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TheWarOnWork 4 - 08 Apr 2010 - Main.DevinMcDougall
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| | I'm a UAW kid. For that reason I'm sure it isn't coincidental that Mike Rowe, host of the television show Dirty Jobs, has always been a source of constant fascination for me. In case you're unfamiliar with the show, each episode of Dirty Jobs documents Mike Rowe spending one day doing some socially integral job that we, despite having reaped the efforts of the workers, have probably never ever considered. It's fascinating if you have any interest in learning how exterminators kill rats or how old mattresses are disposed of, but there's probably sufficient entertainment value to be found in watching Rowe inseminate sheep or fall in pig shit even if you couldn't care less about the industrial foundations that make "civilized life possible for the rest of us," in the words of the show's introduction. It depends on your entertainment goals I suppose.
After reading the first few chapters of Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class, I definitely was reminded of Mike Rowe, but I started thinking less about what he taught me about how the Golden Gate Bridge gets painted and more about his opinions regarding societal attitudes about industrial work. I think that Mr Rowe, having spent thousands of hours actually performing over 250 different jobs, is in a fairly unique position to comment. | | | I find it really disturbing that the NYT tried to write a flattering profile of this person. It speaks to our current worship of any CEO or financier who manages to get rich, no matter how they did it. (Admit it NYT -- you think Dick Fuld, Hank Greenberg, and these other billionaire capitalist ubermen who wrecked the economy are superior to plumbers and waitresses, don't you? And you think this guy is superior to the workers he's killed.)
The article is also just childlike in treating his anti-union tactics as if they're an outgrowth of some complex set of "principles" he's developed. They're just ways to keep a union out that you can find in any union-busting guide of the past 70 years. Union mines are proven safer than non-union mines. The miners would be home with their families today if the boss weren't a greedy you-know-what. He's not smart, he's not complex, he doesn't inspire pride -- he's the same sleazy employer who was a heartless killer in 1890, in 1932, in 1955, and now today. | |
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> | - Amanda Bell
First off, I just want to say that Amanda's comments were super helpful and interesting. That is an impressive piece of political/media analysis.
I also am puzzled at the veneration of Blankenship. When I was at a conference on climate policy in DC last year, I spent some time talking about the coal industry with activists from West Virginia and Kentucky. There does seem to be, to borrow a phrase, a "reality distortion field" around Blankenship in particular and the coal industry in general. People living there know intimately the harms of coal mining, especially mountain-top removal; at the same time, there is a perception that there is no alternative.
A few months ago there was a really interesting debate between RFK Jr. and Blankenship at Charleston University. You can check it out here. It's particularly interesting to see how Blankenship interacts with the host and crowd.
One last note - paging Thurman Arnold:
"Some Massey families fly the Massey flag — white with a large flaming M — in front of their homes." Note how the Times refers to them as "Massey families."
-- DevinMcDougall - 08 Apr 2010 |
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