Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Page 24 of 113

Close-up photo of a typewriter with a coffee and flowers in the background. Photo represents the work of a writer making a new Medium profile page.

New Medium Profile

April 3, 2023 /

For readers not already aware, I want to announce that I now have a profile page on Medium! Click here to check it out.

You’ll notice that most of the content on the Medium page started as a blog post here at Base and Superstructure. That, of course, isn’t a coincidence!

With the Medium profile, I want to reach a broader audience than the one I reach at the blog. But I’m still looking to write on roughly the same themes. So, I got my start by taking a fresh look at some of the original content from this blog and then reworking it. At times I’ve even rethought some of my views after discussion with readers.

So, what this means, in the short term, is that readers have two options for reading new content from me.

You can read this blog or Medium! This blog will continue to feature most of my completely new content, while Medium will feature a combination of new content and reworked and/or rewritten posts from Base and Superstructure.

How does that sound?

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buy world series

Can You Buy The World Series?

March 30, 2023 /

As we enter a new baseball season, I’d like to talk about money. Baseball fans always complain about the rich teams spending money and winning all the time. They’ve argued for decades that financial imbalances make the game worse. In the strongest version of these arguments, they claim outright that a team can buy the World Series.

Can they, though? Can a team buy the World Series, or is this just hyperbole? ESPN recently wrote about it with regard to the Mets.

Let’s figure it out.

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How Common Is Long Covid?

March 23, 2023 /

covid risk assessment age vaccine

As I recovered from Covid at the end of last year, I researched what I should watch out for in the coming weeks. After all, Long Covid loomed as a possibility. And I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything important.

As a basic piece of pandemic advice, it’s a good one. You should watch out for ongoing or recurring symptoms like fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, brain fog, GI issues, and so on.

However, I can’t help but notice a disconnect between what I read in the press about Long Covid and what I see in the world around me. The press routinely claims that 10-30% (or 30-50%, or 20-80%) of people infected by Covid go on to develop Long Covid. But when I think about all the people I know who Covid has infected – which is pretty close to everyone I know at this point – waaay less than 10-30% of them have ongoing issues like the ones above.

In short, I do know people who still suffer from Long Covid. And I hope they recover. But they comprise maybe 1-2% (maybe less) of the people I know who have had Covid.

What’s the deal here?

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bullshit tasks

Bullshit Tasks, Not Bullshit Jobs

March 20, 2023 /

I focus a great deal on the corporate world in this blog, notably on the special brand of ennui that cuts through that world. Given my focus in past posts on the need to organize workers in white collar industries, you might think I recommend the David Graeber book Bullshit Jobs whenever I get the chance. After all, it’s the best known popular critique of leadership and fluff in corporate land. It especially aims at pointless and/or socially negative elements, such as HR leaders, PR types, and lobbyists.

But you’d be wrong.

As I’ve mentioned before, Graeber’s best work is The Utopia of Rules. Recently, Matteo Tiratelli published an article in Catalyst that goes a long way toward explaining why. He effectively criticizes Graeber’s notion of ‘bullshit jobs‘ and points toward a better alternative.

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Two photos, one of Imani Perry, a black author wearing an earring and a white sweater, and the other the cover of her book South to America.

March Reading List (2023)

March 16, 2023 /

I took a look at this month’s reading list and saw right away that it’s all about politics. I guess that’s not such a surprise for a political blog! But it’s actually not the case in most months. So, this month hits at the core issues we discuss here at the blog.

Read on, enjoy, and let me know what you’ve been reading lately!

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