Life Inc. Douglas Rushkoff
A couple of years ago I sat down and tried to write a description of what Steampunk was as a sub-culture, or more precisely, what I thought it could be. I filled half a moleskine with my scribblings before I decided the whole exercise was hubris, folly, and not particularly fun.
However, as part of my research I read a couple of histories of the Punk rock movement as well as several books suggested to me by friends as influential in their lives. The Punk rock histories brought back fond memories of High School, and while I was more into New Wave and Synth Pop back then, the energy of the Punks infused and informed much of the music and culture of the time. I enjoyed the nostalgia.
But the books suggested to me that had the biggest impact were those from the CrimethInc ExWorker's Collective. In particular Days of War, Nights of Love. Without going into great detail, Days is a exhortation to examine your life, to question your assumptions, and to act on the answers. It's about autonomy and anarchy and a large portion of Days is criticism of capitalism and it's negative effects on our lives. Days is from gut, and you feel that the CrimethInc folks got it mostly right.
Rushkoff's book, on the other hand, is a rigorous history of the origins of the corporation and central monetary systems and how they self-propagate and suborn us to "their" needs. Whether you view Capitalism as our best hope for prosperity or the greatest evil the world has ever known, Life, Inc. will give you insight into how capital has it's own agenda, and how it affects the ways in which we relate to each other.
Rushkoff is not anti-business, anti-commerce, or even anti-corporation, per se. But he makes the case, to me at least, that the choice of our particular 'flavor' of money has had deep and lasting effects on society and that there are other ways to represent value and different choices we can make in our daily lives that are practical, beneficial, and compatible. Ultimately, it is a hopeful book.
Attempting to tie this back into my own particular DIY version of Steampunk, let me remind you that money is a tool. When wielded with skill and understanding it can do a great deal of good, but wielded incompetantly, with evil intent, or simply because the user see the tool as end rather than means, it can hurt and even kill. RTFM. Here's the manual.
Douglas Rushkoff mixing it up with Steven Colbert:
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Comments
We are Capital
People control capital. So when it is said capital has it's own agenda, it's people. Seems like we point our fingers at banks, companies, capital, anything but yourselves. We are certainly free, at least in the US, to all move to some place and live together in a new system of our own making. Trouble is those systems aways seem to end up at the same place. The only constant I can see is humans. I don't think we'll ever really change, just not our nature.
Thanks for posting this topic. Maybe Steampunk someday will become something more than pretty things and brass.
Oh Rushkoff very much
Oh Rushkoff very much recognizes that the situation we're in is of our own making. This is not an anti-corporate screed but a thoughtful analysis of how we got to where we are. It's also an enjoyable and engaging read.
Our own making? Well, I slice
Our own making? Well, I slice it a bit thinner and define "making" as implying a conscious decision. And that I don't see. We do these things because that's what we do.
Beavers will destroy a woodland around a spot in creek and then move on. Beavers could write books on why this not sustainable, the benefits of beaver ponds, and many other perspectives. But I don't think beavers would stop cutting down trees.
Humans like to think we can discuss this and that and change "the world" meaning "our behavior". I assume the residents of Easter Island thought the same just before the last palm hit the ground. It is our nature. We cannot change that. Maybe we can slow our consumption like a 1,000 lb man might scale back to 14,000 calories a day from 15,000. Maybe our cleverness will prolong mankind, at least that is the hope I hear. But in the end, is there anyone who thinks mankind will not use up everything and destroy ourselves in the next 100,000 years or less?. At our rate of consumption in just the last 100 years can we really expect to even last another 1,000 years? Does anyone truly care wheater mankind is around in 1,000 years? I should scale back my consumption so someone else can buy a fifth car?
How long have humans been discussing whether obscene consumption is good or bad? Since the first dude ate the entire liver out of the first animal ever killed and didn't share any with fellow huntsmen? And all that discussion has gotten us where? Well, we've cut down a butt load of trees to print the books on.
I think books like Life Inc are clever and enjoyable, but don't address any real issues. They talk about problems like all we have to do is change. And we think, yeah, we could change. Maybe next week, next year. I'm going to jump in my Hummer and go get a few more books on how the world could be fixed and I'll feel even better.
Your commenting about my blog
Your commenting about my blog post, not Rushkoff's book. Read the book, you will find it interesting.
More books
I used to teach Anthropology at a university in New England. I won't go into a lot of detail about why I left academia other than to say that, like many other schools, my university was being transformed into a diploma mill that granted increasingly worthless degrees while dramatically increasing profit. As an Anthropologist I understood perfectly well that this was an inevitable trend that for decades has been turning the people of the U.S. into voracious consumers. Rushkoff is another in a long line of people who have "discovered" that capitalism has a negative side as well as a positive side. In fact, in their own way several of the founding fathers (Jefferson, to name one) warned us of this.
In and of itself, capitalism is neutral. It's just a tool. It's how people use it that makes its effects negative or positive. Back when Jerry Williams was on the radio here in the Boston area, he used to periodically read passages from Neil Postman's book "Amusing Ourselves to Death." subtitled "Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business." It's been out of print for some time, but copies are still available and I highly recommend it. Another recommended book is "The Culture Code," one of Clotaire Repaille's few published works. For those of you who are not familiar with him, Repaille was the man behind the PT Cruiser. Some of you may remember that when the Cruiser first came out people were willing to pay as much as $10,000 over sticker price and wait for months to get one. The implications of this book are chilling to say the least.
I bring all this up because for me this is deja vu all over again. The turbulent sixties and the alternative community movement that sprang from it was in a very fundamental way a response to some of capitalism's negative effects. To counter balance the effects of negative capitalism, positive capitalism needs to be supported. And yes, there are examples of positive capitalism. The banks that give micro loans to the poor so that they can start small businesses and raise themselves out of poverty are one example. Fair trade is another. And the various "small footprint" organizations are yet one more example.
I wish I had a great ending for this, but I don't. I haven't got any sage advice to give. I don't have any inspiring truths to proclaim. Then again, after my six decades plus on this planet, there are two things I can recommend: start your own business so you can be your own boss, and keep your life balanced.
Rushkoff brings up many of
Rushkoff brings up many of the same points and I very much agree about the sense of deja vu - I am hopeful.