Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Page 46 of 113

Office Space

Corporate Politics 101: Office Space Was Right

January 20, 2022 /

I think most Americans over the age of 35 watched Office Space at some point. But quite a few of my readers are under 35 and missed it. So, yeah, the film’s 20+ years ago. Maybe some of the references strike us as dated. But the movie sure was right. About more or less everything.

Office Space talked about bullshit jobs well before Graeber got around to it. The characters in the film still exist in many companies. And as for the basic corporate structure – the way companies divide between competent workers and foolish leaders? Yeah, it still works about like that.

And so, I’d highly recommend readers watch Office Space again (or for the first time). It goes well with some of my posts on corporate ideology and on the Great Resignation. It sheds lots of light on the white-collar world.

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The Curious Case of Davan the Communist

January 17, 2022 /

Davan Communist Asimov Foundation

I’m a sci-fi fan, in general, and an Isaac Asimov fan, in particular. I’ve written about him before, both for the good and the bad. Since there’s a TV show out on his Foundation Series, I wanted to re-read some of the Foundation books.

While reading Prelude to Foundation, a brief chapter on a character named Davan captured my interest. I’ll call him Davan the Communist. He collects some themes of organizing on the left.

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V.I. Lenin what is to be done

On V.I. Lenin – ‘What Is to Be Done?’

January 10, 2022 /

Readers hardly need an intro to V.I. Lenin. To this day, he’s still a hero to the Marxist-Leninist left. Why? He defeated Russian capitalism, founded the Soviet Union, and guided revolutionary movements around the globe. And to most anarchists, he’s still a villain. Why? He broke Russian anarchism and turned communism into an authoritarian ideology.

I’m not going to wade too heavily into that debate. I’ll take a more modest aim here. Recently I started reading the Essential Works of Lenin. From that collection, I’ll say a few things about Lenin’s short book ‘What Is to Be Done?‘

While much of the material looks at the specific situation in Russia, I think we can learn a few things from it. Even things we can apply in the 2020s. Lenin can teach us a number of things about both good activism and what to avoid.

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Between Inevitability and Avoidance: Omicron

January 6, 2022 /

My readers don’t live under a rock. So, they surely know the Delta variant has given way to Omicron in the last couple of months. At first glance, one might expect this to shake up public debate. Maybe people evolve with the evidence, see things in a new light, and so on.

Well, that didn’t happen. Omicron mostly locked people into their previous biases and hardened their attitudes on the pandemic and public policy. Let’s take a look at how this is working out.

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