Theme for September 10 - The Salt Mines: Why do we go to work?
Sep 5th, 2009 by Robert E
“When they took the unimates on, we were building sixty an hour. When we came back to work with the unimates, we were building a hundred cars an hour. A unimate is a welding robot. It looks just like a preying mantis. It goes from spot to spot to spot. It releases that thing and it jumps back into position, ready for the next car. They go by them about 110 an hour. They never tire, they never sweat, they never complain, they never miss work. Of course, they don’t buy cars. I guess General Motors doesn’t understand that argument.”
- Working, by Studs Terkel
- Harry S. Truman Share This
- Working, by Studs Terkel
What does your job mean to you? To what extent does it define you? (”So what do you do, Mr./Ms. X?”) When we consider what it means to be human, how does the nature of our so-called “working lives” affect our understanding? Are we really what we do? What we do to earn money? What we do to earn money with which to buy products? Are we, therefore, in any real sense, what we consume?
I look forward to seeing you next Thursday.
- Robert
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”- Harry S. Truman Share This