From: Bill Lear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
On Monday, November 29, 2004 at 16:16:08 (+0000) Carl Remick writes: >>From: "Devine, James" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> >>I don't think that this movie is "immers[ed] in ... the philosophy of Ayn >>Rand." Nor is it "fascist" as some leftist mag described it. It presents >>the standard individual (family) vs. society theme (along with the good >>guys vs. bad guy theme) that shows up in a lot of U.S. films, e.g., >>Westerns. And some of the rituals that schools have are pretty stupid: the >>one that "celebrates mediocrity" is a graduation ceremony from 4th grade. >>The bureaucrats -- including the one in the private insurance company -- >>are pretty bad, but one doesn't have to respond to that in an Ayn Randian >>way. Socialists and anarchists also have problems with bureaucrats. > >Not to mention that capitalism itself is the greatest engine for generating >mediocrity ever conceived. Wage discipline achieved through deskilling of >jobs and fungibility of workers is the essence of the system. As I always >say, capitalism doesn't tolerate mediocrity; it insists on it.
Well, not quite. Fordism is a moderated form of deskilling (Taylorism). Toyotism is a different approach that mixes multifunctional, though low-skill workers with highly-skilled workers. Not entirely accurate to say that mediocrity is all there is to capitalism.
Capitalism's will to mediocrity may not be all there is to the system, but it is one of its worst aspects. Capitalism sucks the creativity out of everything it touches. It's unbeatable in its drive to routinize and stultify.
Carl
