The Meta-Job

In the last few years I have heard a number of stories of police brutality, corporate mismanagement, a number of societal problems.  There is a part of me that wonders “why”, how is it that groups of humans can be so unkind and greedy to each other on a whole when individually we are normally decent in face to face encounters.  Why do these huge monolithic corporations and societal constructs (police, government) create such problems for us on such a large scale? 

A single thought hit my head today; that people care more about their “meta-job” then they care about their actual job.  I need to define of course what this “meta-job” actually is and how it is different than your actual job.  I am using “meta” here in the same way that one does when one speaks of the “meta-game” of a physical or intellectual sport.  There are in the individual rules that comprise a game of chess or football, but there is also the interaction between the players, coaches, fans, etc.  People often talk about the tactic of “getting into someone’s head”.  This is the meta game, it operates on a different level then the game itself and can also effect the game’s outcome.

The game’s existence is dependent upon the meta-game and thus by understanding the meta-game you can affect the game.  Think about it this way, by affecting the player’s mindset you can affect the outcome of the game. 

When you put a resume in for a job, you will often have read something about the nature of the job.  This includes necessary qualifications as well as your responsibilities.  Your responsibilities are essentially the service that your offering the company in exchange for money; in other words.  That bit of information is your job.  Your job depends on the relation between yourself and your boss/subordinates and those who give you what your need for your job.

In the same way that we have the meta game for a game, we also have the “meta-job” for the job itself.   We have all had the experience of doing a favor for someone at work either in exchange for a favor, good will, or the expectation of a favor in the future.  These things are normally done with the expectation of our job being easier.

But what happens when the “meta-job” is more important than the job that you are doing.  Every time the police let some rich guy off on a speeding ticket because they are worrying about losing their job; this is the meta job effecting their real job.  Every time a pharmaceutical employee ignores a drug’s side effects because they want their boss to be happy with the drug getting released on time; this is the meta job effecting their real job.

A real job often has morality as a necessity; whether it is the police, or the medical industry, or other similar industries.  But what happens when you let the meta-job effect your real job.  What happens when you are “required” to write a certain amount of citations?  What happens when you game the meta-game in order to try to get a promotion in a company?  What happens you turn into a supervisor who uses his people and resources in order to make his friend’s life easier because he wants a lateral transfer for the fast track promotion track.  Or oooo another example,  a commanding officer who uses the fact that all the officers on a base are friends so when one of his sailors files an appeal on a “captain’s master (non-judicial punishment) it gets swept under the rug so nothing happens.   Here is a scarier question, what happens when the entire chain of supervisors in a company is trying to do the same thing (ooo ooo I know….ENRON !!!! :D :D))).  At some point someone needs to say the buck stops here.

Sadly of course there are plenty of examples in which someone has blown the whistle or put their foot down and said “my ethical/business responsibilities” are more important than your “promotion” or your “bottom line”. 

http://www.cracked.com/article_21043_5-terrible-things-i-learned-as-corporate-whistleblower.html

Food For Thought

Da’ath: The Double Edge Sword of Knowledge

In traditional Qabala there are ten sephira and not nine; there are ten sephira and not eleven (Sepher Yetzirah).  There is a sephira that is not a sephira but rather the lack of one.  This “hole” is referred to as Da’ath which means “Knowledge”.    My thought of this is not in terms of spiritual “understanding” but rather of the concept of knowledge as it exists in our world.

The nature of the universe as I understand it for practical purposes is infinite.  This means that knowledge of the universe is also infinite.   Knowledge as I believe it is both a trap and necessary evil of spiritual development.  We understand the world only in the way that we have experienced it.    Modern philosophy and movies are both wonderful examples of this; if we only have spent time studying history then the only way that we can see the present is through the notion of historical development (Foucault); if we have spent our time as a con artist then the only way we can see the world is through the perspective of the con (Revolver). Our functional knowledge is necessary for translating our present experiences. 

We have then a doubled edged sword; the holding of knowledge can be a goal in and of itself.  But being, existence itself, exists outside of knowledge.  Knowledge has no meaning; but rather is a trail of cause and effect.  It is necessary to interpret what is called in Buddhism as “Dependent Origination”.  Knowledge is the arrow of faith that is fired across the abyss in order to understand the mysteries of highest supernal.  Have enough knowledge and you might be able to make it (somewhat) or one can become lost in the search for knowledge for the higher truths thinking that 

Some Food For Thought

Objectification and Privlege

I want to have a conversation about two rather important topics; the notions of objectification and privilege .  After some thinking I am starting to realize that objectification is the ugly little beast that allows privilege within a given subject matter to flourish.  I can't write from the perspective of society but rather I will write about the perspective I have as a "straight" (har har to those who know me) man within a subculture where I  have found myself in a minority.
For a little bit of a perspective,  an ex of mine who met me for the first time thought I was a "shy" ( she used a different word ;) )and possibly gay male.  This tends to be how I present myself when I am not working as an entertainer; introverted and socially anxious effeminate male.  I have no issue with this outside of the weird positions that it has sometimes put me into.

For those of us who are just joining the conversation, objectification (at least for the purposes of what i am writing) is the assumption of certain traits and characteristics of other people without any sort of consideration for their internal state and thoughts.  For example a woman who dresses in an attractive manner is thought to have automatically dressed in that manner for the benefit of the men in her life.  Objectification in other words is when we forget that others around us have minds of their own and with that everything that follows from having a mind.

Privilege , is for me, slightly harder to define.  Privilege is an expression of a culture that supports and benefits one side of a particular culture over another.  Thus,  privilege can be found in subcultures (where the example of privilege and how it flows might be different than the primary culture).  A wonderful example of the discussion of privilege in a manner that a lot of people can relate to can be found here (http://alittlemoresauce.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/what-my-bike-has-taught-me-about-white-privilege/).  It is rather hard to talk about privilege from the topic of "white" privilege due to the fact that so many articles, theories, and emotions are currently on the line for that one.  So instead, I will talk about my own experiences.

I believe that objectification and privilege go hand in hand and that one supports the other.  In many ways one of the aspects of privilege is the ability to effectively get away with something because it is not considered a "crime" or "wrong".  In the article I linked above the notion of privilege is not having to worry about things such as the law.  To quote that article

"And it’s not just the fact that the whole transportation infrastructure is built around the car. It’s the law, which is poorly enforced when cyclists are hit by cars, the fact that gas is subsidized by the government and bike tires aren't,"
Objectification is the justification for an action that will not be challenged because the culture of privilege that a person inhabits.

A few years ago,  I found myself at a pagan festival for a number of days and saw a man running around in nothing but a loincloth and a pair of horns.  Not being able to suppress my sense of humor I look at him and said "well aren't you a horny devil" and had to spend the next three hours explaining myself to him.  At no point did me saying that I was not interested and please stop ever actually get this discussion to stop.
Because of the fact that I normally present as rather effeminate (or at least at the time I did) I found that my sexuality was assumed to be a specific way and that I didn't know better (Which I can say after a number of years that I fairly sure what I am and what I will and will not do) I found myself in the position in which the person continued to operate and no one around him did anything about it, because it was "ok".
Most of the other examples that I know (or have been told ) of are not what i would call pleasant or good conversations and include examples as extreme as sexual assault in which the person was not challenged because of the privilege of their particular position.

Objectification is the notion that because I am young (or appear to be young) I cannot possibly have knowledge or experiences that make it noteworthy to listen to me.  My level of knowledge is objectified due to my age.  The "privilege" of the culture justifies this position and serves to reinforce the notions again.  Thankfully I am lucky to  have found a ohana that supports me and that I can speak to honestly and without holding back.
Objectification is the notion that because i am male I cannot possibly be taken sexually assaulted by a female.  The "privilege" of the culture justifies and supports this position leaving the male to feel "disempowered" and incapable of action. (http://www.vocativ.com/underworld/crime/hard-truth-girl-guy-rape/#!bNV6NY).

~Food For Thought~