Rise [View all]

[H2O Man]

"We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure." -- Cesar Chavez

A co-worker in grass roots social-political activism visited me tonight. She is a dedicated art teacher at an area high school; that school has gone from one of the best in central New York, and great place to work, to one where budget cuts and a new superintendent have taken a severe toll. The teachers union -- as well as those representing clerical staff and principals -- seem incapable of protecting the employees' rights. Fear has saturated the school environment, and the students are being denied the quality of education that they deserve.

I find “systems” fascinating. In social work, I tended to take a “family systems” approach. In social activism, I lean towards “community systems.” In things political, one must have a grasp of “bureaucratic systems.” Workplaces, especially in the corporate and/or government contexts, are also systems that have some general dynamics that employees and unions benefit from recognizing.

When a once healthy, well-functioning system rapidly transforms into an unhealthy, dysfunctional cluster, there tend to be a few variables at play. For example, if on a local level, republicans have taken control of political offices, and conservative economic cuts from the next higher level (state) are taking place, local government services will suffer. This includes everything from public health services to public education.

More, the synergism from multi-level conservative-republican entities creates an ethical vacuum, where “economic hit-persons” are hired to reduce staff and services offered. This can, by definition, not be accomplished with the intent of maintaining a positive work atmosphere – quite the opposite, it requires the planting of doubt, and the growth of anxiety and unhappiness among employees.

In order to atrophy any possible resistance to the new program, the new boss must create divisions among employees. In his 1973 classic, “The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness,” Erich Fromm describes how a “boss” with sociopathic personality traits – seemingly required for economic hit-persons – will manipulate those who work for them. This generally includes promoting a weak person who, while having some knowledge of the system, can be counted upon to treat others cruelly. Such a person must be obedient to “rules,” and have an under-developed sense of ethics.

Together, the “boss” and their side-kick will seek to destroy morale in the workplace. They will, for example, threaten to institute new rules that make the workplace toxic, in response to “problems” that involve a single individual. They will attempt to get rid of any individuals who may challenge their authority. And they will eliminate positions in an arbitrary manner, to increase the doubts and discomforts of the rest of the workforce.

Lying is their language, and deceit their tongue. Such a boss lacks the moral capacity to admit even the smallest of mistakes – although they attempt to manipulate by “admitting” they were wrong to trust so-and-so. They have an uncanny ability to view themselves as the “victims” whenever they are challenged on their sick behaviors.

The goal is to destroy any and all sense of community inside of the system, and to reduce it to Durkheim’s apathetic, disorganized dust of individuals. These individuals are encouraged to “look out for number one,” and discouraged from attempting to unite with others to promote common interests. The individual may initially resist the changes being made by the new boss; next, they will attempt to avoid being damaged by the changes; then, they begin to accommodate the changes in the workplace; soon, they accept the “new reality”; and soon, they become part of the system that is robbing them, and all around them, of their humanity and self-respect.

Who can do battle with this beast? When one considers its true nature, the scope can seem overwhelming: for this system has spread like a virus throughout our culture. There are fewer and fewer uncontaminated segments in the United States today. Unchecked, as the US becomes part of a feudal estate on a global scale, where the 1% lives in gated communities while dictating how many crumbs will be divided up among the peasant class, it threatens to become entrenched, beyond repair.

Quality public education is the enemy of this beast, for its primary goal is to teach citizenship in a democratic state. Private schools for the offspring of the 1% will perpetuate the ruling class’s ability to capitalize on the mis-educated masses. Local levels of government will increasingly be under the thumbs of the Koch brothers and their ilk. Public services will be reduced to the point where they serve to dull the senses of the tax-payers, like prescription drugs that numb the pain of having their very being stolen from them.

We see the effects already. People complain, in order to let off steam; yet complaining alone accomplishes nothing in terms of correcting injustice. Sub-groups of depressed people will gather together on weekends, and seek temporary relief from the meaninglessness of their lives by distracting themselves with bright lights, loud music, and group intoxication. They do not recognize that this is part of that system that has stolen control of their lives. Indeed, it is much easier to control a merry group of drunken fools, than a single sober individual unwilling to accept the loss of self-respect.

Unconscious people can only serve as cogs in the machine. But a single conscious person can wake others up. That conscious individual can help others to understand that the hero and the coward both feel the same fear; that while the coward is consumed and thus destroyed by this fear, the hero uses it to fuel their struggle. And that the same amount of fuel, or energy, is required to become empowered, as is required to surrender one’s power to the system.

The roads to surrender and defeat are easy to locate. They are all around us. The paths to lives worth living seem harder to identify. Yet we have examples, which include individuals such as Gandhi, King, and Chavez. More, and equally important, we have the examples of the larger, often nameless groups of people who joined their struggles. In every case, we find that the “leader” (for lack of better description) recognized that in order to do more, they had to become more. This does not translate into these individuals becoming more of the same thing, by adding more of the same qualities they already have. Rather, it is becoming more by internal evolution, by transforming themselves.

By transforming themselves, they spark a transformation within that group around them. The group begins to wake up to a higher level of consciousness. While there is no “one size fits all” solution to the problems individual groups are confronted with, an awake and aware group will always be able to identify options that are available to them – options that they were not able to see in their previous level of being. Also, they find the confidence required to attempt to actualize these options. They develop the faith in their ability to exercise control over their own lives.

When people access this potential within themselves, they no longer expect “leaders” to do for them that which only they can do for themselves. They no longer project the ability to “save” or protect themselves on some external being or force; instead, they become part of, and one with, that force. They learn to trust in the process, because they are an influential part of it.

Peace,
H2O Man