but it's on my list of movies to see. I have a middle age lust for Clooney.

There is a frightening brilliance to the entire motivational movement. Tell people that if they only believe they will succeed; convince them that their success is totally determined by how positive an attitude they have; then if you fail, you can't complain because you don't want to be both a failure and a whiner. The more that people accept this as truth, then the easier to distract them from recognizing that the entire free enterprise system is predicated on maintaining a large base of have-nots to support the haves and the uber haves at the top of the pyramid.

I think that we can see this at play in the health care debate. The majority of tea party protesters are people who are not being well served by the current health care system but they are so brainwashed into a belief that anyone who is not financially secure is personally at fault, that they cannot accept identifying themselves as among those who are not living the American dream. Instead, they make every effort to distinguish themselves from those that they perceive as failures, focusing on identifying characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and immigration status as causatively linked to why some people are struggling. In doing so, they totally ignore their own lack of success under our current free enterprise system, believing that the fault lies within self and never considering that it is the system that is rotten to the core.

The "American Work Ethic" may at last be...

2010-01-04T17:59:02.070-05:00

The "American Work Ethic" may at last be exposed for the soul killing enterprise it has become. It was not always this way. The sacredness of Productivity at the expense of a life outside of work needs challenging, as the movie (and you) point out. Well said.